This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Native. The opinions and text are all mine.
Over the last couple of years or so, my wife has been steadily replacing tons of the products in our house with more natural, conscious, and eco-friendly options. Swapping out single-use for reusable, no more sulfates or synthetics, responsible production—things of that nature. While I do miss that chemical-fresh scent of our old fabric softener, I have to say the transition really hasn’t been that bad or even noticeable, in some cases. However, I have to admit I’ve been holding out on changing any of my own personal care items. Don’t get me wrong, though this lifestyle adjustment very much started as her thing, I definitely get the reasoning and appeal. What can I say? I know what I love and what works for me so the gamble of testing new waters hasn’t filled me with any sense of urgency. All this said, when Native reached out with an opportunity to try out their deodorant and body wash, I took it as a sign that it was probably my time.
What is Native?
The Native brand was founded in San Francisco, CA and continues to make all of its products in the United States. The idea was to create personal care products free from any and all potentially harmful ingredients. This meant no aluminum to clog up pores, no parabens to mess with hormones, and no sulfates to strip and irritate skin. They also don’t test on animals, and their packaging is pretty sleek. Not ingredients, but still worth mentioning. Honestly, at first glance, everything about the brand seems like it’s one I’d be happy to support. But then, of course, there’s the real question: how well did everything work?
The Body Wash
Let’s get the easy one out of the way, shall we? I got the body wash in their citrus & herbal musk scent. I think it’s because I had the idea of “natural” in my head but, for some reason, I thought it was going to smell like a combination of fruity and earthy. Still pleasant but not like what I’ve been using lately. As it turned out, it somehow smells EXACTLY like like my old go-to body wash. So, you know, win #1. The rest of the experience with it was happily typical: it had a good lather and didn’t leave my skin feeling tight or dry and the scent was just as strong as you would want it to be and lasted for quite some time. Also worth noting, the ingredient list on the back listing what everything was and what the average person knows it as was refreshing as well.
Aaaaaand drumroll, please.
The Deodorant
Despite having zero experience with natural deodorant I still managed to conjure up some expectations as far as what using it might be like. Through the odd friend or family member, I’d heard about several caveats to using natural deodorant. From horrible transition periods to the product just straight up not working. Still, there seemed to be plenty of people quite happy with it, so there was a good chance for things working out with this one. Right? Well, I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks now and I’m thrilled to report that it’s been nothing but great.
For the scents, I got, again, the citrus & herbal musk as well as the eucalyptus & mint (also smells great, more on the “fresh” side). When I first decided to give Native a try I was sure I was going to go through some kind of transition period—I’d prepared myself for it. It didn’t happen. The switch was as easy as just picking up my Native stick instead of my old antiperspirant. I think the only real change was in my mentally applauding myself for doing something better for my body each time I put it on. As for performance, I have to say I was pretty surprised here as well. Even if it did work, I’d been expecting to still feel sweaty as it’s a deodorant and not an antiperspirant. Nope. While I admittedly don’t have the most active of jobs, Sarah and I still go on daily walks in the toasty microclimate that is the San Fernando Valley. Even when I’m sweating in other areas my underarms stay relatively dry so, kudos to that tapioca starch. While I haven’t done an intense workout like in my wedding-prep days (really gotta get back on that), I’ll still trust this deodorant to do its job when I do.
Bottom line, I couldn’t be more pleased that I decided to give Native a try. Unless something goes horribly wrong in the future, I can easily see this sticking as my new go-to deodorant.
Final great note: if you want to give Native a try for yourself, you don’t have to order online or make a trip to a specialty store to do it (though you totally can if you want). You can now find it at Target and Walmart so that final excuse of inconvenience can be crossed off of the ‘I’d like to try natural deodorant but….’ list as well.
