A large percentage of people have grown fearful of their aluminum-filled deodorant, turning to more natural ways to handle their BO. When roaming the internet, looking for natural alternatives, most will stumble upon the deep rabbit hole detailing the product, “crystal deodorant”.

This product entails the minerals in the deodorant, minerals such as; Citric Acid and Essential Oils, which are created to “inhibit the release of toxins from your body.” as stated by Healthline. However, there are crucial flaws with crystal deodorant that the companies who make these products do not state, creating a false sense of security to a natural alternative that might not actually work, thus leading to false advertisement.

First of all, the people who market these natural, crystal deodorants state that they are “aluminum free” on most sites and have “no aluminum Chlorohydrate.” Although what they state is true on the bottle, the so-called crystal deodorants are not aluminum free. All have one ingredient that counteracts what they say is aluminum free; potassium aluminum- or recognized as potassium alum.

Potassium alum is the safest, FDA-approved type of aluminum. This type of aluminum doesn’t cause rashes or cancer, unlike other deodorants. But, that doesn’t change the fact that they market their product as “aluminum free” online. Instead, using the words selected on the bottle would be more direct and overall more genuine. Other than the easily misunderstood wording. Buying the crystal deodorant will limit the chances of cancer, with a better form of aluminum.

This marketing problem also appears in how the crystal deodorant works itself. As stated by Dr. Axe “It works to kill bacteria and prevent body odor. Instead of clogging your pores so the moisture doesn’t create a habitable environment for bacteria, this mineral salt deodorant prevents bacterial growth, while letting your pores excrete sweat.”

Most present their ability to keep their customers armpits smelling fresh in their marketing, which isn’t a bad thing, but nowhere can you usually see that these crystal deodorants do not prevent sweating. For people who sweat more regularly, this could come as an issue because although their armpits do not smell, they will be sweating excessively and most likely, more than when they used a deodorant that also dries up the armpits.

Excess sweating can also potentially cause body odor, under certain conditions. One of these conditions is the clothes someone may wear when switching to crystal deodorants. Due to not absorbing as much moisture as regular drugstore deodorants, people will require natural clothing as well.

Clothing made out of ingredients such as; silk and cotton allows the armpits to breathe and reduces the amount of trapped sweat. When sweat is trapped in synthetic fibers, bacteria such as; Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus, and Cutibacterium genera can cause body odor.

There are a lot of other variables that you may need to take in mind and different products you need to buy or look for additionally. So yes, crystal deodorant can potentially be a natural alternative, but in most cases, crystal deodorant is far too high maintenance for someone to make it work as the advertisements for crystal deodorants market. Those using crystal deodorant will usually continue to emit body odor, making crystal deodorant an unwise switch to make.