In moments of stress and high activity, our bodies’ sweat glands produce sweat. You may associate sweat with a stinky unpleasant smell, but did you know that when you exercise or are overheated, this sweat is actually your body cooling itself?

Sweating is beneficial to our bodies as a natural way to cool down.

It is also odorless. However, the sweat we associate with body odor derives from the sweat glands in your armpits. Once this sweat mixes with bacteria on our skin and starts to metabolize the proteins in the bacteria, it causes an unpleasant odor. Since sweat glands get activated at puberty, it becomes important to keep these smells at bay.

Many individuals will reach for a deodorant or antiperspirant without knowing the difference between the two, and few people understand the danger of store-bought deodorants. But it is important to understand the difference between antiperspirants and deodorants and what the wrong choice will do to your body.

Deodorants vs. Antiperspirants

Browsing online or at a store, you may think that deodorant is just another word for antiperspirants. But this is incorrect. While both items stop smells from occurring from sweat, they do it in very different ways. The armpit is also known as the axilla, and contains the under-arm sweat glands that secret sweat. These are aprocine glands, and produce sweat with proteins and acids. This happens in all individuals who have reached puberty. When we want to reduce odor, we often reach for a deodorant or antiperspirant.

Deodorant is made to reduce your body’s sweat odor without inhibiting the body’s natural process of sweating. Antiperspirant actively stops the body from perspiring. It accomplishes this by blocking the pores and aprocine glands so you don’t sweat. As you can imagine, blocking a body’s natural function can be quite unhealthy. The objective of reducing odor and feeling confident about your body should be done in the most natural manner possible, with a deodorant, so that your body’s natural cooling system is uninhibited.

Why Go Natural: The Worry of Aluminum

There’s a lot of confusion going around about deodorants and their ingredients. Many store-bought deodorants contain chemicals or processed aluminum such as aluminum chlorohydate and aluminum zirconium. Repetitive email forwards or uninformed internet comments scare consumers about the dangers of aluminum and toxins, claiming it’s linked to breast cancer and other diseases. However, these claims are bogus and according to the National Cancer Research Center, no correlation has been found between the two. Due to the social aspect of this email scare, many consumers are confused about aluminum compared to ammonium alum.

Aluminum is not the same as ammonium alum.

Natural deodorants such as “100% Confident” – All Natural Deodorant Spray rely on aluminum alum. This ingredient is used in a variety of ways, including in deodorants, in the purification of drinking water, and in the medical industry as a way to stop bleeding from small cuts. It has a history that dates back thousands of years, to the Egyptians.

The actual form of aluminum alum comes from a natural source, as a salt crystal. These crystals can be bought in health food stores and the actual salt can be founded through our environment. It’s a non-toxic all natural and safe ingredient widely recognized for its odor-reducing effects, and is an integral component in all-natural deodorants such as “100% Confident” – All Natural Deodorant Spray.

It’s used to effectively kill bacteria naturally, alongside pure seaweed extracts and essential oils. The odor stopping power of the mineral salt makes it a safe all-natural choice, compared to the harmful chemicals in a store-bought brand.

Associating deodorants and antiperspirants as interchangeable can cause a panic in anyone unfamiliar with the harmful ingredients contained in many mass-market brands, so remember, natural aluminum alum is what to look for when it comes to stopping odors without messing with your body’s functions.