Awakened early by the siren song of the garden I shot out of bed, slammed through my morning toilette and a quick breakfast then blissfully dug, lugged, turned, sifted, planted, watered and weeded until I was completely exhausted.
I usually get lost in a kind of meditative state when gardening and today was no exception. As usual I was unaware I was over fatigued until so completely spent I had to stagger to the kitchen door.
At this point in any gardening orgy, as I recuperate and my focus suddenly shifts, if there's no breeze to whisk away the olfactory proof of my labors... this is when I notice just how badly my deodorant has performed. My own personal smell set into high relief after hours of the sweet smell of earth, fresh air, roots and plants.
But today was different. I was amazed and grateful to find that despite hours of toil in the hot sun working up several good sweats- I didn't stink. I re-checked...nope... nothing to interfere with the glorious aroma of sun baked soil and clean air.
And I have Rachel Winard, the Soapwalla chef to thank.
Yesterday I got her elegant blue glass pot of Deodorant Cream in the mail. Today it was seriously put to the test and passed beautifully.
I've been reading about Soapwalla Kitchen for about a year. Every time I Google "safe deodorant" I get at least a full page of sites that have reviewed her deodorant. And every review has been very good. It really wasn't much of a risk trying out this product. I'm not sure what took me so long.
Another huge mark in its favor, Soapwalla Kitchen Deodorant Cream scored "0" risk in the Skin Deep database. Zero. As in no risk. As in safe. Here's the link to Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep database review. And in case you haven't seen one yet, this is what a zero score looks like:
Soapwalla Kitchen Deodorant Cream
 Data: Limited | |||||||||
| Health Concern | LOW | ||||||||
| Product Types | antiperspirant / deodorant; antiperspirant / deodorant | ||||||||
| Made by | Soapwalla Kitchen by Soapwalla Kitchen | ||||||||
| Data last updated | April 2010 | ||||||||
Organic jojoba, sunflower, and rosehip seed oils; shea butter; a combination of all-natural and gluten-free vegetable clays and powders; aluminum-free sodium bicarbonate; organic vegan kosher glycerin; a combination of organic lavender, peppermint, sweet orange, bergamot and tea tree essential oils.
The cream is a solid to semi solid depending on how hot it is in your bathroom. Mine was pretty cool this morning so my cream was fairly solid. I used my fingertips to rub a very small amount under each freshly showered armpit. It's a nice, smooth consistency going on and seems to absorb fairly quickly.
Initially I was worried about the strong aroma of peppermint, but it dissipated quickly. As I've been particularly sensitive to lavender in other products I was also leery about this ingredient, but wasn't bothered by it at all.
I bought my deodorant from Soapwalla's Etsy store. I've also seen it in Spirit Beauty Lounge'slistings.
At $10.00 for 2 oz. it's definitely more expensive than any deodorant you might buy at Walmart or Target. But remember it contains none of the harmful chemicals that make those commercially available deodorants so cheap. No aluminum chlorohydrate, aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly, aluminum compounds, parabens (butyl, ethyl, methyl, or propyl), talcs, propylene glycol, triclosan, triethanolamine (TEA), diethanolamine (DEA) or steareth-n. See Dangerous chemicals in deodorant.
So you'll get what you pay for- and nothing else. It's a good deal. And I include in that cost of shipping it to your door ($4.00). Again, this is simply the cost of doing business if I want to avoid toxic chemicals and don't want to make my own products.
