The Underarm Ritual

Lyn Demaret October 5, 2026 6 min read

Understanding deodorant, antiperspirant, aluminum, and the very human business of sweating.

There are parts of caring for our bodies that we rarely give much thought.

We wash our faces. We moisturize our skin. We think about what goes into the food we eat and, increasingly, what goes into the products we bring into our homes.

But our armpits?

For most of my life, I simply wanted them not to sweat.

And living in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, I think I have a pretty reasonable defense for that.

This is a place that knows heat. Really knows heat.

Lake Havasu City once reached 128°F, the highest temperature ever recorded in Arizona. So I feel like I’ve earned the right to have some opinions about sweating.

Then there are the changes that come with getting older, when your internal thermostat can occasionally seem to have developed a personality of its own.

There are moments when I’m not entirely sure whether I’m simply warm, experiencing one of life’s hormonal plot twists, or preparing for spontaneous combustion.

So yes, I understand the desire to stay cool, dry, and comfortable.

But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also begun looking at my body differently. Rather than constantly asking it to stop doing the things bodies naturally do, I find myself wanting to understand why it does them.

Sweating is one of those things.

Deodorant and antiperspirant aren’t the same thing

We tend to use the words interchangeably, but they perform two very different jobs.

Deodorant addresses odor.

Antiperspirant reduces perspiration.

That difference matters.

Sweat itself is primarily water and is not inherently smelly. Underarm odor develops largely through the interaction between substances released by our sweat glands and the bacteria naturally living on our skin.

A deodorant allows perspiration to occur while helping manage the environment that contributes to odor.

An antiperspirant is designed to reduce the amount of sweat reaching the surface of the skin. In the United States, antiperspirants are regulated by the FDA as over-the-counter drugs because they change a normal body function by reducing perspiration.

Aluminum compounds are commonly used as the active ingredients in antiperspirants. They work by forming temporary plugs within sweat ducts, reducing the amount of perspiration that reaches the skin’s surface.

And that is where a much larger conversation began.

What about aluminum?

You may have heard that aluminum-containing antiperspirants cause breast cancer.

I have heard it too.

It is one of the reasons many people begin searching for an alternative.

But when we talk about ingredients and personal health at Pure Roots Skincare Company, I believe we have a responsibility to separate a legitimate question from a frightening conclusion.

Scientists have studied aluminum in antiperspirants because these products are used frequently, are applied near breast tissue, and small amounts of aluminum may be absorbed through the skin. Researchers have also explored whether aluminum compounds could have biological activity that might affect breast tissue.

Those questions are worth studying.

But asking a scientific question isn’t the same thing as proving the answer.

The National Cancer Institute states that there is currently no scientific evidence establishing that aluminum-containing antiperspirants cause breast cancer. The American Cancer Society likewise notes that the available evidence does not show a clear link between antiperspirant use and breast cancer.

Some studies have raised questions worthy of continued research, while other studies have found no association.

That distinction matters.

Choosing an aluminum-free deodorant does not have to come from fear.

It can simply come from preference.

And no, we don’t need to “sweat out toxins”

This was another part of the conversation that surprised me.

For years, I associated sweating with detoxification — the idea that opening our pores and sweating allows the body to release toxins.

That isn’t really what our sweat glands are designed to do.

Our liver and kidneys handle most of the body’s processing and elimination of waste. Sweat can contain tiny amounts of certain substances, but its primary purpose is much simpler and incredibly important:

Sweat helps regulate our body temperature.

Especially where I live, that’s something worth appreciating.

When our internal temperature rises, our bodies release moisture onto the skin. As that moisture evaporates, it helps cool us.

It’s one of those quiet systems working for us all day long without requiring our attention.

I still don’t particularly enjoy sweating.

I don’t think aging has made me that enlightened.

And when my body suddenly decides it is approximately 147 degrees for no obvious reason, I reserve the right to be less philosophical about the whole thing.

But I have learned to see perspiration differently.

Caring for the skin beneath our arms

Our underarms are skin.

That sounds ridiculously obvious when you say it aloud, but consider how we often treat them.

We shave them. Rub them. Cover them. Sweat through them. Apply products to them every day — sometimes several times a day — and rarely think about the skin itself.

Perhaps underarm care deserves some of the same consideration we give the rest of our skin.

Gentle cleansing.

Thoughtful ingredients.

Keeping the area comfortable and dry when needed.

Paying attention when skin feels irritated.

And choosing products based on what we actually want them to do.

If your priority is stopping or substantially reducing perspiration, an antiperspirant may be the product that serves you best.

If your priority is allowing your body’s natural perspiration while helping manage odor, deodorant may be the better fit.

Neither decision needs to come from shame or fear.

A different relationship with our bodies

This may be the larger lesson for me.

When I was younger, so much personal care seemed centered around controlling the body.

Stop sweating.

Cover the smell.

Hide the blemish.

Erase the line.

Change the texture.

As I age, I find myself becoming more curious about working with my body instead.

That doesn’t mean abandoning the things that make us feel comfortable. Believe me, living through a Lake Havasu summer — combined with the occasional internal weather event that arrives without warning — has not suddenly made me enthusiastic about perspiration.

It simply means understanding what our bodies are doing before deciding what we want to change.

For me, choosing deodorant instead of antiperspirant became less about being afraid of an ingredient and more about becoming intentional about what I use every day.

That is the kind of choice we believe in at Pure Roots Skincare Company.

Not perfection.

Not fear.

Not the idea that there is only one right way to care for yourself.

Just thoughtful ingredients, a little more understanding, and rituals that help us feel comfortable in the skin we live in.

Because caring for your body begins with listening to it.