When Did Sweating Become the Problem?

I didn't set out to research sweat glands, bacteria, aluminum salts, lymph nodes, or exactly what happens when you swipe deodorant under your arms every morning.

I was just trying to make a deodorant that worked.

Like a lot of the products I make at Simple Farm Life, Simply Fresh started because I wanted something different for myself. I wanted simple ingredients. I wanted to understand what I was putting on my body. And most importantly, I needed it to actually work.

But somewhere along the way, I realized I had been using the words deodorant and antiperspirant almost interchangeably.

They aren't the same thing.

And that sent me down a rabbit hole.

Deodorant and Antiperspirant Have Two Different Jobs

Antiperspirant is designed to reduce how much you sweat. The aluminum compounds used as active ingredients temporarily block or obstruct sweat ducts so less perspiration reaches the surface of the skin.

Deodorant has a different job.

It deals with odor.

That sounds obvious now, but it made me stop and ask a question:

Do I actually want to stop myself from sweating?

Sweating is a normal function of the human body. One of its primary purposes is helping regulate body temperature.

And here's another thing I learned: sweat itself isn't necessarily what smells.

The odor we associate with sweaty underarms develops largely when bacteria on our skin break down components of our sweat and other underarm secretions.

That changed the way I thought about deodorant.

Maybe the goal didn't have to be stopping the sweat.

Maybe the goal could simply be dealing with what happens when I sweat.

A Little Detour Into the Underarm

This is where my research became personal.

There are lymph nodes in our underarms that are part of the lymphatic system and connected to the drainage of breast tissue. Because breast cancer has touched my family, including my mom's cancer involving her lymph nodes, I don't take that lightly.

So naturally, I started asking more questions.

What happens to ingredients we repeatedly put on this area?

Can they enter the body?

What does the research actually say about aluminum and breast cancer?

And this is where I think we have to be careful.

I found plenty of scary claims.

I did not find evidence that allowed me to truthfully say antiperspirant causes breast cancer.

Some substances applied to skin can be absorbed, and aluminum from antiperspirants has been studied for that reason. But studies measuring aluminum absorption through underarm skin have found systemic absorption to be very small. Research looking for an association between antiperspirant use and breast cancer has not established that antiperspirant causes breast cancer.

There are still questions being studied, and I think it's perfectly reasonable to keep asking them.

But I'm not interested in using someone's fear of cancer to sell deodorant.

That's not why I made Simply Fresh.

I Realized I Didn't Need to Prove Something Was Dangerous

This might have been the biggest realization in all my research.

I don't have to prove an ingredient causes cancer before deciding I don't need it in a product I make for myself.

If aluminum antiperspirant works for someone and they want to stop underarm perspiration, that's exactly what that product is designed to do.

That just isn't what I wanted mine to do.

I wanted to sweat. I just didn't want to stink.

And suddenly the formula behind Simply Fresh made even more sense to me.

So What Is Simply Fresh Actually Doing?

Simply Fresh isn't an antiperspirant.

It doesn't contain an aluminum antiperspirant active, and it isn't designed to plug sweat ducts.

Instead, I built the formula around several ingredients doing different jobs.

Magnesium hydroxide helps create an environment that makes odor more difficult to develop.

Triethyl citrate is another deodorizing ingredient that helps address odor formation rather than stopping perspiration.

Arrowroot powder helps absorb some of the moisture that reaches the surface of the skin.

Zinc oxide adds another functional powder to the formula and contributes to the skin-friendly, odor-managing approach I wanted.

Then there is the base: grass-fed tallow, shea butter, jojoba oil and beeswax.

Those ingredients give Simply Fresh its solid form, glide and conditioning feel.

There are no magic ingredients in there.

It's actually pretty simple.

The formula works by approaching odor and moisture from several directions while leaving perspiration alone.

And I really like that.

Natural Doesn't Automatically Mean Safe

This research also reminded me of something important.

I make natural products, but I don't want to fall into the trap of believing that natural automatically means safe.

It doesn't.

Essential oils are natural, and they can irritate skin. Baking soda is natural, and some people's underarms can't tolerate it. Even ingredients that are generally very gentle can cause a reaction in a particular person.

On the other side, an ingredient being manufactured or having a chemical-sounding name doesn't automatically make it dangerous.

I want to know what an ingredient is, why it's there, how much is being used and what the evidence says about it.

That's a much better standard for me than simply dividing everything into "natural" and "toxic."

So, Yes. You're Still Going to Sweat.

If you use Simply Fresh on a hot Texas summer day, you're probably going to sweat.

If you're working outside, you're going to sweat.

If hormones have suddenly decided your internal thermostat needs a mind of its own, you might really sweat.

Simply Fresh isn't designed to stop that.

It's designed to help manage the moisture and, most importantly, the odor that comes along with it.

And after all this research, I'm even more comfortable saying:

That's exactly what I want my deodorant to do.

I started this journey because I wanted a natural deodorant that worked.

What I ended up with was a much better understanding of my body, the ingredients I use, and why I chose them.

That's becoming a theme around here.

The more I try to simplify things, the more I realize that simple living isn't about blindly choosing what is labeled "natural."

It's about slowing down long enough to ask questions.

Learning what I can.

And then making an informed choice about what makes sense for me and my family.

Sometimes that choice ends up in a little deodorant tube.

— Christine

Simply Fresh came out of this exact journey—asking questions, understanding the ingredients, and deciding what I wanted my deodorant to do.