Posted by: Katherine Ashenburg - Author of The Dirt on Clean

Although our ancestors were much more relaxed about body odour than we are, I did find the occasional ancient deodorant recipe—like the 16th-century French one that recommended a compound of roses to counteract “the goat-like stench of armpits.” The first generation of commercial deodorants, at the end of the 19th century, tried to close the pores with wax, but in 1907 a Cincinnati surgeon invented the first modern deodorant. It was called Odorono (“Odor? Oh no!”), and it inhibited perspiration with aluminum chloride. A century later, our choices of deodorants are vast. And so are the problems associated with that choice, as I learned this week from two good sources, Heidi Sopinka’s Footprint column in The Globe and Mail, and Adria Vasil’s book Ecoholic.

Although the link between aluminum and Alzheimer’s disease remains unproven, many people avoid antiperspirants, which almost always contain aluminum. Lots of antiperspirants and deodorants contain paraben, a preservative that is potentially carcinogenic. So is talc, and its illegal mining endangers Indian tigers. Even so-called natural deodorants contain propylene glycol—better known, in 100% concentrations, as antifreeze. Aside from not wanting to smear antifreeze on your armpits, it’s very harmful to aquatic creatures.

Bewildering as this sounds, Sopinka offers some sensible advice: “Avoid antiperspirants entirely, and if after reading the label you find no mention of parabens, talc or propylene glycol, you’re on the right track.” Even simpler, you could experiment with a regime more and more people are telling me about: do without deodorant and rely on soap and water. When Kermit the Frog complained about how hard it was being green, he must have been thinking about deodorant!