Can we talk? Can we talk about sweaty body parts?

To start: I love my Lafe’s Natural & Organic Deodorant.

It’s made with hemp oil, has no unpronounceable multi-syllabic chemical ingredients, goes on smooth and best of all…when I use it, I don’t stink; a socially acceptable standard that I aspire to.

The downside has been the unavailability of a travel-sized stick. I don’t like packing a full-sized bottle/stick/jar of anything when I’ve got Homeland Security thinking that everything I own is going into a potential shoe-bomb.  

Besides, there are weight considerations…I really do like to Travel Light (see name of blog above) and the Lafe’s big twist-up takes up half my cosmetic bag.

Enter Naturally Fresh Deodorant Crystal company. Those of you who have read a few of my posts know that I love free stuff. (Hello Merino Wool Sweater representative people! Hello Hybrid Car people!)

So, when the TCCD International, Inc., Naturally Fresh PR person sent me an email and said, “Do you wanna try our product?” I replied with a demure response. I’m pretty sure that the three and a half seconds that elapsed between the time they asked me and when I responded was just considered good business.

But I did hold them off a little when I asked if they had a travel-sized product. Ithink it made me sound like I wasn’t just jumping at the offer, like maybe I was even a little hard to get, like maybe I wasn’t just looking for free stuff…

A box arrived and when I opened it, I discovered that Christmas had come early. Included was a full-sized roll-on deodorant, a full-sized twist up stick, a mini crystal stick, a mini-roll-on, a deodorant spray mist in two different scents and two different chapsticks.

I’ve been trying these various things ever since and the winners are…mini drumroll please…the Crystal Salt stick. It works like a hot dog. (Well, not really a hot dog. That would be gross. Who would want to rub a hot dog in their armpit? That’s just nasty. I’m just saying this to be polite. It’s a nice way of not saying, It works like a Hot Damn.)

I love the salt’s anti-bacterial properties and though it has a bit of weight to it, it’s still nice and small, a clear winner for travel. 

Unfortunately, when I bloged the spray, I found they must be made for women with a slightly more delicate glow factor than mine. I tend to move around a lot. I run up and down our stairs a million times a day and my walks around the neighbourhood follow a rather epic pace.

In short. I sweat. There it’s been said. And the Naturally Fresh Spray Mist could not keep up. I was rendered socially unacceptable (see above).

I liked the roll-on, though I’m not big on the initial gooey-wet armpit thing. It worked better than the spray, but it still left me a little less than daisy-like. 

As for the lip balm? It had some great ingredients like beeswax, sunflower seed oil, lanolin and other yummy and tasty sounding ingredients. But the active ingredients were octinoxate 7.5% and oxybenzone 4%…these are the sun blockers which give the MoistStic a SPF 15 rating which is a good thing…but…in checking out those two agents, I discovered some rather disturbing information. (Disclaimer: You can read the aforementioned disturbing stuff by clicking on the links I’ve added to each of those ingredient names, but note too, that this is The Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database, which often means they’re looking for the worst). 

I know that we use products every day that have stuff in them that we should be concerned about. Are these two ingredients enough to warrant a thumbs-down in reviewing this lip protection product?

I guess the thing that I have a problem with is that it’s all supposed to be Naturally Fresh. So when I find words associated with the active ingredients that include “human endocrine disrupter”, it bothers me. Other studies say we don’t absorb these and the amounts are too minute to worry about, but still, that just doesn’t sound that fresh and natural to me.

My conclusion? Pass the salt. I’m hanging on to the salt deodorant crystal mini-stick. And though I really appreciate the rest of the Naturally Fresh products, I’m sorry, but I think my heart still belongs to Lafe’s hemp deodorant stick.

I just wish they’d put together a travel-size for my next trip. 

Lafe’s. Are you listening?