It is the hottest year on record in the U.S.1 and I
live in Phoenix, Arizona, so deodorant seemed like a good choice for my first
blog entry on product sustainability.
I am particularly interested in crystal deodorant, or
deodorant stones as they are called. I have noticed that they have become a more
prominent feature on the shelves of the health food stores lately. They can now
even be purchased at drug stores and grocery stores too. Their packages are covered
in words like “natural”, “organic”, and “no aluminum chlorohydrate”.
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Figure 1. The
deodorant shelves at my local health food store. I drew red boxes around the
crystal deodorants. Not too long ago, there were only a few crystal deodorant
products on the shelf.
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I have to admit that some of the benefits of crystal
deodorants have won me over – I have been using them for years now. They are
effective, do not leave any residue, can be used on other parts of the body, last
a really long time, and can be sold with less packaging than regular deodorants.
In this series of blog posts I hope to shed some light on the true nature of
this product, assess them from a standpoint of health and sustainability, and
assess the manufacturer’s claims mentioned above.
So, what are they and how do they work? Basically, what you
are applying to the skin is potassium alum (aluminum potassium sulfate
dodecahydrate) or ammonium alum (ammonium aluminum sulfate). You can find it in
two main forms: as a stone-shaped object with or without application packaging,
or in liquid form with additional ingredients for scent and/or application. The
stone forms must be wetted before applying. Potassium and ammonium alum inhibit
the growth of odor-causing bacteria, so rather than masking odors, these
compounds actually prevent them. Crystal
deodorants do not have antiperspirant properties and solid-forms are unscented.2
On a side note, I wonder if odor causing bacteria could evolve a resistance to
these types of deodorants?
The impression that one general gets from the often vague
company descriptions is that these stones are just plucked right out of the
ground and then packaged and sold to you. Although potassium alum does exist in
its pure form, such mineral deposits are relatively rare. This means that the
alum salts are most likely extracted from ore using a chemical process, just
like metals are.3, 4 The extracted potassium or ammonium alum is
then molded into shapes or added to liquid for use.
Whether mined in its pure form or extracted from ore, does
the term “natural” or “organic” apply to these products? In the sense that the
term “natural” is usually used, the pure mineral deodorant stones could maybe
get away with this term, but the ore extracted ones probably should not,
because the sense of the term “natural” usually considers ore processing as “synthetic”. “Organic” definitely does not apply, because
alum salts are not plant-based, which also means they cannot obtain organic
certification. One exception to this is for liquid crystal deodorants – some of
the non-alum ingredients can be certified organic. Alum salts also do not fall
under the chemical definition of “organic”, because they contain no carbon
atoms.
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Figure 2. Example of
crystal deodorant types and packaging.
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Above are some examples of different forms and packaging for
crystal deodorants. The pink paper was added to hide the brand names. From left to right, they can be described as
follows: liquid crystal deodorant
(water, potassium alum, and other ingredients), solid crystal deodorant with
plastic applicator base (potassium alum), solid crystal deodorant with plastic
tray (mineral salts and ammonium alum), and another solid crystal deodorant with
plastic tray (potassium alum). The deodorant on the far right is translucent.
This indicates it was removed from a pure mineral deposit and shaped.5
The other products are most likely were obtained by extracting the alum salts from
ore and then molding the extracted salts into shapes (middle two products) or
dissolving them in liquid (far left product).
In Part II, I will be talking about aluminum and the “no
aluminum chlorohydrate” labeling on some crystal deodorants.
In Part III, I will give my sustainability assessment on
crystal deodorants.
P.S. Just for
fun, some amazing pictures of pure potassium alum deposits can be found at the
following web address: http://www.verdan.com/us/verdan-crystal-deodorant-about-us/crystal-deodorant-image-gallery.html
References
(1) Castillo, M. January to June
2012 warmest first half of any year on record. CBS News, July 9, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57468991/january-to-june-2012-warmest-first-half-of-any-year-on-record/
(accessed July 27, 2012).
(2) Crystal Body Deodorant. FAQ. http://thecrystal.com/faq.cfm
(accessed July 27, 2012).
(3) Bubble & Bee Organic. Aluminum in crystal deodorant stones.
January 21, 2010. http://chemicaloftheday.squarespace.com/most-controversial/2010/1/21/aluminum-in-crystal-deodorant-stones.html
(accessed July 27, 2012).
(4) Bubble & Bee Organic. Exposing
more truths about alums. March 8, 2010. http://chemicaloftheday.squarespace.com/most-controversial/2010/3/8/exposing-more-truths-about-alum.html
(accessed July 27, 2012).
(5) Natural Cosmetics News. What
everyone ought to know about crystal deodorant stones. http://www.naturalcosmeticnews.com/new-ingredients/what-everyone-ought-to-know-about-crystal-deodorant-stones/
(accessed July 27, 2012).
