Lush Aromaco and Coconut Deodorant

Dixie

Does anyone besides me have a problem with finding a deodorant that works consistently, all the time? My body seems to have this weird quick that after a period of time the antiperspirant/deodorant I wear on a daily basis, no matter what brand or how strong, eventually stops working. I don't know if it gets used to the chemicals in the formula or if my body chemistry periodically changes, but every brand I've ever used has eventually failed me.

Over the course of my teens years and adulthood, I have tried literally every store brand, a few health food store brands, and even the roll-on formula by Shaklee. Actually, the Shaklee formula was the best one, working for a full two years before going down in a cloud of sweat.


Since I'm out of store brands, and I don't really have much faith in what my local health food stores carry, I decided to try out Lush deodorants. Their deodorants, and the rest of their products, consistently get good reviews and I like their philosophy of natural, handmade body care. After a lot of research, I decided that my best option was to combine the Aromaco solid and the Coconut powder. Hence, the review of two products at once.

As my biography says, I live in Florida. It gets hot and humid here and stays that way for about half of the year. And what biography doesn't say is that my job is in outside sales. So, I don't have an office that I stay in for any part of the day. At least eight times a day I go from my air conditioned car to outside to air conditioned office back outside and into a hot car, which cools off after a few minutes. That right there is a recipe for stinky pits and it's a challenge to maintain some sort of freshness through to the end of the day. Even more challenging, finding a deodorant or antiperspirant/deodorant that will withstand that abuse.

I would be kidding myself if I thought that I was ever going to find a deodorant that will keep me from getting stinky during the dog days of summer. It is just not going to happen. But, what I can look for is something that is easy to work with. That's where the formulation of the Lush deodorants come in. After I get out of the shower and thoroughly dry off, I apply the Aromaco deodorant. To apply, I hold the bar in the waxy paper it comes wrapped in and rub it on my pits. Then, after the Aromaco dries a bit, I apply the Coconut powder. There are a couple different ways to do this. Some people dump a bit into the palm of their hand and rub it on, others apply it with a brush. I'm in the latter category - I actually put it in a powder sifter like mineral foundation and use a fluffy brush to apply. Like most Lush products, there is a learning curve. Don't skimp on this stuff. You want to apply a good amount of powder and brush it on firmly. Those of you that use mineral foundations will be familiar with the technique, you want to work it into the skin a little bit.

The delightful thing about this deodorant is that even though it doesn't last me through the day, it is a cinch to reapply. With traditional deodorant and antiperspirant/deodorant, I would have to wash my armpits before reapplying. With the Coconut powder, I carry a little sifter and a retractable brush in my purse and just pop into the nearest bathroom stall to lift my shirt and reapply. Easy as pie and no more stink under my arms. I don't carry the Aromaco with me to reapply simply because it would melt in the heat. No one wants that. But, and I hate for there to be a BUT, the scent of the Coconut blends with my natural body chemistry a little too well. It's a little hard to describe, but I feel like it could do a better job of masking the sweat smell if the smell of the powder itself were a little more distinct from my body smell. That's an individual thing that you will have to figure out for yourself, though.

And, with that, we come to the rating. It's hard to rate these by themselves since I use them together, so I'm going to give the combination a rating of 7/8 tentacles. I dock one tentacle for the scent of the Coconut powder not quite being right for me. Buying Lush products is fairly straightforward, you can buy the Aromaco for $6.95 and the Coconut powder for $7.95 at the locations listed on the Lush website or on their online store.

Rating: 7/8 tentacles

You might also like: Tom of Maine's Naturally Dry Antiperspirant Deodorant, The Body Shop's DeoDry Deodorant, Secret Smooth Effects, and CLEAN Deodorant.