Now that I’m pregnant again, I’m revisiting my beauty cupboard and replacing items with more natural substitutes. This happened last pregnancy; while I do generally prefer to use natural beauty products on a regular basis, certain not-so-natural items tend to creep back into my daily routine if they’re particularly effective.
However, something shifts in my mind during pregnancy as I want to give the little baby growing inside me the best possible start to life by limiting their exposure to chemicals and other nasties whenever possible. It’s funny what we’re willing to do for our kids but not for ourselves!
One thing that I failed at last pregnancy was finding a decent natural deodorant. I tried a lot of different brands before I gave up – one of them alone cost almost $30 I was that desperate to find one that worked. I ended up reverting back to my usual deodorant as natural deodorants are typically not that cheap and there’s only so many I’m willing to try before my patience and budget wears thin!
It was very convenient timing I caught wind of this new offering from Weleda just after announcing my second pregnancy recently, so here’s my thoughts on their new Citrus 24h Roll-On Deodorant which they sent me to review.
Why go natural with your deodorant?
Mainstream deodorants and antiperspirants* often use chemicals such as aluminium salts to block sweat glands, reduce pores or stop the sweating process completely. While this sounds great from a practical perspective, there’s a big question mark over this when it comes to natural healthcare as sweating is actually an essential process for the body.
Sweating helps regulate body temperature, is said to support immune function by eliminating toxins, clears out the pores and may even help kill harmful viruses or bacteria on the surface of the skin. Body odour comes from sweat decomposition as well as the substances in your sweat which could be influenced by things like food or medicines.
Natural deodorants often aim to target the bacteria which breaks down sweat and teams this with a pleasant natural fragrance, rather than trying to prevent, reduce or stop the sweating process.
*Something I didn’t realise until relatively recently in life – when purchasing these products the name is actually important; deodorants are typically made to focus on reducing or preventing odour, while antiperspirants focus on interrupting the sweating process. This may seem pretty obvious now that I’ve said it, but I’d never thought about it enough to really understand. This is why the body sprays I used in my teenage years smelled nice but didn’t do much to deal with underarm odour!
Product claim
Dermatologically proven, Weleda’s new 24hr Roll-On Deodorants inhibit bacterial enzymes that decompose sweat, preventing the formation of unpleasant body odour. They use ingredients like Liquorice Root combined with Witch Hazel, to calm, tone, and nourish skin, along with essential oils like Litsea Cubeba to protect against body odour for 24-hours.
These deodorants can be used directly after hair removal which is something that deodorants with aluminium salts are not recommended for.
Road test
I don’t normally have much – if any – body odour, however, all the natural deodorants I tried last pregnancy made it smell like I did… This smell then combined with whatever essential oils or natural fragrances they’d used for scent which wasn’t so great (thus I went back to my usual sweat-blocking, aluminium-laden mainstream product).
I was sent the Citrus roll-on to road test, and right from the start the scent was much fresher than the other natural deodorants I’ve tried previously which tended to veer more towards perfume-type fragrances. The smell reminds me of homemade lemonade.
I tried it out for general everyday use as well as using it for yoga classes, exercise classes, while personal training clients and teaching yoga. It rolls on easily and leaves you feeling clean and fresh after application. I tend to wear a lot of black and other dark colours, and didn’t notice any white streaks or marks. I had no body odour issues while road testing (huge thumbs up given my previous experiences with natural deodorant) and would be happy to buy it again.
Where to get it
Keen to try it out for yourself? Weleda 24hr Roll-On Deodorants are available in Citrus or Men’s (both RRP $15.90, 50ml). Let me know how you get on with it in the comments below, or tell me your experience with natural deodorants! I’m keen to hear if you find them effective…
Product provided for review by Weleda
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Images / NZ Real Health