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Yes, I'm still using natural deodorants. We are in fact a completely natural deodorant household. We have multiples in the house, as well as minis and travel sizes tucked in gym bags, bike bags, toiletry kits, and backpacks. The market has adjusted accommodatingly towards this buyer preference. When I look up luxury or designer deodorants, invariably they are advertised as having a natural formula and/or being aluminum free. Natural deodorants have seemingly transcended past hippy dippy start ups and become baseline at both the drug store and the makeup counter. And now that it's mainstream, the danger of being called out for using a less effective product seems to have safely passed.
Let's start with what's been left behind over the years and I'll end with what products crossed the finish line for this aluminum-free arms race.
In 2021, around the same time vaccines had become widely available, I reconnected with my ex and realized they were living out a parallel experience as me, desperately burning through sensitive skin natural deodorants (lesbians, I know) trying to find something that worked. We made a swap of our abandoned but still usable products, which is how I ended up trying the staple brand, Native, the beauty mag darling, Lavanila Sport Luxe, and New York-based, artsy small batch company Meow Meow Tweet's original deodorant cream.
As far as I remember, Native was absolutely fine application and feeling wise, but two lesbians agreed that the sandalwood one for sensitive skin just made you smell like you borrowed your college boyfriend's deodorant the morning after. Certainly better than its generic Walmart dupe and maybe some of the other scent formulas would work better, but I was largely unmoved and never returned to it. I also think that although conveniently located in all big box stores nowadays, $12/$13 is a little steep for what's meant to be a common consumer good.
I wanted to love the Lavanila Sports Luxe because it boasted working best to combat sweat and odor, not just when sitting around working from home or in the office, but at the gym or being actively outside. I do remember that the application was the best of the bunch. Felt identical to regular deodorants. Rolled on smooth and felt dry. The smell was a clean vanilla, like a vanilla without a warm musk and a bit like coconut or jasmine but lacking a tropical sweetness. For whatever reason, it didn't work with my body chemistry. When it mixed with my sweat, the clean smell turned into an acrid musk that lingered on clothes and wafted up at me when I'd go from a brisk activity to taking a break on the couch. However, because the application felt good and it did work, if not ideally for me, I did finish the product. I could probably in good conscience recommend it to other folks ($14 puts it on par with most of the indie brands on the market), but might steer them more towards whatever scent appeals to them most rather than sending them out to their hot yoga or pilates classes with the Sport Luxe.
Meow Meow Tweet I also wanted to love because like EiR, they were New York based and had a solid refill program. So with the deodorant cream, you do have to rub it on with your fingers, which would be a deal breaker for a lot of folks, BUT they do now offer it in compostable deodorant sticks. Granted the sticks are $14 for 1.8oz of product (and $5.85 for the 0.5oz minis) while the cream is $6 for 2.4oz. I would say Meow Meow Tweet is most closely related to Each & Every in formula in terms of both application feel and scents. While needing to rub or wash the product off my fingers and occasionally needing to get it out from under my nails was an unenjoyable addition to my daily abolutions, I will give the product a pass since it made a detour around the issue of melty or tacky applications of past products by benefiting from warming a little on your skin for a much smoother and even coverage. I tried the grapefruit one and have smelled the other ones in kitschy stores around Hudson Valley and the Catskills and far from the trademark gin, the Meow Meow Tweet scents are all much softer, more muted, which I like and prefer as a product generally, but personally because I have a stronger body odor, I lean towards wanting to mask it with stronger, more distinct scents. At the time the finger spreading application was unpleasant enough that I moved on from the product, but now that Each & Every got more expensive (more on that later), I'm inclined to revisit Meow Meow Tweet.
Post-product swap, my ex and I had basically tried everything readily available on the market and we overlapped on trying Myro. Myro's ethos of reusability and cutting down on plastic waste was very appealing and came with an attractive applicator. Its bundles and subscription based model also made the prices pretty manageable. My partner and I switched to both using Myro in late 2021 and throughout 2022. Before that we were working our way through our leftover normal deodorants and sharing the natural deodorants we liked (the doubly spurned boyfriend scented Native deodorant went to him). But having moved from New York to Rhode Island during the Great Resignation, we were ready to settle into our new natural deodorant lifestyle. Also, for us both to get applicators, I got both the starter pack ($20) and refill bundle ($60) and accidentally received a refill trio subscription ($30) before I could cancel it, meaning we had like eight deodorants, so that basically accounted for a year's supply.
Myro has two deodorant formulas: all-natural and 24 hour performance (+sensitive skin which is scentless). Over that year, we tried every scent. I thought Chill Wave would be a slam dunk for me. Cucumber, jasmine, mint? A cool scent and slightly floral? Nope, turns out it makes me smell slightly acidic. Like, you know how non-alcoholic alternative spirits replace the sting of the alcohol with a sharp herbaceousness or spicy citrus, but no matter what the taste is still duller than liquor? That's what these scents are like. ALL of them. It also turned out that one of their flagship formulas, Big Dipper (bergamot, lavender, vetiver), had some ingredient that made my partner's armpits burn. Whatever it was, it wasn't the synthetics in the 24 hour performance formula because he did fine with the Chai Sunrise. So I ended up with the burden of using two sticks of Big Dipper's meh scent. Spa Day (salt air, lavender, cypress) worked the best for me. Pillow Talk and Solar Flare were double meh. My partner smelled okay with both Chai and Solar Flare as the more spicy, warm scents, but really, none of them were actively appealing to us.
Even worse was the application. These are the slickest application of the bunch. Slick and wet. Does it glide on easily? Yes. Because the formula melts at the slightest provocation. In your bathroom after a steamy shower? Melty. My ex abandoned this brand because it would melt during camping trips which was far from ideal. But it would melt even in reasonable circumstances, like the Big Dipper I had in my office desk for midday touch ups. It would ooze from the cap and coat the applicator like a film of coconut oil. Once we got through our stash, despite the applicators now being completely useless, we too abandoned the brand.
So what are we using in 2025?
So what are we using in 2025?
Yup, we went back to Each & Every. It's consistent and by now we know which scents work the best for us. Despite originally liking Rose & Vanilla, it started contributing to an unfortunate ammonia smell my sweat was getting when I went back to formal business attire and riding my bike to the office. Cedar & Vanilla is a very nice, neutral scent that works for both my partner and I. Raspberry and Mandarin is by far the best, the fruitiness pleasant rather than sweet or sharp. Lavender & Lemon remains our travel size go-to and I use the Coconut & Lime to mask my heavier summer sweat, reminding me of pools and sunscreen (though my partner doesn't like that one). Much like Rose & Vanilla, for whatever reason I stopped liking Citrus & Vetiver. The scent is too sharp and deep, I think, which was not refreshing to apply after a shower. From the get I've found Cannabis & Green Tea too cannabis forward and Sandalwood & Black Pepper kind of a nothing scent.
Why we kept buying Each & Every was because it was convenient to be able to buy a big bulk order of full size products, along with travel sizes and minis. And because we were buying bulk orders, the return of empties for $10-$20 off vouchers made sense. I absolutely love the minis because they're the perfect size for purses and day bags. When Each & Every was growing its product line just a couple years ago, we were even sent full size samples of their face wash and face oil. However, in our last order, I realized prices had gone WAY up. The three full size bundle went from $40 to $51 and the five minis up from $20 to $30. A one-time purchase of a single full size deodorant went from $15 to $20! And the Conscientious Club vouchers? You can't stack them. So even though I had $30 worth of rewards, I could only use up to $20 on a single purchase. At the point I'm paying designer prices, we may end up just going for broke and going back to EiR, which is my partner's top pick. He settled for Each & Every for the price point, but now that's not an issue. The next time I'm replenishing my bag sticks, I might give the Meow Meow Tweet minis a go.
Our household might be primarily Each & Every, but I've come to have my own personal selection. Unlike my previous picks which I'd gleaned from internet listicles and crowdsourced from my ex, I picked up Sol de Janeiro's Rio Deo aluminum free deodorant totally organically. I was in Sephora picking up much needed moisturizer when I wandered over near the perfume section to see if any designer brand deodorants had hit the market, remembering fondly the unabashedly feminine scented Romance by Ralph Lauren which seemed decadent at around $25-$30 during my grad school days. I was surprised that Rio Deo was not just a luxury brand offering, but was both aluminum free and refillable.
At $16 for the stick and $15 for the refill, it was right on par with most natural deodorants out there and significantly less than its luxury competitors like Agent Nateur, Donna Karan, CORPUS, and Salt and Stone (although I wish the refill was just a tiny bit less to encourage waste reduction). I had a vague sense that Sol de Janeiro had a cult following for its body spray and...bum bum cream (how it's so trendy despite its name evoking ass cream, I don't understand) from the haul videos compiled by overconsumption video essays, but I wasn't actually familiar with its signature scents until I had a whiff of the flagship 62 fragrance in its deodorant form. Pistachio and caramel is such a different fragrance profile from every natural deodorant I've had, so I was really curious to try it for myself.
Well, I'm a convert to the Brazil inspired cult. As far as the deodorants go anyways. The warm, nutty sweetness of the 62 fragrance went delightfully with my natural scent. Once I finished with that one, I tried the 40 fragrance (plum, amber, and vanilla). Although I thought the sugary sweetness of 62 was really fun, I do prefer the more pulled back 40. For my second purchase, I wanted to play it safe and go with the most popular/well rated deodorant, although the 68 fragrance with tropical fruit and jasmine and ocean air should be right up my alley. I'm even willing to give their newest 29 fragrance a try with its vanilla orchid scent despite having been previously scarred by sandalwood. I recognize that all of these scents are very sweet and not particularly complex. It's like a designer version of the teen classics of Bath and Body Works. And while I'm a believer in the deodorant for its affordable price, I think their other products are pretty expensive to basically smell like tropical candy. Tree Hut is a third of the price of their butt lotion.
The Rio Deo applies with the exact feeling of normal deodorant. I don't feel sticky, wet, tacky, or slick. It does a pretty good job of combatting normal sweat levels, leaving me relatively dry and feeling like it stays in place rather than melting off my body or soaking into my clothes. I think that dryness is a fair trade for it not going on clear. On a hot or active day, reapplying is probably necessary, but I find that to be the case with all but prescription grade anti-perspirant deodorants. It doesn't keep up perfectly during a workout, but the smell left behind on my clothes is at least pleasant. Kind of like a musty cake. This is possibly the only natural deodorant I would blanket recommend to women and especially skeptics. Unlike other brands, these ones don't work as a unisex product. I just can't see men enjoying the cloying scents. Appealing to smell on a woman, yes. On themselves, no.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What I've learned in five years of trialing all these different products is that you can't rely on reviews or recommendations from other folks. Natural deodorants and the scents they come in are insanely dependent on your particular body chemistry and preferences.
For example, while I've found my perfect product, the Rio Deos would absolutely revolt my ex. Far from being delightful, she'd probably feel in danger of spontaneously getting a yeast infection from the sugary smell of the caramel pistachio. But her preference with deodorants is to not smell (incidentally, she moved to Canada where $4 aluminum free Nivea deodorant exists). I want to smell good. My partner wants a product that works with a smell that doesn't bother him (he actually likes all the ones that smell like gin).
Like most things, it might be helpful to think about what you are prioritizing for this particular product. Is it price? Is it scent selections or size variations? Waste reduction? Would a subscription model make it easier for you or would a loyatly rewards program make it more worthwhile? For me, buying bulk at Each & Every to get the best savings is still a bit of an investment upfront and a little inconvenient when I'm just running low on my every day one, but we don't need new travel ones or bag minis, which is why I like the flexibility of being able to pick up a single Rio Deo on Amazon. My partner likes EiR the best and although it's expensive, it's the one expensive personal care product he consumes, unlike all my lotions and potions.
I think in 2025, it's good to be more conscientious spenders. Reflecting back, I'm glad it took five years to go through a baker's dozen of products and trial and error my way through scents, rather than falling to the temptation of doing a huge comparison haul in a fit of influencer-induced mania. In the end, they're just deodorants. It's an everyday product, so there's no need to be too neurotic about it. Get what you need. Find what works for you. They won't work like standard deodorants but I certainly don't miss the aluminum induced yellow pit stains.
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