Style July 15, 2019
Find out what works, and what really doesn't...
As if explaining your life choices to people at dinner parties, and promising your uncle that you are indeed getting enough protein wasn’t enough–now you have to find a vegan deodorant that doesn’t suck.
As a regular gym goer, hiker, and generally active human in the heat of Los Angeles, finding a vegan deodorant that worked was imperative. I also suffer from eczema and have quite sensitive skin. I needed an easy-to-use deodorant that would keep me fresh, but not irritate my skin.
Keep scrolling to find my picks for vegan deodorant MVPs, bench- warmers, and sticks that seriously deserve a red card. But first, a look at the non-vegan options you might be used to.
What exactly do companies put into deodorant to make it not vegan-friendly anyway?
I used to pick up new deodorant from the drugstore without a thought beyond whether or not I thought it smelled good. Turns out, many companies include animal-derived ingredients in their products.
My mom’s old standby for example, contains stearic acid, a fatty acid usually derived from animal fat according to PETA. Gross, right? Other animal derived ingredients that PETA suggests looking out for in deodorants include bee pollen, chitosan (a binder made from the shells of crustaceans), propolis (tree sap gathered by bees), and stearyl alcohol as it’s often derived from stearic acid.
LAVANILA’s Sport Luxe is a solid stick that you twist up like a heavenly scented glue stick. The texture is smooth, clear, and is very easy to apply. This vegan deodorant really lasts during a sweat sesh, and the warm vanilla smell is delicious without being overpowering.
Kiss My Face’s Active Life deodorant lasts all day after one application. The product’s formula is slightly softer than the average solid deodorant. It’s smooth, easy to apply, and goes on clear. The aloe in the formula makes my sensitive skin so happy. The fragrance-free Active Life stick is my favorite to use during eczema flare ups.
This is the perfect deodorant to try if you want a vegan formula that looks and feels just like your old stick. They even make a sensitive line for those of us with delicate under arms, and an adorably tiny travel size stick that I like to carry around in my bag. Great for daily life, but not so great in the gym. No weird white cast to speak of, but does have a more solid texture than Kiss My Face.
Love Beauty Planet is a brand that recently started popping up in my local Target and CVS. After falling in love with their haircare products, I figured I needed to test out every thing they make. Enter their vegan deodorant line. The texture of this deodorant is similar to Kiss My Face, but the scents are much stronger. This is my go-to daily-wear deodorant. If you wear it to the gym, make sure you reapply since it’s not designed to withstand sport activity.
This antiperspirant is ideal for those days when a sweat mark would ruin your whole outfit. It goes on wet from the roll on bottle, but dries down fast. I wore this to my college graduation in the suffocating desert heat of inland California. This stuff held up against the stress of heat, nerves, and family photos.
I know this isn’t a vegan brand, so don’t @ me. They aren’t even cruelty free. But, their gel deodorant is accidentally composed of all vegan friendly ingredients and is widely available–a good fall-back candidate if you find yourself somewhere without a lot of options. It applies wet, dries down fast, and lasts all day–even if you get hot and sweaty.
Here’s the thing about their gel formula: it gets everywhere. The packaging is insufficient to keep this stuff from escaping onto bathroom counters, and into gym bags. Try at your own risk.
This brand of deodorant is widely available, and when I found it, I really thought that I wouldn’t need to continue my search for the vegan deodorant holy-grail. Unfortunately, while the stick is easy to apply, I find it doesn’t live up to it’s promise of “long-lasting” odor prevention. If you like this brand or the scents on offer, just be prepared to do a lot of re-applying.
This cream is very user friendly in the sense that it’s like finger painting for your underarms. I tried the grapefruit scent, and while it lasted I liked it. The thing is, it doesn’t really last, and because it’s a cream you can only reapply if you have a sink handy to wash off your hands.
I really wanted to like this product. The packaging is eco-friendly, the lemon eucalyptus scent is nice, and the size is travel friendly. The problem: literally everything else. The texture of this is so rough and hard that it makes it quite uncomfortable to apply.
They recommend warming the product against your skin to soften it, but I never had much success with this strategy, despite multiple attempts. It also has a tendency to make the skin feel sticky, and the product sometimes gathers strangely.
This reviewer put it best when she explained, “often, I had to wipe off excess before putting on clothes since the deodorant would build up in the creases of my underarm.” Ugh.
Hear me out. I know this is a popular choice for many people, but their signature stick formula just doesn’t work for me. It’s rough against the skin, and quite dry. This product made my sensitive skin so upset, that I had to stop using it.
That said, I really want to try their sensitive skin line to see if maybe that’s the better choice for me.
Based on the dramatic reviews by Sephora shoppers, I am not the only woman who struggled with this deodorant. Some ladies report that this product is the healthy deodorant they’ve been searching for. Others, like myself, found that their skin had a dramatically bad reaction. Quite a few report red irritated skin, and a bad scent in combination with their skin. Steer clear of this one if your skin is on the sensitive side.
I’ve heard some buzz about Pacifica’s Underarm Deodorant Wipes, but I’m not sure I like the idea of disposable deodorant from a sustainability standpoint. I do want to try their Underarm Deodorant Water since I have never seen anything like it before.
Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite vegan deodorant I should put to the test! I wish you luck on your journey to protect the planet and smell good while you do it.
