Back on the Wagon
I thought of a resolution.
I have one vice that I’ve been trying to kick for years and years.
Anti-perspirant.
Seriously.
I’ve been hooked on the stuff since I hit puberty. My dad used to beg my sisters and I to switch to straight deodorant, offing to buy us what ever kind we wanted, just so long as it was aluminum-free.
There have been many times in my life when I’ve kicked the habit but I always fell off the wagon after a week or so of…smelling.
Now I know that the main function of aluminum is to block perspiration from happening, not smell, but somehow the two are inextricably linked. Sweat is socially awkward as well but I can handle that one, smelling is straight up socially rude.
Thanks to hippie parents who formed a co-op in rural West Virginia, I grew up washing my hair with paraben-free shampoo and thinking that Dr. Bronner was our family practioner.
Years of living on my own led me a little bit astray and for a while I was easily enticed by the $1.99 drugstore brands for all things cleaning. Over the last several years I have “cleaned” up my act and gone back to the natural products of my youth. I feel good about buying a product that is concerned about its environmental and health impact. Products that use no or less chemicals have a much cleaner manufacturing process and less impact on our water systems. If they also happen to not contribute to cancers than even better.
And yet I’ve remained loyal to my aluminum-full antiperspirant.
I’ve tried to kick it. I bought a crystal one, I bought an apricot one, I mixed up corn starch and baking soda. But I kept going back to the “good” stuff, you know, that neurotoxin that keeps my underarms from regulating heat properly?
The jury is still out on the risk of aluminum but I know that my kidneys need all the help I can give them to stay healthy and after last years cancer scare I want to make every effort to avoid another one.
Any advice to make staying on the aluminum-free wagon a little easier? I want [brand] names people. 😉
