Twenty years after getting banned for asking the question, this list is my answer.
Back in 2005, I posted a question on a popular beauty forum asking for an aluminium-free deodorant recommendation, and my account was banned. That pretty much sums up where natural deodorant sat in the public conversation back then. It existed, but it was hard to find, widely dismissed, and definitely not something you could casually ask about on a beauty forum without causing a stir.
At the time, I was working in marketing on a bus shelter campaign for Mitchum Deodorant’s “48 hour protection”. The more I worked on that brief, the more it got me thinking. A product made to stop your body sweating for two days. What was it even made from? Aluminium. Surely that couldn’t be good for us.
After a few more years of questioning mainstream products, and still being annoyed about the whole forum ban, I started my first toxin-free blog and store in 2011. I knew there were others just like me who didn’t trust mainstream ingredients and wanted natural alternatives that worked. Thankfully, over 20 years later, natural deodorants can finally give mainstream deodorants a run for their money.
Deodorant vs antiperspirant
Most of us use these two words interchangeably, but they do very different jobs. A deodorant works by neutralising odour, absorbing moisture with ingredients like arrowroot and bicarb, and adding a nice scent with essential oils.
An antiperspirant uses aluminium to block sweat from being released in the underarm area, like that Mitchum campaign promising 48-hour protection.
Interestingly, sweat itself doesn't smell. Body odour forms when bacteria on the skin break down sweat compounds. So if you manage odour and moisture, you don't need to block sweat completely. Sweating is how your body helps regulate temperature.
Crystal deodorants are often marketed as a natural alternative, but they are made from potassium alum (which is an aluminium compound), so crystal deodorants are also on the Clean Nectarine NO List.
How natural deodorant works
A great natural deodorant needs to do three things. First, neutralise odour with ingredients like magnesium, bicarb and zinc. Second, absorb moisture with powders like arrowroot, tapioca or cornflour, without blocking sweat. And third, add a nice scent with botanicals and essential oils. They all need to work together, and just as importantly, be kind to the skin, with softening ingredients like coconut oil and shea butter.
Making the switch to natural deodorant
I was nervous when I made the switch myself. It was right when my first business was taking off and I was doing a lot of TV appearances, and I kept wanting to go back to the old antiperspirant so I wouldn't sweat on set. But after a few months, it was the Axilla paste doing the better job on camera, and that settled it for good.
The easiest way to switch is to pop your current deodorant in the bin and go natural. I never needed a transition product myself, but Lucy in our office had a rocky changeover, and Black Chicken Remedies Detox My Pits is what got her through it. It’s a concentrated powder mask of purifying bentonite clay, diatomaceous earth and inulin prebiotic, made for exactly that changeover period. Nectarine Rating 3/3 
My natural deodorant picks
Finding the right natural deodorant is very personal. Spray, paste, roll-on, bicarb-free, extra strength, there are a lot of options. Twenty years after getting banned for asking the question, this list is my answer.
Natural deodorant for sensitive skin
If your underarms tend to react, especially after shaving, bicarb might be the culprit. It's slightly alkaline, and for some of my customers it can cause sensitivities. The good news is I do have lots of bicarb-free options that work just as well.
For reactive skin, start with the MooGoo Fresh Cream Roll-On Sensitive Deodorant. It’s bicarb-free and completely fragrance-free, which makes it ideal if you have contact sensitivities or just prefer no scent at all, with milk of magnesia for odour and cornflour for moisture. Nectarine Rating 2/3
If you'd rather a stick, the Weleda Sensitive Deodorant Stick is bicarb-free too, with a delicate scent from mimosa, orange blossom and amyris essential oils. It’s subtle enough for sensitive skin and sensitive noses, comes in plastic-free cardboard packaging, and is certified natural. In Weleda's testing, it protected reliably against body odour for 79% of people over 24 hours. Nectarine Rating 3/3
Natural deodorant with a signature scent
These are three of my favourite scented natural deodorants.
First, the Fresca Valley Rose Roll-On Deodorant, made with real Bulgarian Rose Otto layered with grapefruit, lime, tangerine, mandarin, neroli, verbena, chamomile and geranium. It's a classic rose scent. Nectarine Rating 3/3
The Lavanila Pure Vanilla Deodorant Stick is sweet and warm, with Madagascar vanilla, freesia and lemon. It uses a proprietary beta glucan technology for odour control, and in Lavanila's own 28-day user testing, 100% rated the ingredient quality as excellent. Nectarine Rating 2/3
My personal favourite deodorant scent is the Noosa Basics Rose & Frankincense Deodorant Spray. It reminds me so much of an Agent Provocateur perfume I used to love, but natural, and it doubles as a perfume for me. Rose geranium and frankincense give it a soft, sweet scent, with eucalyptus, sage and peppermint too, and it works on witch hazel, lactobacillus ferment and magnesium chloride. Nectarine Rating 3/3
Natural deodorant for heavy sweaters
I prefer a deodorant paste for hot and sweaty types like me. Personally, I find pastes the biggest pain of all the formats to use, but they work the best, so that's the trade I make. They're made with ingredients like arrowroot powder, tapioca, rice bran, bamboo powder and bicarb, which absorb the extra moisture and neutralise odour, and my two best sellers, year after year, are both pastes.
The Black Chicken Remedies Axilla Deodorant Paste is the original, a paste that combines shea butter and coconut oil with bicarb to neutralise odour and nourish skin at the same time. Lime, lavender, cedarwood and peppermint essential oils give it a clean, classic unisex scent, and a small amount applied with fingertips is all you need. This is the paste that got me through those TV appearances, and there's a bicarb-free version too. Nectarine Rating 3/3
No Pong Original Anti-Odourant Paste is my other best seller. A pea-sized amount is all you need and it has a light citrus-vanilla scent. There's a bicarb-free version that works just as well, and No Pong put their formulas through independent testing, a lab sniff test at 12 and 24 hours, so they're clinically proven to reduce odour for up to 24 hours. It comes in a recyclable metal tin, and I use the empty tins for my earrings and necklaces. I have a very big collection of tins by now. Nectarine Rating 3/3
Natural deodorant for men
My customers are mostly women buying for their husbands and sons, so here are three aluminium-free deodorants for men I recommend.
For a warm, spicy masculine scent, the Fresca Wooden Spice Roll-On Deodorant uses Australian sandalwood and cedarwood essential oils. Like all Fresca roll-ons, the gel formula uses aerated salts for all-day freshness with no sticky residue, and they have the largest roller ball of any deodorant I stock. These things are monsters, the whole pit in one pass. Nectarine Rating 3/3
The Weleda For Men 24h Roll-On Deodorant has a woody, masculine aroma from rosemary, litsea cubeba and vetiver essential oils. Litsea cubeba has a fresh lemony scent, similar to lemongrass but a little sweeter. It contains witch hazel and liquorice for odour and it rolls on smoothly. This is the deodorant my husband uses. It's blue, like his old Rexona, and I don't think he has noticed the swap. My teenage son uses it too, he likes having whatever Dad has. Nectarine Rating 3/3
For men, I also love the Speick Natural Active Deodorant Spray, which comes in a glass bottle. It’s made with organic sage and echinacea, with a clean, herbal scent, plus the signature Speick plant extract, harvested from the high alpine regions of Europe. Nectarine Rating 3/3
Natural deodorant for teens
The Foodie Mint Lime Sorbet Roll-On Deodorant is the one my daughter picked, because it smells like dessert. It's made for young skin, with 100% food-grade ingredients including witch hazel and bicarb for odour, tapioca flour for moisture, and coconut and sunflower oils to nourish developing skin. The scent is a bright blend of spearmint and may chang with liquorice root, and together they smell just like a lime sorbet. Nectarine Rating 3/3
The A Bit Hippy Patchouli Roll-On Deodorant caught me completely off guard. I ordered a small amount the first time and it sold out within minutes, so I ordered more, and that sold out too. I had no idea the cult following this one had, and these days I order it in very large quantities. It's bicarb-free with magnesium hydroxide and witch hazel, it works well for teens with more reactive skin, and the scent is classic patchouli. Nectarine Rating 2/3
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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