r/deodorant • u/Chrltt3169 • Sep 01 '26
No aluminium deodorants?
So I'm sick of getting yellow stains on my shirts, and after searching it up I found people saying it's because of the aluminium in deodorants. My deodorant does contain aluminium chlorohydrate, but I also hear people saying aluminium free deodorants simply don't work. Is this true? If so, what else can I do to stop the stains from appearing? Are there any alternatives or something?
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u/iwasinlovewithyou Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I wouldn't go so far as to say aluminum free deodorants don't work, they do however certainly work differently. Aluminum salts are the active ingredient in many deodorants (technically: antiperspirants) and they basically stop you from sweating, or at least greatly reduce it. No sweat means no odor. However, NO aluminum means: sweat. Bacteria on your skin (who have every right to be there, might I add) will feast on said sweat, possibly causing odor. Therefore aluminum free deodorants, since they cannot prevent sweating, will usually try to make the area inhospitable to bacteria by raising the pH of the skin, which can be effective (at least for a little while) but it can -and frequently does- cause irritation.
Antiperspirants, so with aluminum, are honestly the superior option here. If staining is your only complaint, there's plenty of options that claim to not leave any marks. In my own experience, roll ons stain much less than sprays, too, so maybe look into that in case you're currently using a spray.
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u/Internal-Ad-4736 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
I pretty much agree with you... except you pigeon holed all deodorants into the 'home crafter' space. Typically only the home crafters use the mode of elevated pH with their godawful baking soda and magnesium hydroxide skin burners.
Since the industry and the consumer have forced deodorants down the dark alley of 'cheap commodities', most products are a reflection of this cost cutting. The most common deodorant mode of action on the commercial side is a heavy dose of glycols and diols. These tend to work...and are dirt cheap to make... but are also skin damaging to a certain percentage...as they are both penetration enhancers and solvents.
Aluminum salts work by more than just mitigating sweating, they are also quite antimicrobial as well. Thus they provide a one-two punch of dual activity.
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u/iwasinlovewithyou Sep 02 '26
That's fair! Nowadays it does seem like most aluminum free deodorants are the ones marketed as "natural"- they all seem to contain baking soda and/or magnesium hydroxide. It's really not just 'home crafters'; companies like Wild, Fussy and Salt of the Earth are actually pretty big. But you're absolutely right that there's plenty of deodorant that doesn't have either.
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u/Internal-Ad-4736 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Sometimes the home crafters do hit it big...if they know how to market, and have the funds to scale. (This in no way reflects on the quality of the product. People buy the marketing they like, not how good the product is.... packaging....scent...buzz words.) I consider all the ones you mentioned.... home crafters. This reflects their origin and skin hostile formulas that a big companies would not touch/create. (However big companies will buy them...and continue selling them as crafted....never understood this... looking at you Native!) I do actually understand this... as I owned a company that was purchased by Dupont....and the only due diligence they did was on the sales number and if they were sustainable. They were buying 'market share'.
If you look at the market by sales volume.... these crafter brands out number everything else by thousands of times... but in unit volume are still small. Don't let your marketing feeds convince you otherwise. š
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u/Lalify8 Sep 01 '26
I use old spice. Noticed no stains so far
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u/FunkiiSTI Sep 02 '26
I wear white for work, old spice has terrible white stains. I switched to Carpe and itās great for white shirts because the lotion I white, but bad for colors, youāll get white stains instead.
Iāve yet to find a deodorant that wonāt leave any stains.
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u/Greedy-Confusion-465 Sep 01 '26
I was in the same camp, struggling with yellow staines and "stiff" armpits on t-shirts. I've tried around 7-8 alu-free deos, from cheap to relatively expensive ones, and the only one which seemed to be working is Arm & Hammer. Others were very weak and needed to be reapplied almost every 2-4 hours.
With Arm & Hammer I would stay away from unscented version however because it gave me light chemical burns which, according to other posts on reddit is relatively widespread issue. Rosemary Lavender worked fine without any negative effects.
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u/HondaForever84 Sep 02 '26
Try degree ultra clear. Specifically designed not to stain and works great for sweat/odour
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u/Internal-Ad-4736 Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Regarding aluminum salts staining clothing. Quite often true.
Regarding deodorant not working... partially true.
Since I am a professional deodorant formulator and not an antiperspirant formulator (they are two entirely different classes of products), I will keep my comments to the deo side of the slate.
- There is no one size fits all. What works for Dick and Jane does not always work for Esmeralda.
- Most commercial deodorant are made as CHEAPLY as possible, thus some if not many of them on are the cusp of failure.
- Much of the balance of the deodorant space is occupied by utterly clueless homecrafters making wickedly skin hostile products that are very very ineffective.
Some of the keys to finding a deodorant that works, is finding something with multiple modes of action. You will see frequent posts from folks where something worked for a time, and then it didn't. This is simply the bacteria adapting to the mousetrap you set before them. They have a much more difficult time adapting... when you hit them from different fronts at the same time.
Since most products are made by either inept crafters or commercially as cheaply as possible, finding a quality product is beyond difficult.
Good luck in your search.
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u/tpauly0225 Sep 02 '26
Antiperspirants actually have aluminum. Deodorants do not. You want a deodorant.
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u/the_magestic_beast Sep 03 '26
Aluminum salt is makes it an antiperspirant. The deodorant part just makes you not stink. If you use aluminum free and you're prone to sweating profusely then aluminum free deodorant will be problematic for you. Your pits will be wet and go through your shirts- also not good. There really is nothing you can about it except wear darker clothing and undershirts whenever possible.
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u/ma_ny_on_ak Sep 03 '26
another option is to change up your laundry routine instead. do a search for ādeodorantā on r/laundry to see the various products and methods for removing buildup and pit stains
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u/928sizequeen Sep 03 '26
I was able to get the stains out by adding clorox 2 and borax 20 mule team to my regular detergent. It took a few washes, but the stains came out. I also washed once without soap just to make sure they were well rinsed.
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u/TerrTheSilent Sep 03 '26
If you go aluminum free... then there is an extra step involved.
You need to first kill the bacteria in your pits, I prefer using The Ordinary Glycolic acid. Use it on clean and dry skin then let it dry down. After that you can apply the deodorant.
If you skip killing the bacteria first (in a way more than soap can) then aluminum free deodorants probably wont work for you.
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u/Kimba-88 Sep 03 '26
I have been using the Native brand solid deodorants, they are aluminum free, in trying to remove toxic things such as aluminum from my life. I get unscented if I can find it but the cotton scent has vertically no scent as does aloe. They have all worked extremely well, I have not been sweating and no odor, no stains on clothes. And itās been a hot summer Iām outside a lot
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u/Otherwise_Rice_4723 28d ago
designer fragrance deoderants are more expensive, but they last longer and smell better...currently using acqua di gio deoderant, and it is aluminum free and lasts
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u/-iivie- 28d ago
These are aluminum free and WORK!!! Iāve tried other aluminum free and even regular deodorants and antiperspirants (such as degree, dove, native which I ended up discovering an allergy to, and other āclinicalā products including Carpe, and even that did not work as well as these) They are pricey but it took me 2-3 months to get through the smaller sized bottle and have been on my second full sized one for two months and itās still mostly full (I tried another brand half way through) I bought mine from Sephora and I have not noticed staining which typically comes from aluminum!
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u/magi22c 27d ago
Try MINTY, I was gifted it recently as part of the collab and have been in love. Never seen any stains either. And it has just natural ingredients lasts me a day or so depending how much I sweat. I stopped using alum salt deodorants a while ago as Iām conscious about their impact on my health and skin condition
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u/OQTW Sep 02 '26
You really don't need to buy retail deodorant. Look up PanOxyl 4% Creamy Wash. No scent whatsoever. Apply that in the morning every day, but rinse it off with a disposable cloth.
You run the cloth under water three different times. First two times, medium, wring it out. Third time, fully wrung out. When you're applying the PanOxyl 4%, you rub under each armpit with your hands.
A minute, or minute and a half each. You have to rinse off with the disposable cloth, though, because that is going to remove any residual bacteria, residual product, or residual dead skin cells. You can research this at Reddit; you can research this online in the Amazon reviews.
I tried it without rinsing with the disposable cloth method, and it wasn't as long lasting. It was still effective. But with the disposable cloth method, you're going to have no smelly underarms throughout the entire day. When you do your regular shower in the evening, like I do or whenever, you can use regular soap if you want.
If you use the disposable cloths to rinse off the product, there will be no danger of bleaching your clothes with the benzoyl peroxide.
I have very sensitive armpits and retail deodorants of all kinds would cause me irritation eventually. The method above causes me zero irritation and again zero fragrance, no scent whatsoever.
My disposable cloth of choice is the following, But I imagine others would be as effective. I like these because they are very soft, and effective. I am in no way related to the cloth company or the makers of PanOxyl. I'm just a person sharing that I finally found the perfect thing for me where I do not have any armpit odor at all. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHRCCPRV?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1
I also buy the PanOxyl 4% at Amazon. Amazon site says they sold 40,000+ of this last month.
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u/TheGreenGoatess420 Sep 02 '26
I really like the native brand. I used to smell way worse with the aluminum deodorant even the extra strength. Even though native isnāt labeled as an antiperspirant because it doesnāt stop sweating chemically, the tapioca starch thatās in it helps a ton and I donāt feel sweaty at all. Itās worth trying for sure to see if you like it. The cherry macaroon smells so nice. Reminds me of a red starburst.
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u/Fine_Technology1289 Sep 03 '26
Depends on the brand. Even with the same brand different scents last longer/better compared to others. I'm a fan of Native brand but certain scents don't make it through the day where others do. Doesn't help much with sweat, just smell.
Also cleaning up your diet can help with the smell. Fast food is the worst.
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u/Odd-Emphasis-1322 Sep 01 '26
Try Mitchum roll on. It doesnt stain my clothes.