Could you go without buying deodorant for six months? That’s exactly what some people are doing.
After decades of buying the stuff, it’s starting to fall down their shopping list.
Deodorant used to be a near-monthly purchase for many. You would probably go through one of those hard plastic ones with a roller ball top every four weeks. There are just 50ml in most of them – two tablespoons – costing about €2.50 in the supermarket. And that’s the bargain stuff.
Because there is so little in each bottle, deodorant runs out quickly, and often unexpectedly – if it’s in a hard plastic container, you can’t really see how much is left. If you’re between supermarket trips, you’ll probably eke out a few more rolls of the nearly dry roller ball, or a few more half sprays from the aerosol to get you through. Then you’ll buy another one.
But visualising the endless line of hard plastic containers and cans, stretching back to your teens and well into the future, is starting to niggle for some. Is it right to just keep buying these single-use containers forever? Can you even recycle them?
[ Smelling sweet with natural deodorants made in CorkOpens in new window ]
For the glass bottle ones, take them apart, says MyWaste.ie. The glass part can go to the bottle bank and other parts to the recycle bin.
You should take the plastic roll-on ones apart, MyWaste.ie advises, and all parts can be put in the recycle bin.
Does anyone take their plastic roll-on deodorant bottles apart? Extricating the slippy ball from the hard casing sounds tricky.
You could also drop off your used personal care and beauty product packaging at public drop-off locations across Ireland, says MyWaste.ie.
[ Turning to nature for skincare products for the mature womanOpens in new window ]
Choosing a differently packaged deodorant is another solution.
This is where refillable, plastic-free deodorants with natural ingredients are gaining fans.
Unlike single-use roll-on deodorants and sprays, you can use the casing of some of these stick-type deodorants over and over by inserting compostable refills that simply twist into place. The refills last about six weeks with daily use.
The outer casing of one popular brand, made from an aluminium alloy, can be refilled again and again.
The refills themselves are made from bamboo pulp, which is compostable. You can recycle it just like paper or cardboard.
Some people even grow seeds in their empty refills, according to the manufacturer – but if you haven’t made time to dismantle your old plastic roll-ons, you won’t be planting seeds in these new ones, I’d wager.
This refillable deodorant starter pack, comprising the reusable “stick” and a refill, costs from about €13. After that, you’ll pay about €5.50 for the refills.
The outer packaging of another Irish brand can be put in your compost bin. One of these push-up tubes will keep you smelling sweet for 12 weeks, manufacturers say. A 46g tube costs €12.99.
The ingredients in your deodorant are another story. Many traditional antiperspirant deodorants use aluminium to block the secretion of sweat. Some people believe this to be harmful.
The use of aluminium compounds is safe at concentrations of 6.25 per cent in nonspray deodorants and nonspray antiperspirants, according to a research by the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) published in March 2020. It’s safe at concentrations of 10.6 per cent in the spray varieties.
Exposure to aluminium from daily use of these products does not add significantly to the body burden of aluminium from other sources, says the committee.
But if rolling or spraying aluminium at any concentration on to your armpits still gives you the heebie-jeebies, that’s yet another reason to choose one of these more natural deodorants which use ingredients like tapioca starch to absorb moisture and keep you dry.
