Forums:
I stink LOL! In the past, I could buy any deodorant and smell and fine. Since using Tom's natural sensitive care deodorant, I have never stunk so bad in my life! Matia's told me her spray is for list 2. Do you have any ideas?
Also, I have oily hair and the Neem shampoo is making my hair look greasy (I am sure it is a great shampoo for people with dry scalp). What do you use for clean looking hair? Has anyone with an oily scalp tried California baby? Thanks for helping me with my hygiene problems :)
Hah! Good (& brave) question
This has been a toughie for me. In fact I wanted to ask at the upcoming support meeting, b/c the natural deodorants just don't cut it, never mind they don't stop you from sweating at all. And of all things this treatment makes us give up, this is the one I really have an issue with. I'm sad about but can deal w/ no perfume, manicures, etc. but I'm a lady and don't wish to stink or sweat!!
I've tried soooo many natural deodorants - I think all that Whole Foods sells plus a few online that tout they're the best. The only one that's worked pretty well is Mbeze (can buy online), but it's very expensive for a small amount and nothing works perfectly. I'd also like to experiment with putting plain cornstarch directly on the pits to see if that helps w/ sweating - not sure if that contributes to yeast though? Be interested to hear others' suggestions on this too.
As for oily scalp/greasy hair, I had this a lot at the beginning of (& months before) treatment. I tried everything... which led me to realize I don't think there's any magic product that can fix it. I think the oily scalp issue goes beyond oily scalp, that it's a manifestation of the larger imbalance, which is why no external product alone can fix it. Once our internal environment starts getting more balanced it will get better. I can tell you after a couple months of treatment the oily scalp definitely improved with no change in products. I can also say that depending on the herbs (whether they're more "moistening" or "drying" as Matia says), the hair changes. When on Peonnaie (moistening) my hair's gotten a little more oily & flat. On goldenseal, was drier & more volume.
hygiene
Sharon,It's not just that the deoderant isn't as strong or odor controlling but also that the body is cleansing and that can make you smell so bad! I'll go through periods of time where I'll be sweating and the odor is little to none and other times its really super foul! For awhile I was using the witch hazel and lavendar oil spray as a deoderent. you have to make it yourself using witch hazel and 5 drops of lavender oil but it doesn't seem to have much lasting power for me. There was this deoderet powder I saw in the store and it was called cystalluxe? It was just aluminum mineral salt-(like those cystal rocks) salts and cornstarch I think and really simple ingredients. I have no idea if those are safe for us but I thought it might be okay. then my grocery store quit carrying it! I have some research to do. I really miss smelling good and not looking all greasy or dried out! I'm always looking for shampoos and conditioners soaps and deoderents. It all looks good thenthere's that last ingredient - something totally flare inducing. I'll report back with findings soon. Mary
it's funny because as i was
it's funny because as i was reading your posts yesterday, i was having one of those days where your sweat just smells totally rank for seemingly no reason. it doesn't happen often, but yesterday it totally was and today, nothing. after my pain problem kicked off in the last few years, before finding matia, i had a few spells of this and was totally baffled. my mom kept telling me that it probably had to do with stress and that when you get super stressed you smell worse. i kept saying that i've been stressed my whole life and that has never been the case, but, none of us could figure another explanation. so, now i'm wondering could it have had to do with the whole imbalance thing? it makes sense to me that during treatment it would have to do with cleansing and bad stuff coming out, but just wondering if anyone else ever noticed spells of this BEFORE treatment? curious...
Yes aboros, several months
Yes aboros, several months before I got really sick w/ IC I started sweating a lot more, esp. in social situations even though I didn't feel nervous for any reason. But since around this time I also was switching over to natural deodorants, I chalked it up to the transition & them not having antiperspirant control. But now I def. think I was still sweating more than normal. The social situation thing really threw me too, but then look how all these people w/ anxiety/panic attacks have it resolve after Matia's treatment when she's 'just' treating the bladder! I'm hopeful this will get better once my body rebalances.
Aluminium?
Honeybee, I thought aluminium was a no-no for everyone, isn't this what is used in ordinary anti-perspirants becos it blocks the pores - not a good idea. Also, its linked with development of dementia and alzheimer's disease, apparently they have found aluminium plaques in the brains of sufferers. Not everyone accepts antiperspirant is the cause, as aluminium is in some foods apparently. Best to be cautious I think. Using aluminium saucepans is a bad idea also. Sorry to be negative!
Janejones
I don't know the name of the actual ingredient- maybe it is the same aluminum as in regular deoderent maybe I'm wrong but I thought that whatever it was that the rock deoderent- it was NOT a toxic aluminum ingredient like in commercial deoderants. This is some naturally occuring mineral salt- nothing laboratory manipulated. I knew that aluminum was big no-no! I didn't mean to be confusing or recommend something unsafe for folks. What I was looking at was this simple natural rock powdered deoderants. i don't know it might not be safe for us now anyway but it has like 2 ingredients so I thought it might be okay. but it certainly is nothing like the aluminum in commercial deoderants. I found this in a health food store and don't think this store sells anything that would be toxic to apply to the sweat glands. Thank you for addressing that though-I do not want to be spreading misinformation! You aren't being negative at all-just good advice to be clear on ingredients since they can be super detremental to the process of getting well. thanks Jane!Mary
Problems Solved
I solved my hygiene problems LOL. I started using more of the Neem Shampo (I think I wasn't using enough) and have had good results. Then I remembered the post about making your own deodorant with baking, soda, cornstartch, and olive oil. It really wooks! I feel so much better being clean :)
It's summer and I am sorry
It's summer and I am sorry but there just not going to cut it that well esp when your cleansing. Sometimes I find myself smelling like mold. Matia gets excited for me and tells me it's the yeast. I am sorry but i know it's good I can't share the same excitement of smelling like mold. What i do is use either rubbing alchol or witch hazel with the lavender drops in a spray bottle. THis does work but as Marry said not long lasting. For this reason I reapply it's easy to carry the spray bottle in my purse and when in the car or the restroom just spray it on. You can wear the lavender on your wrists, your neck and in your hair too so that you smell much nicer in general. For me this was way easier living in LA because it's dry. Those of us dealing with humid climates I am sorry it's just a battle we got to get through. I have to say I get it the worst. June July and Aug sept make me want to crawl into an AC hole not come out till OCt. It's in the high 90's here when i wake up in the AM and then even after the sun goes down it only goes to about 85. The humidity is like 60-80%. I still use the spray it dryes out the pores and the lavender is nice. Got to apply apply apply. This is a much easier task in the winter i find I can get away with using the natural ones much better. I have tried the stone you have to put it on when you are still wet from the shower because your pores must be soft still for it to work. I still do not find it working in the Fl Summer heat tho I stick to my spray.
I used Lafe's natural
I used Lafe's natural deodorant lavender spray from the very beginning and it never bothered me. I know it is on List 2, but may be you can try it just once to see if it bothers you. This is the ONLY natural deodorant that worked for me. Hard to believe, but for me it controls sweat and smell better than any comercial one I used to use.