Dare To Smell II: The Search

Last week, I wrote about my decision to stop wearing mainstream deodorants. For approximately 7 weeks, I took on the challenge of finding cheap, accessible and all-natural substances that would kill underarm odor as effectively as Yardley or Axe. It wasn’t easy I tell you!

My first experiment was with lemon. All I had to do was take a thin slice, rub it under my arms and wait for it to dry before dressing up. Lemon worked well enough, but after years of relying on antiperspirants, my sweating alarmed me. It was like all the drops of sweat that had been held back had decided to finally follow their dreams of exploring the world.

Just as I was getting used this, my skin reacted violently. Lemon is highly acidic and my dramatic epidermis decided it had had enough. The rashes I got were so nauseating to look at and so painful to have that I almost abandoned my project.

Ginger: My ginger phase was short and weird. This is what would happen. Because I always have a lemon or three in office, I would arrive some mornings without applying any. Unfortunately, we have a thief in the building. I would sometimes find that he or she had struck, leaving nothing but empty space where my healthy lemon had once sat.  Out of desperation, I would borrow some of  the boss’ ginger.  Its strong smell would permeate my pores and mute most of the odor. However, I didn’t fall in love with it and soon abandoned it for baking soda.

Great for tea, great for your armpits.

Baking soda: When my armpits healed from the lemon assault, I bought a box of baking powder (also known as soda bicarbonate) and proceeded to use it as deodorant. Its effectiveness blew me away! I am sure that the non-bathing types among us will be happy to know that it can work for two days straight! As far as application, all you  have to do is dust a little under your arms. In fact, you can mix it with coconut oil and apply the nice smelling paste. I highly recommend it for all you lucky people with normal skin. Mine rebelled after three days.

I love that bowl. You can find baking soda in almost every shop in Ug.

My skin reacted so nastily that a deep depression came upon me. Surely normal deodorant was better than this shit that had turned my armpits into an abomination. It was with a heavy heart that I continued my research.

Bombo: I failed to find bombo. This still breaks my heart. I hear that when you scrub your body using the leaves, it ceases to produce offensive odors almost permanently. I am still hoping that somebody will point me in its direction so that I can plant it in my yard. I would rather scrub  with bombo every single day of my life than use paraben/aluminum rich deodorants on my hypersensitive skin.

Bombo ooye

A friend called Yvonne suggested matooke ash. She told me to burn the peels, add water to the ash and apply the paste to my armpits at night before bed. Apparently, when you wash it off in the morning, you will smell heavenly. I have been promising myself to try this for almost a month now. Aate there is matooke at home. I must burn some peels tonight!

Yep. Burn some peels.

On this quest, I suffered disappointment, mockery, confusion and not a little pain. Thankfully, all nasty things come to an end. I met a plant that healed my skin, faded the scars and killed odor all at once! In next week’s article, I will tell you all about it.

Hopefully, you will be persuaded to try natural deodorants out.