A Dermatologist Says These Skin Care Products Are 'The Worst Things You Can Buy'

Americans spent $6.6 billion dollars in 2023 trying to keep their armpits (and other parts) stink-free, and many of them chose a natural deodorant to do the job.

These products are often touted as better for us than conventional deodorants, but is that really true?

That’s what we — Raj Punjabi and Noah Michelson, hosts of HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast — asked Dr. Divya Shokeen, the founder of Ocean Skin & Vein Institute in Manhattan Beach, California, when she recently chatted with us about some of the surprising things we don’t know about sweat.

Listen to the full episode by pressing “play.”

“I think natural deodorants are the worst things you can buy,” Shokeen told us. “I actually see an allergy from a natural deodorant almost every other day [in my office].”

Though these products do not contain aluminum, parabens, or phthalates — ingredients found in conventional deodorants that many people do not want on or in their bodies — they can still cause trouble.

“Typically, they’re made from natural substances, but ‘natural’ is not a thing,” Shokeen said. “Let’s make that very clear — because poison ivy is ‘natural,’ but you don’t want to rub that [on yourself].”

In fact, Cedars-Sinai notes that “the FDA has never established a regulatory definition for ‘natural’ in cosmetics products like deodorant.”

Many of the ingredients that natural deodorants use to fight odor, including baking soda and essential oils and fragrances, can actually be incredibly irritating, Shokeen noted.

Baking soda, which is known for its odor-absorbing properties, is alkaline, so when it comes in contact with our skin, which is more acidic, it can upset our natural pH balance and cause a reaction.

But even baking soda-free deodorants