Tom's of Maine Natural Unscented Deodorant Review

Overall 3.00 of 5 view all 6 reviews

add to my favorites email to a friend view more Deodorant Reviews

Publisher's Circle

Jo
Plymouth, MA

add Jo to my friends list

Tom, Kate and I go way back

will pay for quality, health conscious, into alternative remedies, animal lover, am against animal testing, likes organic product

Pros

aluminum free, not tested on animals, no animal ingredients, it works

Cons

a vegetable form of stearates

SEP

2007

To the Point

I have been using products by Tom's of Maine for a long time. Tom and Kate's Natural Long Lasting deodorant stick had been my deodorant of choice for years. Tom's was one of the first if not the first to come out with a "natural" deodorant. The packaging says that they came out with the first natural deodorant in 1976. We are told on the stick bottle that Tom's of Maine's unscented deodorant is improved with hops and is aluminum free. The company explains the purpose of hops on the package. We are told that hops inhibit the growth of bacteria. This bacteria causes odor.

A Closer View

Tom's does work. I find that after a hard workout or a day of hiking there is no smell of bacteria.

The tube is 2.25 ounces and twists up with a knob on the bottom. There virtually is no fragrance when I smell it. I paid about $4.00 for this stick.

At some point I looked at the ingredients. This happened when I learned that in some people sodium stearate (or anything in the stearate/laurate family) causes allergic reactions and just may not be good for us. I was shocked to check that in fact Tom's has sodium stearate which didn't make me happy. It also has glyceryl laurate. However (This is important and I've done a lot of reading about these ingredients for a long time.) in Tom's this ingredient is vegetable based. It seems that this family of stearates is not harmful in that form.

Tom's uses no animal ingredients and it is tested for safety without using animals. If you see a product that says "not tested on animals" that may not mean that their ingredients aren't animal based or that their ingredients aren't tested on animals. What it may mean is that the final product isn't tested on animal.

It also has aloe, lichen and coriander which are all natural botanicals and a variety of oils.
Over the summer I used Nature's Gate (reviewed). I thought it very good with a nice fragrance. It does work but not as well as Tom's.

Jo's Viewpoint

I like it and am rating it 4 stars rather than 5 because I'd rather not see stearates in any form.