The Road to Crunchy is Paved with Good Intentions (and hateful skin reactions)

So let's talk about armpits. Oh yeah, that's what I said. But first, let's clear up some terminology.

You may be thinking, "what is this crunchy crap Sarah is always talking about?" Insert definition via logic equation: Crunchy is to Granola as Granola is to Hippie. You follow that? Need something more concrete? Crunchy Definition via Urban Dictionary. Take out the left-leaning political hoopla and insert right-leaning, follower of Jesus libertarian, and you've got your picture of me as Crunchy.

The "modern hippie" as Google Images puts it

It's complex. There's an inner hippie inside me who just wants to not wear shoes and be free.  I want to smell the salt and sun in my hair. I want to eat food that I know how and where it was grown.  I want to hold on to the farming past of this nation and understand that God gave us dominion and control over animals, but that didn't mean corporate misconduct for profit margins.  I want people to understand that the FDA and the CDC don't have your back. But your garden in the back yard or your neighbor bartering freshly laid eggs from his hens for your tomatoes, they have your back. I want life to be simple and pure. I want my kids to understand the value of digging in the dirt to grow something we eat. I want my kids to know how important it is to value and respect life, even if it is something we kill to eat. And I want to understand and to raise another generation to understand that we take from the earth only what we need, because we share it with so many other people. The complexity is found in the fact that I live in a fast paced city, in a corporate/professional setting, and it's hard to balance the two.

Health and wellness are not found in the pharmacy or on the aisles of a Wal-mart. Nor are they found in the endless commercials for new "miracle drugs" with countless reactions and death warnings.  It's found in daily decisions to take nutrition seriously, eating to live, eating to be healthy, and making educated decisions as to what is going on that giant, breathing organ we know as skin. Your skin is alive.  It's absorbing EVERYTHING you put on it. Take a brief moment and really think that through. So with current studies questioning things like parabens,among the countless other ingredients in everything we put on our skin, I'm starting to dig deeper, ignore what our consumer culture is pushing on me, and realize that if I make it or know the 7 ingredients in it, it's probably less crazy to be put on my skin.

The main things I am looking for: 1) dispelling toxins from my body; 2) putting only things I know are good for me on my skin; 3) pushing back from the mass-marketed, consuming culture we are surrounded by to support local economy and personal creation;  4) making sure that whatever I am putting on my skin isn't being injected into bunnies or guinea pigs just so I can wear makeup; and 5) still smell clean and look pretty.

And giant loop back to the armpit convo: first off, let's be super honest.  I, Sarah, am a super sweaty person.  Always have been. I sweat like a man. Thus, I have used a lot of deodorant in my smelly sweaty days. Usually, at least for the last about 4-7 years, I've been using my ol' faithful: Dove. It smells lovely.  I'm not a sweaty man beast during the day. And I felt pretty solid, because Dove is all about "real beauty" etc.

So what's the issue?  Hellllllooooo chemical absorption and animal testing. You may be thinking, "what's the big deal with deo for the BO?" Well how about the fact that in vitro absorption occurs, the FDA is choosing to"wait and see" if the chemicals in deodorant actually cause cancer, as it suspected, or my main concern: what is the aluminium absorption doing to estrogen levels?

Oh yes! Let's put that cancer right on in my arm pitties please!

And so, I decided to end my relationship with Dove and introduced myself to Tom.  He's from Maine. Basically, I felt like this was a mild step into a toxic free lifestyle, even if it isn't the best step. Well, it worked out ok. For like a week. Then all hell broke loose, and by that, I mean enter skin reaction.

I smelled fine. If anything, the lavender scent was very fresh.  I wasn't overly sweaty. I was like, ok we are on to something here! But then my arm pits became angry and then subsequently violent. I had painfully burning armpits. And then my skin became rash-like and hateful.  Everything touching it hurt. Let's not even talk about why I felt the need to shave during that process. Wow.

So what happened? Here's my theory: 1) I knew that switching would cause mild irritation because your body is reacting to the expelling of toxic substances, so I ignored the warning signs of "hey lady, your pits aren't doing ok here" 2) I was applying more than once a day, worried that I smell, so my pits were SUPER covered and lastly 3) I definitely missed the fact that Tom uses zinc in his deo for the BO.

I do not react well with zinc.  If I ingest zinc, my stomach and diaphragm hurt for hours. And obviously on my skin, zinc causes burning, rash like symptom, and peeling.

Thus, I'm back on the Dove. Until I purchase either this probiotic deodorant or this creamy, homemade, tropical deodorant.

And I will keep on ramblin'...