What is this deodorant I’ve been using for about 20 years now?
It comes in the form of a heavy solid chunk, apparently a somewhat flawed crystal with various cleaved planes and inclusions, but in many places perfectly clear and colorless. A golf-ball sized chunk lasts quite a few years. It tastes salty and sour and, unless my imagination runs away with me, somewhat sulfurous, like those solid sulfur candles you used to burn to get rid of moldy smells.
I bought my current chunk as “Natural Crystal Deodorant” at the local co-op. The label made it sound as if it contained only natural crystals, and no chemicals or ingredients.
I’ve learned all sorts of things doing web research on this fascinating substance. Turns out alum is the 3rd most common element in the earth, and is a different chemical and has different chemical attributes from aluminum, to which it is more or less unrelated.
So, returning back to Planet Earth, I would like to know what this stuff actually is. For a variety of not so great reasons, I’m going to guess it’s potassium aluminum sulfate, precipitated from aqueous solution by evaporating off the water. Can anybody shed any light on this question?
While we’re on the subject, what is it about opening a natural foods store that exempts vendors from listing chemical ingredients in personal care products?
I’ve always heard it called a “camp stone”, as it’s really good for when you’re out in the woods. The lack of scent is useful when there are bears around.
does it look like this? If so, it’s probably Alum (which, you seem to already be aware of). I’ve seen this sold all over as deodorant, but this contains aluminum though. I’m not sure what you mean when you say it’s ‘unrelated’ to aluminum. Alum’s chemical composition includes aluminum.
I’m just confused as to why you think a “crystal” cannot be a “chemical” or an “ingredient.”
Salt is crystals. Salt is also a chemical called Sodium Chloride. Salt is also an ingredient in many foods and products. Look on a container of salt. It says “Ingredients: salt.” Do you have a problem with the fact that they don’t name it as Sodium Chloride? What would you think if your deodorant rock was a solid chunk of salt crystal?
?? I guess I am just confused. Did you think it was pure quartz or something?
Ack - Hello Again, I was being sarcastic - I know about chemicals and crystals and salts and so forth. I’m just amazed about all the things I find out there about these products, whatever they are.
Yes, Cagey, the chunk I have looks like the Wikipedia photo of Alum. Interestingly, many of the people who sell it say it is “aluminum free”.
Are there other materials that look like this and are used as deodorants? Or should I be confident this is alum?
I no longer remember the brand. I think the current chunk is 10 years old and doubt it has lost 1/4 of its mass. Unless I drop and break it, I bet it lasts longer than I do.
Campo, the one you cite says “It is made from potassium sulfate and other mineral salts”. Do we think that’s code for alum? They say “keep fresh as the ocean breeze” but such breezes depend a great deal on which way the wind is blowing.
Sioux, thanks for the tip. I guess anything rubbed against armpits would tast salty and sour, regardless of chemical composition, since you mention it.
Most deoderant, natural or not, does not contain aluminum salts. Antipersperant contains aluminum salts. This is why I buy deoderant and not antipersperant.
The “this product contains no chemicals” slogan actualy means “we’re marketing to stupid hippies that don’t realize that everything whether it is made in a lab or not is a chemical.” What difference does it make where it comes from? It’s still potassium aluminum sulfate, and I wouldn’t want to put it on my skin. I must admit though, as far as I know there aren’t any definitive connections between aluminum and illness. They’ve pretty much given up on the aluminum/alzheimers connection based on my recent discussions with someone in the feild.
This sounds like the same stuff I get from Thailand where it’s popular. Sometimes it’s in a cute bottle and looks like R2D2 and other times it’s just a huge chunk of crystallized alum. Either way, it contains aluminum and works pretty well.
Alum isn’t an element. It’s a type of chemical compound. There are several different types of alums.
Some but not all alums contain aluminum. Of course, aluminum could act very different chemically in an alum compound than it would by itself, just like sodium and sodium chloride don’t react with water in the same way.
Wikipedia says that it’s likely either potassium alum or ammonium alum (both of which, for the record, contain aluminum).
It may have more to do with whether this thing is marketed as an antiperspirant or a deodorant. If it’s marketed as a deodorant, the FDA classifies deodorants as cosmetics. Cosmetics aren’t regulated much by the FDA, with the exception of color additives in them.
“Aluminum-free” probably isn’t a regulated phrase (unlike, say, “fat-free”), either, which means pretty much anybody can use it for anything they want. Aluminum isn’t recognized by the FDA as harmful, so they’re not even likely to get in trouble with false advertising rules, since no one is likely to be harmed by the aluminum if it is there. “Natural” is unregulated as well, so pretty much any product can be labelled “natural”, and that means nothing. “Chemical-free” is also unregulated, as well as being absolute nonsense- everything you are going to eat, drink, or use as a cosmetic is made up of chemicals.
Natural food stores also get away with selling dietary supplements that have not been tested and found to be safe and effective because of a law that passed in 1994, saying that the FDA can’t classify dietary supplements as drugs. That’s how natural foods stores get away with a lot of their claims. They can’t claim that a dietary supplement treats or cures a specific disease or condition, but they can make claims that it supports some body structure or function.