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The 1st deodorant was trademarked/patented back in 1888 and before that we as human beings used perfumes to mask our smells. Other cultures who couldn’t afford costly perfumes, burned incense such as frankincense, sage, or other resins and herbs.

But did you know what there were some cultures that never caught on to the deodorant trend till very recently as a western trend? Not because they smelled, but because they didn’t start to produce a smell until very recently? How is that?

1st let’s look at what produces that smell? Most of the time smells comes from areas that hold in moisture and heat. So now we can think of stinky feet, genitalia, underarms, bad breath and sometimes smelly hair.  So when we look at it this way, does everyone have stinky feet, bad breath, hair and genitalia?  No…so why should everyone have stinky underarms?

What happens in a house where there is too much moisture? This happens a lot in bathrooms. It grows bacteria or mold.  The same thing happens with our body.

Our body’s are always doing a balancing act between good and bad bacteria. No greater war seems to be fought in the body than the battle of bacteria!!
With bad breath, some people use mouthwash to wipe out the bacteria and use perfume such as peppermint, cinnamon or spearmint to mask a smell. Some people just use gum which is the same idea as perfume. Others fight it with probiotics which is more of a rebalancing act.
With deodorant, it 1st came out as a powder to keep the moisture down which kept the bad bacteria from multiplying. Then this was coupled with a perfume just in case it reared its ugly head.

There was a jump around 1903 to try and stop the sweat by plugging up the sweat ducts with an aluminum based ingredient. and voila you stop sweating. This became something that became couples with deodorant.

..hhmm…what’s that?  Are there any side effects …I’m so glad you asked

Plugging up sweat ducts builds up toxins in the body since the underarms are a main outlet.

The lymphatic system is where most of your immune system/white blood cells mostly reside and there are clusters/nodes where this system intercepts with the circulatory system, skin and other systems.  These nodes are kind of like waste drop off points in the body.  You have these big clusters, in your abdomen, behind your knees, under your arms, in your neck to name a few.  So when you block the outlets of how your body naturally eliminates waste. It will try and find another one…but stays in your system longer than it needs to causing problems with other parts of the system.

There is another part of the problem with antiperspirants. Metals such aluminum affect your endocrine and nervous system. Your endocrine system deals with your hormones. And hormones control moods (happiness & depression), sleep, sexual desire/reproduction, digestion, tissues well as the method of chemical communication. This is done by your neurons sending and receiving chemical messages.

Think about all the metal that you use on a daily basis, (aluminum foil, pots and pans, metal crown, fillings, those flexible aluminum serving dishes, in your drinking water from the lead piped, canned food…and deodorant)

When you think about diseases that deteriorate the neurons in the body, the one that come up are: Alzheimers (6th.. 35 Mill people...double by 2030), Parkinson’s (10 Mill people), MS, Dementia

What can you do to avoid it? Don’t wear antiperspirants, read the back of deodorant to see what’ in it. Some people have decided to stop using them and make their own. –do a search for homemade deodorants

  • Baking soda (may cause a rash in some people)
  • Lemon juice (may cause a rash in some people)
  • Coconut oil
  • Tea tree, lemon, cinnamon, calendula oil. (don’t use at full strength)
  • Salt (my favorite)

There are some signs to say whether it is infected and has reached it’s limit and that is swelling. It doesn’t necessarily have to be at that node. It can be at other nodes in your body mentioned previously.

References

Everts, S (2012) How advertising Convinced Americans They Smell Bad: Washington, D.C. retrieved December 30, 2016 from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-advertisers-convinced-americans-they-smelled-bad-12552404/

Watson, S. (2011) Antiperspirant Safety, Should You sweat it? WecMD. Retrieved Dec 30, 2016 from http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/features/antiperspirant-facts-safety#1

American Academy of Neurology, Compelling Statistics  Retrieved Jan 4, 2017 from https://www.aan.com/uploadedFiles/Website_Library_Assets/Documents/6.Public_Policy/1.Stay_Informed/4.Public_Policy_Resources/compell.pdf