Best Natural Deodorants in the UK That Actually Work

I have been searching for a year or so for the best natural deodorant that is not only vegan & cruelty free deodorant, but really works. I’ve found two unusual options, Glycolic acid & Himalayan salt deodorant.

I’ve been using natural deodorant for years because I never liked the idea of using anti-perspirants because let’s face it; we are supposed to sweat so blocking it can’t be good for you.  

Check out my YouTube video below where I discuss the best natural deodorants I’ve tried, including cruelty free deodorants, if you’d prefer not to read my post.

This post contains affiliate links which means I make a small profit if you buy through my link. I would never recommend something I didn’t believe in or wouldn’t buy myself, thank you for your support.

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I have probably used a lot of different cruelty free deodorants over the years, crystal natural deodorants just didn’t work in my experience and about 8 years ago I settled on Lush Aromaco deodorant.  

Lush Solid Deodorant

There are a lot of pros to this natural deodorant, it comes without packaging in a solid bar which is great. It has lots of natural ingredients such as patchouli, witch hazel and chamomile vinegar. Due to the patchouli it has quite a unisex scent I would say and all the years I used this I would always get comments on the scent.

List of ingredients

Witch Hazel Infusion Propylene Glycol Sodium Stearate Chamomile Vinegar Sodium Bicarbonate Patchouli Oil *Citral *Limonene Perfume
Natural Ingredients
Safe Synthetics
*occurs naturally in essential oils.

I would say that it’s a very good deodorant even when exercising etc I would never feel bad. The downside to this natural deodorant is that once you get to the last bit it is very difficult to use as it is a solid bar and it does leave a bit of residue on clothes.  
For Lush Aromaco deodorant click here

I ran out of my last bar of Lush cruelty free deodorant in 2019 and I started my hunt for something different, a fragrance free deodorant and preferably a bit cheaper to use instead.  

Others

I have tried a few different fragrance free deodorants like the Natural deodorant co and The Loving Nature, however I found that the natural deodorants like these that had bicarbonate of soda as their main bacteria fighting ingredient, just caused irritation to my underarms, which is a really awful place to have irritation – I can assure you!  

Salt of the Earth

As my quest for the best natural deodorant continued I was advised to try Salt of the Earth as it’s a recommended vegan & cruelty free deodorant and so I tried their roll-on deodorant. This one has very mild ingredients, glycerine and a few essential oils. The one I tried was Lavender and Vanilla and I really wanted this one to work, even though it wasn’t a fragrance free deodorant.

This cruelty free deodorant just doesn’t last more than a few hours before I felt uncomfortable and just want to reapply!  

Ingredients: Aqua, Potassium Alum, Magnesium Chloride, Glycerine, Propanediol, Triethyl Citrate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice**, Polyglyceryl-10-Laurate, Xanthan Gum, Fragrance (Parfum*), Sodium Bicarbonate, Galactoarabinan, Sodium Anisate, Citric acid. *Linalool, *Limonene, *Geraniol, *Citronellol, *Citral, *Eugenol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Farnesol *From natural botanical extracts and essential oils. **Organically grown.

If you are not a person that sweats very much this might be the best natural deodorant for you. I have noticed that they have a balm version of this cruelty free deodorant on their website which might be a better option.  
For Salt of the Earth click here.

Nuud

If you use social media you may have noticed an advert for Nuud. This natural deodorant is a cream in a bioplastic sugar cane tube and it’s claims is it will last 3-7 days once you go through a transition period. It’s of course another vegan and cruelty free deodorant option.

There are a lot of reviews of people saying this is the best natural deodorant, however it did not work for me sadly.

Ingredients: Micro silver, coconut oil, castor oil, Zinc oxide, Almond oil, Mineral clay, Vegetable emulsifier, Castor oil extract, Vegetable mix enhancer, Carnauba wax.

There’s more details on their website about each individual ingredient if you wanted to learn more.

After using this natural deodorant for several weeks on it’s own, I was still finding that I would apply in the morning and by midday I was already feeling like I needed to reapply or shower. This was without doing anything particularly strenuous.  
For Nuud fragrance free deodorant click here

Awake Organics

A very similar natural deodorant to the Nuud natural deodorant, is Awake Organics (affiliate link) cruelty free deodorant. It’s a probiotic, fragrance free deodorant and it’s a similar creamy consistency.

Ingredients: ^Maranta Arundinacea (Prebiotic Arrowroot) Powder, Magnesium Oxide, *^Cocos Nucifera (Virgin Coconut) Oil, ^Cannabis Sativa (UK Hemp) Seed Oil, *+Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, “Cetearyl Olivate, Lactobacillus Ferment (Probiotic), Tocopherol (Natural, Non-GM Vitamin E), “Sorbitan Olivate, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax.

(*Certified Organic, ^Food Grade, #Occurs Naturally in Essential Oils, +Fair Trade, “Ecocert Olive-derived Wax)

Please note, the colour may vary slightly from batch-to-batch due to the natural colour of the fresh hemp seed oil changing. Graininess may also occur due to the raw shea butter used in the formula. Any small grains will melt on contact with your skin.

I like this cruelty free deodorant a lot, I don’t think it lasts all day though so definitely not one you can use alone. Used alongside others I think this one is a brilliant and one of the best natural deodorants. A big plus for me is that it comes in a tin too.

Glycolic acid

My game changing moment was when I noticed a recommendation on a Facebook group I’m in (Vegan Beauty UK) where another user posted for recommendations for the best natural deodorant. One of the replies was to try Glycolic acid toner as a fragrance free deodorant, because it’s supposed to remove the bacteria that causes the smell.

Well I thought this was interesting and as I already use The Ordinary glycolic acid toner on my face (chemical exfoliant) as a part of my skincare routine, I decided to give it a try.  

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I’m pleased to say that I love how well this works, I just use a reusable pad and wipe a generous amount under my armpits and it lasts all day as a natural deodorant with no residue on your clothes whatsoever! The only thing I’ve noticed is I sometimes have a scent like spices – no idea why because the toner is unscented but it certainly isn’t a bad thing.  

I do feel that on a hot day it isn’t quite enough however, so I was using this in combination with, Nuud/Awake natural deodorant. That combination really seemed to work in summer and I never feel uncomfortable.

However, it wasn’t the most cost effective fragrance free deodorant and the glycolic acid can be difficult to get hold of so I continued my search for the best natural deodorant.

You can buy The Ordinary from Beauty Bay,Cult Beauty and even Boots so there’s a few places in the UK you can get this (depending on availability of course) and by my understanding it’s available in a lot of other countries too.  

For the Ordinary glycolic acid from Cult Beauty click here

Himalayan salt deodorant

As much as I love the Ordinary Glycolic acid, (it is one of the best natural deodorants I’ve tried) I wanted to find a plastic free alternative so I decided to try the salt deodorant above.

This fragrance free deodorant was £5.95 from Andkeep shopping and it was recommended to me by a vegan friend Kirstin on Instagram. However, sadly they no longer stock it.

If you manage to find this cruelty free deodorant elsewhere, it works best if you’re doing nothing too active. On days where I might be doing more I just use it with the Awake Organics and it covers me all day.

It’s a very cost effective natural deodorant because it will last for years. You just wet it and rub it on. As it really is just salt, it’s a great vegan and cruelty free deodorant. In my opinion, it’s the best natural deodorant that I’ve tried this year, despite having to use it in combination with other things on certain days.

I would say one thing about this fragrance free deodorant, just be careful not to drop it. I dropped it and it chipped a little bit on one side, this means that I can’t use that particular side of this cruelty free deodorant, because it scratches a little.

Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these fragrance free deodorants in your hunt for the best natural deodorant. I’ve done a slightly more updated eco friendly deodorant list if you wanted to check that out.

Perhaps you’ve got on better with some of the cruelty free deodorants that I’ve mentioned, I’m curious to know. As I know that everyone’s different and not all fragrance free deodorants work the same.

I’ve also reviewed the Wild refill deodorant if you want to read my honest thoughts on this refill natural deodorant.

You can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. If you’d like to hear my dulcet tones, check out my YouTube channel.

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