The Invisible Druid Stinks (or not)
Originally published at invisible druid. You can comment here or there.
Sometimes, I smell.
You do, too. it's okay, we can admit it. Everyone smells a little ripe from time to time whether it's because you got too sweaty in bed overnight or because you did an hour long workout and now you're ruminating in funk. It happens. One might say that it's perfectly natural.
... and just there, you've tripped my paleo sensors, haven't you? We are looking at a natural problem and that means that there is likely a natural solution, wouldn't you think? You might wonder if smelling bad is really a "problem" from an evolutionary point of view. Well, let's look at it this way: one of the primary goals of life is to reproduce. Do you want to reproduce with a stinky person? You do not. Nobody taught you to hate BO. You didn't need to be told that it was bad. it just smells nasty.
Except these women. Here they are being taught.
That's because, in nature, it's less of a thing. Your body has natural oils and bacteria that keep it clean. All they really need to help them out is the occasional dose of water (or sand if you can't find water, but water is best) and they should, in theory, do their job. Yes, you might smell a little bit after, but not so bad that you'll frighten off a mate, right?
Sounds like a good theory, but does it pan out? I decided to find out.
So two weeks ago I decided to take a break from soap of all sorts for showering. That includes shampoo. I'll guinea pig for you.
How did it go? Well, many of you have seen me a lot since then, so I guess I should ask you if I smell like garbage, but I have been told that I do not. I certainly don't think I do. My skin feels fine (and in fact, it seems to be in better shape than it was 2 weeks ago in places) and it is no worse for wear. It felt a little weird for a few days, but now it feels just fine.
How about my hair? Well, it was dry for a week or so, but now it seems to be calming down. It isn't better than before this whole thing yet, but it is no worse either. Seems like it responds best when it is given a solid rinsing every other day or so. Daily seems to dry it out.
But what about odor? I can truly say that after a week and a half the only problem i ever had was ye olde underarm smell. It wasn't any worse than before, in fact it was better than before ... but it wasn't gone. I had stopped using deodorant for those 2 weeks and it was bugging me. I kept hoping it would go away entirely and maybe it would have, but I'm not willing to wait any longer on it.
So I did what any sane person would do. I listened to my wife who told me to find an all natural alternative if I wasn't willing to put aluminium under my arms. I got on the internet and looked for all natural methods of making deodorant. I mean, I want to smell good, but not at the cost of putting crap chemicals on my skin. Most commercial deodorants make me irritated anyway. And what did I find?
For starters, I found Wellness Mama. She wrote up a recipe a while ago. I gave it a whirl and it's pert near perfect.
- 6 tablespoons of coconut oil (softened)
- 1/4 cup of baking soda (for odor management)
- 1/4 cup of corn starch or arrowroot powder (for wetness) (I went with corn starch)
- a few drops of essential oil if desired (I did tea tree oil and lavender)
Basically you mix it all up till it's even and then use it. The stuff will dry pretty solid (like deodorant). In the morning I rub my fingers around in the bowl it's in and get some on the tips and then I just rub it into my underarm area (yes, perv, you can probably use this on any area you want).
So, does this work as well as normal deodorant? No, it works better. At least for me. First, I don't have stank anymore. Gone. 100%. Second, it doesn't irritate me at all. In fact, since the coconut oil is super healthy, it not only keeps things from growing down there and making funk, but it moisturizes while it's at it. Nice. Finally, it's a lot cheaper and smells a lot better. How can I argue with that?
Next time I make this I'm going to pour the resulting mash into an empty deodorant tube and let it set up to see if I can use the old tube to apply this stuff just like any other tube of the stuff you'd buy in the store. If I can, I'm sold for life. If not, I'll come up with a way to make it work.
So, so I mean you have to stop using soap and store bought deodorant? Probably not. Most of you will not. That's okay. But maybe what I really mean here is that you should not take things for granted. It's all conventional wisdom. Sometimes conventional wisdom is right and sometimes it's wrong. It tells me to eat my veggies and that's probably a good idea. It tells me to eat my grains and that's garbage. It tells me to wash with soap every day and that's clearly not 100% required. What else is it wrong about?
Have I used any soap since I started? Yes. On my hands while preparing food. While I firmly believe that it would be perfectly healthy not to do this and that my food would not suffer, to be honest, i'm not willing to keep preparing food with hands that feel gross. So I kept that habit. And I'm glad I looked at options for the deodorant, because this may be the last type I ever use.
So think about the things that you do just because they're done by everyone. And try looking for alternatives. Even if they don't work for you, at least you tried. And you never know what you will find if you don't try.