For years, I’ve been a fan of natural deodorants. It’s one of the steps in your beauty routine that’s easy to make “clean,” while still getting powerful performance.

And no, you don’t have to stink if you switch over to a safer deodorant. With all of the options that are out there for aluminum-free deodorants, there is bound to be a formula that works, and is safe.

Kinko is one of those for me, so let’s dig in to specifics!

 

Why You Might Want to Make the Switch to a Natural Deodorant

Your body needs to sweat. It’s natural and necessary. It’s how your body regulates temperature during activities, and it’s also how your body detoxifies.

For years, people have been using antiperspirant with aluminum, which is designed to soak into the pores and stop the sweat from coming out, effectively (if it’s working) blocking the odor.

While I know some women are avid fans of their Secret—no judgment!—I made the decision to switch to aluminum-free deodorant for several reasons.

First, I believe it’s important to allow your body to go through the natural process of sweating, without forcing chemicals into your system that can compromise your health. Second, I always found antiperspirants stung my underarm area.

And finally, I love that you don’t have to sacrifice performance when you use a natural deodorant. With all the high-performing options on the market today, I think there’s no reason to at least not try an aluminum-free option.

 

Here’s Why You Smell When You Sweat

I am about to blow your mind: SWEAT DOESN’T STINK. True! Weird, right?

Sweat alone isn’t the source of smell on your skin.Let’s hear from Kinko founder Chelsi Oestreich who explains further:

“Sweating is a natural and necessary process to detox your system. Furthermore, sweat is actually odorless; it is only when it comes into contact with specific bacteria that odor is produced.“

You heard that right. Sweat is odorless until it comes into contact with the bacteria on your skin. And that is the source of the stink, my friends.

 

Why Kinko Deodorant is Different

In short, it works with your body’s natural process, and not against it, to eliminate odor.

Here’s what I mean by that: This product isn’t here to mask your “bad” smell; it’s literally changing it by feeding the good bacteria that’s already on your body.

Chelsi says, “A lot of natural deodorants use kitchen ingredients–baking soda, coconut oil, etc.  Our formula is science based, using the Microbiomix blend to keep sweat odorless.  We also use rice bran powder to keep your skin dry.  We are aluminum-free, baking soda-free, vegan, cruelty free, and oil free (no grease marks on your clothes!).”

 

Here’s How and Why Kinko Deodorant Works

Essentially, Kinko is rebalancing your skin’s own microbiome to naturally eliminate odor.

Chelsi explains. “Your microbiome is as unique as your DNA. And just think, every product that you put on your skin reacts with the naturally present bacteria, so you want to find products that are not disrupting the biome so they can perform as intended.”The Microbiomix™ Balancing Deodorant uses a blend of pre-and post-biotics to nurture the good bacteria and neutralize the bad to eliminate odor.”

Here’s how that breaks down:

The unique ingredient in Kinko is feeding prebiotics to the good bacteria on your skin, to make sure they thrive.Then, it adjusts the skin’s pH level with postbiotics, therefore deactivating odor-causing bacteria.

 

What to Know About Kinko Deodorant

• Consistency: It’s like a serum. It applies from a rollerball, and it soaks into your skin fairly quickly.

• Color: There’s almost a silver, almost gray tint to the formula. Of course it doesn’t show up on your skin that way, but if you notice that while applying, know that it’s totally normal.

• Fragrance: I wear the Unscented version, but they also make a Sakura Rose scent!

 

Why Not Use a Deodorant that Just Masks the Scent?

I’m going to let Chelsi answer this, because she does it best:

“Everyone’s microbiome is unique to them as their DNA.  Even when you formulate a product to mask odor, it depends on the interaction it has with your skin’s bacteria as to whether it will actually work or not. If you formulate to balance your biome, the good bacteria will overpopulate the bad and keep sweat odorless, like it was intended.”

Just like nature intended. I like that. It also explains why some people swear by certain natural deodorant formulations that end up maybe not working as well on you.I like the idea of a product addressing the problem, not masking it, and that’s exactly what Kinko does.

So, Does Kinko Deodorant Actually Work?

Okay, promise you won’t judge? Yes? Okay good.

I can affirmatively say this stuff works, and it works well. How do I know this? Andrew says so.

While this may not be the most scientific of explanations, one’s spouse doing the, ahem, “field work” of sniffing your armpits to tell you if a deodorant is just about as damn close as it gets. (Oh God, please don’t ever tell him that I wrote this. What a champ. GET YERSELF a guy who will sniff your pits all in the name of work, ladies!)

Okay, now I realize that glowing review from my husband might not be the most factually-backed way of proving the performance of a deodorant, but consider this: We live in Florida, where it is 15-thousand degrees and 100% humidity by about 8am, 80% of the year. That should tell you how much one is apt to sweat while living here. If you ask me, it doesn’t get more scientific than that.

I use the Unscented version, and love it!

Shop it HERE, and get 15% off PLUS free shipping when you use code SONNI!