My boys are starting to have, what they proudly refer to as, “pit stench”. I bought them each a trial size deodorant and brought it home so we could all slowly ease into this puberty thing. Their father’s reaction surprised me. He wanted to be sure the deodorant didn’t have anti-perspirant because “the body needs to sweat”. After a quick check, I saw that the deodorant I brought home DID have anti-perspirant, so I asked them not to use it until I figured out a better brand for them.
For several years, I’ve heard about the negative effects aluminum has on the human body; Causes Alzheimer’s, causes breast cancer, ruins your clothes – none of these a good thing. So in my quest for a healthier future for my boys I’ve decided to try the aluminum-free route. At least if the deodorant doesn’t work, we’ll remember how bad we stunk because we won’t have Alzheimer’s, right? So I bought myself a crystal and vowed to give it a shot. Many people swear by this product, while others tried to convince me to run as far away as possible from it. It’s basically a rock that you wet and then rub under your armpits instead of deodorant.
Here is my experience with this crystal:
Saturday-I soaped up extra hard in the shower so that I could get a really fresh start with the crystal. I rubbed it on and it felt…normal. As the day progressed my skin was feeling not so smooth. Little wafts of morning pits were drifting my way, but I stayed strong. A friend of mine told me it would be smellier than normal at first – but to stick with it until all the aluminum and poisons are sweated out of my pit chimneys.
Sunday: what better weekend to help a friend on the farm in the extreme summer heat, than the first weekend with no anti-perspirant and a mere fossil as your odor stopper?! I went to help my friend bottle pears in her pear orchard. Reaching, stretching and sweating in the sun proved to be a great test for my crystal pits. My body odor didn’t seem to offend anyone and all living vegetation around me still thrived.
Monday: of all the days to be running late and unable to take a shower – the third day of crystal pits MIGHT be one of the worst. Normally, in this case, I would take what I call a “whore’s bath” – deodorant & perfume. SO, I wet the crystal and rubbed it hopefully on my already- smelly pits. By the time I got to work, 10 minutes later, it smelled as if I had been using crutches all week and the pad parts that go under your arm were made out of chili dogs and had been rubbing against me. I stuck with the plan, though. On my lunch break I ran to a local natural foods store to search for a salt scrub a friend had recommended to take away the stench. I browsed the aisles and ended up asking an employee there to sniff my pits to see if they were as bad as I thought. She said actually they weren’t bad at all. From then on, I’ve been footloose and fancy free. I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten used to the stench or everyone else is just being polite/in a daze from my odor.
