My alternative to underarm deodorant....

The first memory I have of “deodorant” was in 1965 when I attended a youth camp.  Right Guard spray deodorant had recently burst upon the scene and I think probably every girl in my cabin was using it!  The cabin smelled like it all the time… but the stuff worked!

Through the years, a bewildering assortment of deodorants and anti-antiperspirants have come and gone on the market. At some point, a number of years ago, I started having trouble with them.  It seemed that if the product worked at keeping odor at bay, it gave me a rash.  If it didn’t give me a rash, then it didn’t work.  I think I must have become sensitive to some of the ingredients.

So, I gave up using commercial deodorants and tried to solve the problem on my own.  Of course, the first thing to do, always, is wash well with soap and water and rinse thoroughly and for some people, that’s enough, but I am not that lucky.

For a while I tried using baking powder.  It helped, but wasn’t enough on it’s own.  I used rubbing alcohol for a while, also, and that worked, partially.

Then, our daughters got old enough to join the fray.  There are lots of “natural” deodorants that you can purchase, and all three of them would react badly to the baking soda in them, and for various reasons would quit using something they purchased….

THEN, our youngest daughter invented  the recipe for something she named “47 million times better deodorant.”  For me, it has worked wonderfully and I have never had any trouble with it, but unfortunately, again, all three of them reacted badly to the baking soda ingredient after using it for a period of time.

Are you getting bored yet?

If you look over on the right side of this page, you’ll see a long list of “chapters” about Kefir.  I have been brewing and drinking milk Kefir for 9 years.  I love it and believe it is very good for my health.  Our daughters and I have a Facebook page where we communicate with each other about remedies, beauty products and other related topics.  Lately, they’ve all been struggling to find a good deodorant. 

I commented that maybe I should try Kefir.  They thought I was joking, but I wasn’t.  Well, I am here to tell you that it works!  After my shower, I dip part of a cotton ball in a tiny amount of  milk Kefir and wipe it on my underarms.  I use the cotton to smooth it around and kind of dry it off.  One day, recently, I did that, then I went to the gym and worked out for an hour, and came home.  I decided to give it a really good try.  The following day, (and without showering) in the evening there was still no unpleasant odor.

I know that sounds impossible, but it’s true.  I can only guess that since the yeast and bacteria in the milk Kefir are very robust and crowd everything else out, the odor producing bacteria simply cannot proliferate.

It’s kind of personal and a little embarrassing to write about this, but I just have to share what I’ve discovered. 

If you try it, please let me know what you think.  If you want to start brewing Kefir, read the “chapters” over there on the right and then you can order some Kefir grains off of eBay if you like.  That is where I got mine a long time ago.