Has this list of ingredients any antiperspirant chemicals in it?

Question

Hi... Im using a deodorant that has the following ingredients:

Material/Ingredients: Alcohol Denat, Water (Aqua), Fragrance (Parfum), PEG-40 Hydrogenate Castor Oil, Acrylates/Octylacrylamide Copolymer, Limonene, Linalool, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate, Benzyl Salicylate, Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Benzophenone-3, Butylphenyl Methylpropional Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters, Dodium Carbonate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, Coumarin, Citral, Hydroxycitronellal, Eugenol, Geraniol, BHT, D&C Red No.33 (CI 17200), FD&C Yellow No.5 (CI 19140), FD&C Blue No.1 (CI 42090), EXT.D&C Violet No.2 (CI 60730)

I was wondering if any are antiperspirants? If so I will stop using it as I've heard it's really bad for you to actually stop your body from sweating and that it may be a cause for cancer.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Antiperspirants have some component that will absorb water -- in most cases they are aluminum-zirconium complexes.

Deodorants don't absorb moisture, they are designed to partially sterilize the underarm to kill the bacteria that make the odor. In the example you use, the sterilant is the alcohol. Then there's some fragrance to help keep you smelling better for longer. The rest is just solvents and coloring.

As far as the antiperspirants and cancer thing go, that is purely an urban legend. My wife works in oncology field, and that one has been around for years. Pure BS. Snopes.com rates it as undetermined, but science has yet to reliably connect the use of anti-perspirants with any form of cancer.

Sweating helps to remove toxins -- this is true, but only for water-soluble toxins. And if anti-perspirants stopped you from sweating, then you'd have a buildup of these toxins locally. That's the theory behind the urban legend.

But how do those toxins get there in the first place? They are carried there in aqueous (water) solution. And therefore they are mobile. The urban legend has it that anti-perspirants stop you from perspiring -- bull! They are made up with materials that ABSORB the excess moisture, thus reducing the feeling of wetness.

But even if they did prevent perspiration where applied, the water-soluble toxins would merely move on to another location where they COULD be sweated out -- heck, it's only a matter of inches from your anti-perspirant protected underarm to other, sweat-worthy places. Thus, no buildup of toxins. Just plain common sense.

So, (to use a bad pun) don't SWEAT it, Mr. Chipmunk.