The Best Natural Deodorant

Sam’s Natural Deodorant has all the right ingredients (and none of the wrong ones), with baking soda and coconut oil topping the list. As a bonus, Sam’s also includes shea butter as a moisturizer, and tea tree oil. (Tea tree oil might have antimicrobial qualities although more clinical research is needed to confirm. But our experts agreed that it certainly doesn’t hurt to have it included.)

Sam’s comes in 15 scents. We tested both its “Women’s” and Cedar options, but a quick look at ingredient labels confirmed the only difference is the essential oil used for scent. Of the two we tested, Cedar was slightly fainter, and Women’s had an herby lavender smell (although some of our testers described it as “citrusy”). Both scents were fairly unisex, pleasant upon first application, and held up well when we checked in two hours later.

Sam’s also performed well in our application and residue tests. The product comes in a circular stick that was easy to maneuver across our pits. In fact, our testers generally preferred circular sticks (like Sam’s, Primal Pit Paste, and SoapMe) over ovals (like Hippie Stick and For Pit’s Sake). The shape seemed to fit better inside our armpits and left less excess goop on our underarms and around the stick’s rim.

Sam’s coverage felt so sheer that one of our testers questioned whether it was going on, but a test swipe on her forearm left a slight sheen: The product was applying — it just wasn’t leaving a layer of goop. (This was in stark contrast with SoapMe, which left large clumps after application. Ick.)

Sam’s also left minimal residue on T-shirt fabric — one subject noted “almost nothing, no flaking or clumps” when he checked. The only deodorants to outperform Sam’s in our residue test were For Pit’s Sake and Agent Nateur No. 4 Holi (Rose) Deodorant.

However, For Pit’s Sake and Agent Nateur both featured scents that were more polarizing: One tester likened For Pit’s Sake’s Lime & Clove to “the musty scent of someone who had been out working in the woods,” although it does also come in Unscented, Lavender, and Citrus. Agent Nateur got a more positive reception, but was dubbed extremely “feminine” thanks to its blend of rose and sandalwood, with one tester saying it was “a little grandma-y.” In short, both our Sam’s deodorants were more universally appealing.

At $10 for a 3-ounce stick, Sam’s also falls a little below the median price of our 23 finalists (which ranged from roughly $6 to $25). And if you want something that’s kind to the planet (and not just your wallet), you’ll be happy to know that Sam’s is hand-crafted in New Hampshire and vegan and cruelty-free.

If you like the sound of Sam’s, you’re going to have a tough time ignoring Schmidt’s. The formula in its Natural Deodorant Sticks isn’t quite as creamy as Sam’s — we had to press it into our pits to warm it up for a few moments when putting it on. And it comes in a traditional oval applicator as opposed to our preferred round. But Schmidt’s ingredients list is spot on: baking soda and coconut oil, plus shea butter and arrowroot powder to help it glide.

We nearly missed Schmidt’s in this review — its other product lines, including its sensitive skin sticks and its cream formula, only feature one of our three targeted ingredients. But we were glad we did a second sweep and discovered its regular-skin formulas, which matched Sam’s lack of flaking and residue. Sam’s wins with its sheer number of scents — 15 to Schmidt’s seven — but we give credit to Schmidt’s newest addition, Charcoal+Magnesium. It’s “freshly fallen rain” aroma was the ultimate favorite of everything we tested. You can grab a stick of Schmidt’s for about $10.

For Pit’s Sake was one of only two natural deodorants we tested that contained baking soda, coconut oil, and zinc oxide, not just two of our wishlist ingredients like most of our other top. This combination is definitely a winning formula: Testers were unable to detect any body odor at the two-hour mark, and For Pit’s Sake did an outstanding job on our residue test (tying with Agent Nateur, an option we touch on below). “Did I even put it on? I know I did because I can smell it, but wow there’s no residue at all,” noted one of our testers.

But some of us found it a little too dry, with one of our hairy-pitted testers complaining that it “wasn’t very giving” and that he had to do “repeated passes” to achieve full coverage. The stick also had a flat top, with edges that added to our discomfort.

Almost unanimously, we did not like the lime and clove scent that we tried (it was sort of like a combination of “margarita” and “grandmother’s holiday punch”). But, fortunately, you can get For Pit’s Sake in three other scents, including unscented. We’d suggest giving one of those a try. Each stick runs about $9.

If you’re looking for an organic deodorant, look no further than Green Tidings Natural Deodorant, which is our favorite of the six we tested that use ingredients that have been certified organic by the USDA. It’s also advertised as vegan, cruelty-free, and is made in a solar-powered facility. (Unfortunately, sustainable manufacturing practices aren’t always the most cost-effective, which may explain why a 1-ounce tube ran us about $8.)

The ingredient list is similar to Sam’s: Baking soda and coconut oil are at the top of the list, and shea butter is included as a moisturizer.

We tested Green Tidings’ lavender formula, although an unscented option is also available. Once again, our testers thought the scent was fairly unisex, with a very mild herbal aroma that omits the citrus notes of Sam’s. While the smell didn’t last long, neither was it replaced by body odor. When we checked in at the two-hour mark, our pits basically smelled like nothing.

Green Tidings’ scent performance was in contrast with AC Nature’s Natural Deodorant Stick, another organic option that we really wanted to like, but which one tester described as smelling “gross,” and “like Play-Doh.” AC Nature also didn’t do a great job of masking sweat after a couple of hours. (As our disappointed tester put it, “It’s like I’ve traded one bad scent for another.”)

Green Tidings did feel a little gritty going on. One tester actually liked this, saying the grit made it so she could “really feel it in my pits” and know the product had applied. And unlike certified organic finalists from North Coast Organics and Bubble and Bee, Green Tidings comes in a circular stick and left no goopy clumps on our skin or hanging off the tube. When we tried our T-shirt test, Green Tidings also left way less residue than North Coast Organics Death by Lavender and Bubble and Bee Lemon & Clove Pit Putty Organic Deodorant Stick. The photos speak for themselves.

One thing to note: There is a difference between a deodorant that has been USDA-certified organic and one that uses ingredients that are USDA-certified. We confirmed with Green Tidings that its ingredients are USDA-certified, but the company is still in the process of getting its actual deodorant certified (the process can be lengthy).

Our testers generally preferred stick application, partly because it felt familiar — it’s essentially the same as rolling on a traditional antiperspirant. More importantly, creams were goopier, and most of our testers didn’t like having to wipe off their fingers after every application. But among the seven cream natural deodorant brands we tested, Fatco Stank Stop stood out. Its formula is one of only two among our finalists to combine all three of our preferred odor-fighting ingredients: baking soda, coconut oil, and zinc oxide.

Stank Stop also contains tallow (aka fat) from organic grass-fed cow as a moisturizer, which might seem odd until you realize Fatco is Paleo-certified and promotes “looking to the past for fundamentals of healthy living.” Tallow is actually one of its flagship ingredients. (Note that we found nothing to indicate that tallow makes for a better deodorant.)

Fatco Stank Stop Deodorant comes in two scents: a Men’s Cypress + Coriander and a Women’s Lavender + Clary Sage. As with other gender-specific deodorants, the ingredients differed only by the scent of the essential oil. We really liked both and suggest Cypress + Coriander for something a bit more woodsy, and Lavender + Clary Sage if you want a gentle aroma reminiscent of a spa treatment.

Some of our testers thought dipping their fingers into goop, rubbing it onto their armpits, and then washing their fingers was just too messy, and Fatco’s small jars forced some of us to dip our fingers in several times to get enough product, which seemed impractical for anyone with big hands. One tester noted that the scent also lingered on his fingers even after washing.

That said, the accepted rationale for using a cream deodorant is that this application method gives you more control — you can ensure you’ve got an even coating across your entire armpit. If that compels you, go ahead and give Fatco a try. A 1-ounce jar will run you about $12.

Agent Nateur & Shiva Rose Holi (Rose) Deodorant was another runner-up. Like our top picks, this product uses baking soda and coconut oil, but it’s a little fancier than a standard odor-blocker. It’s pretty obviously geared toward women, with a white, pink, and gold package that feels reminiscent of department store cosmetics. As for the scent, one tester noted the blend of rose and sandalwood smelled “like perfume,” although another cautioned that, while she liked it, she did find it a little “powdery.”

The company behind this product has a manifesto to “bring beauty and luminosity to women in a way that is nourishing and nurturing,” aka synthetic-, GMO-, and pesticide-free (although the deodorant does contain castor oil, which is on Whole Foods’ list of ingredients to avoid). We’d suggest trying Holi Rose if you’re looking for a high-end option. At $25, it was our most expensive finalist — but it also tied with For Pit’s Sake as a top performer in our fabric residue test. If you’re dressing for a special occasion or have a wardrobe dominated by dark colors or expensive fabrics, it could be a worthwhile investment.