With the increased awareness many of us have developed about the food we put into our bodies, comes a similar desire to increase the quality of the products we put on our bodies.

While some of us may have allergies, others simply want to make sure only good things get absorbed into our bodies – and not potential toxins. Because, as we all know, our skin is our largest organ and it can pull a lot of stuff into our bodies, good and bad.

RELATED: Cleanses, Detoxes, and Juice Fasts: Do They Work?

So, if you’re an athlete, and you’d really like not to be a stinky athlete, what do you do? I know I’ve tried “natural deodorants” before, and while they may indeed have been natural, they sure as heck weren’t stopping the stink.

This is why I’m reviewing the My Goodness line of deodorants from Only Goodness Inside for you.

About the Products

These deodorants come in small bottles and are lotions, as opposed to a traditional stick or spray. All you have to do is squeeze out a little bit and rub it on the potentially offending parts of your body. It dries quickly, so you don’t have to worry about smearing all over your clothes when you get dressed. You will, though, have lotion all over both hands if you put this on both underarms, so it’s less convenient than a stick deodorant.

These deodorants are:

• Stain-free
• Free of aluminum, baking soda, alcohol, beeswax, and polypropylene glycol
• 100% natural
• Vegan, gluten free, non-GMO
• Hypoallergenic
• Fast-drying
• Available in a large number of scents

Deodorant Trial Pack

The small size of the product makes it highly convenient for packing in gym bags, travel bags, or even your purse. (I know I can’t be the only person that keeps a pair of socks and deodorant in my glove compartment. Some things are best not forgotten, and the remainder of my Only Goodness Inside samples are totally going in my car.)

“The deodorant also contains magnesium. According to the company, since we can absorb magnesium through our skin, by using a deodorant containing the mineral we can not only soothe the skin, but also reap some of the other many benefits of magnesium.”

According to the company, all of their products also come with the added benefit of positive energy and all the employees and ingredients listen to classical music all day. I can’t say I’m entirely sure what to do with that information, but there you have it.

Additional Features

The body deodorant comes in three strength levels: Lite, Regular, and Max. I was sent the Regular to test out. The company recommends the Regular deodorant for people with normal skin and normal sweating. As logic would have it, Lite is for people who don’t sweat as much, and Max is for people who sweat more.

Start with the ones labeled “Try first” and move up in strength if they don’t work.

The deodorant also contains magnesium. According to the company, since we can absorb magnesium through our skin, by using a deodorant containing the mineral we can not only soothe the skin, but also reap some of the other many benefits of magnesium.

Other Product Offerings

Only Goodness Inside takes the all-natural war against stink a couple step further with two other products they sent me:

• Foot Deodorant: I can’t say I experience problems in this area myself, but I know from being around others that sometimes that funk in your shoes doesn’t stay there. It sticks to your feet and socks and joins in on the conversation when you take your shoes off. According to Only Goodness Inside, this deodorant will help that problem. I couldn’t effectively test this one, so I can’t say for sure.

• Soothing Deodorant: On the other hand, I have had the distinct “pleasure” of accidentally applying an inappropriate lotion to freshly shaven underarm skin. And that’s a mistake you only make once. Why in the world would lotion hurt so much? Not the case with the Soothing Deodorant option, which has aloe vera as its second ingredient.

Considerations

The obvious drawback to these products is the price tag. According to the website, you should use dime-sized applications of the product and one ounce should last four to six weeks. (They actually give incredibly specific instructions on how to apply deodorant on their site.) And even with the higher price, the company also says once you’ve used the product for a bit you can actually skip some days. I tried this and believe it to be true (at least nobody else informed me otherwise).

RELATED: Is That Excellence I Smell? We Need the Funk, Gotta Have That Funk

In addition, if you let the company know about any particular ingredients you are allergic to, they will make your deodorant without it. Whether there is an additional charge for this is not actually clear, though.

“[I]f you let the company know about any particular ingredients you are allergic to, they will make your deodorant without it.”

One other thing to mention is that the website is pretty hinky-looking on Firefox and even sent me some crazy warnings before loading, but none of that happened when visiting the site using Chrome.

My Recommendation

If you’re dead-set on using a natural deodorant or you suffer from sensitivies or allergies that don’t allow you to use a typical drug-store deodorant, you may want to check this one out. At the very least, I can tell you that it really works! If you’re not sure you want to commit, you can try the trial pack of all three strengths of regular deodorant for $15.95.

• My Goodness Regular Deodorant is available for $19.99-$34.99.
• My Goodness Soothing Deodorant is available for $19.99.
• My Goodness Foot Deodorant is available for $19.99-$29.99.

The post My Goodness Deodorant (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Dealing with sweaty and stinky athletes is unfortunately a hazard of being a coach or trainer. Finding and recommending good options for reducing smells is better for everyone. I recently checked out No Sweat laundry detergent, and it fit the bill.

About the Product

No Sweat was started by Kendra Doersam, a long-time exercise enthusiast who was sick of having sweaty, smelly, and stained clothing. Kendra thought using color-safe bleach worked for the task, but it would often wear out her clothing much faster. She sought to combine effective color-safe properties, which led to the creation of No Sweat.

No Sweat comes in two fragrances: Sweet Freesia and Citrus Rush, as well as a fragrance-free variety. I found the smells to be light and pleasant for both, especially the citrus option because I like citrus smells for my detergent. The clothes don’t come out smelling very strongly of either of the two fragrances. In fact, they don’t really come out smelling strongly of anything, which is the point.

My Experience

No Sweat can be used on its own, which is mostly how I used it, or as a detergent booster for the stuff you already use. The company recommends you use it as a booster if your gear is particularly dirty.

This detergent works great for athletic gear, which is how the company promotes it. Since it helps to remove sweat stains, I found that it worked well on my white business gear, as well. Whether it be an undershirt or a stubborn ring on the neck of a collar, No Sweat is ideal for eliminating any stain that comes directly from your body.

“Whether it be an undershirt or a stubborn ring on the neck of a collar, No Sweat is ideal for eliminating any stain that comes directly from your body.”

I’ll admit I’m often lazy and will throw a lot of my clothes in together, whether they are athletic or not. In that case, I found No Sweat worked just fine cleaning my regular wash. In fact, when mixing it with regular detergent for mixed loads, it did the trick and I only needed half a dose, since it is concentrated and I’m not a heavy sweater.

The only downside of No Sweat is that it is an eye and skin irritant. It works partially because it contains borax and ethoxylated alcohols, so it may bother your skin if it gets on you directly. This wasn’t an issue at all for me, and most detergent is an irritant when directly applied. So this isn’t a particularly bad downside, but it’s worth knowing about.

My Recommendation

No Sweat is an excellent detergent. It works best on people who find themselves sporting organic-based stains and smells, and works fine as a standard detergent as well. If you’re one of those people who is typically in need of some extra assistance in the laundry front, this is the right stuff for you.

No Sweat Laundry Detergent available in a four pack of 16oz size packets for $36.99 at NoSweatLaundry.com.

The post No Sweat Laundry Detergent (Product Review) appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Recently, I tried three such products that I thought Breaking Muscle readers might like. The first two have similar purposes, so I’ll put them in one section:

Rank Away Odor Eliminator Soak and Mirazyme

These two odor-eliminating products are enzyme-based. That means instead of just covering up smells, the enzymes break down the molecules that cause the smell to begin with and destroy them at the source.

I was excited about this and I’ll tell you why. I personally don’t smell much. I don’t know why but my shoes, equipment, clothes, and so forth have never really smelled. Unfortunately, my training partner doesn’t have the same advantage. He plays about every sport you can imagine, including the smelliest sports, like hockey. When we carpooled to the gym he’d apologize every single time for the smell of his equipment, particularly his cleats.

When I received these products, I informed him I had something we were going to test on him. I gave him each of these products to test out, and sent him off after a workout one day. The next day when I got in his car there was no smell. I asked him about it to confirm that the cleats and other equipment were still in the car and it was confirmed.

The smell was gone. The cleats started to smell again late the second day, even without him wearing them, but they never returned to full odor. To be fair it was a very hot, muggy day – ideal conditions for bacterial growth. To have been that effective with only one treatment was pretty impressive to both of us.

The Rank Away was the most effective product of the two, which is understandable because its design is specifically for shoes. With both enzymes and an antifungal agent, it had the biggest impact. The Mirazyme worked well on lesser smelling equipment too, but its design is mainly for aquatic bacterias, algaes, and so forth. For divers I suspect it works even better.

I’ve worked with industrial strength enzyme formulas in the past, and they typically are not safe for use if they will come into contact with skin. McNett indicates that both of these products are safe for people and pets alike, and that was our experience. Neither of us had any issues with either of these products, but I wanted to advise users to test it on a backup product first to ensure there’s no sensitivity.

PT Pod

The other product I have been using is McNett’s PT Pod. This towel is designed for keeping trainees sweat-free, clean, and dry while they train. Sounds on the surface like a simple towel, but it’s not. This thing is packed with more features than a Swiss army knife.

Firstly the towel is microfiber. This makes it very soft to the touch and highly absorbent. There are some things I know a lot about, and for whatever reason microfiber is one of them. I’ll tell you, although McNett does not tout this feature, microfiber is far better at removing bacteria than normal fibers. So to recap: the PT Pod is softer, more absorbent, and has antibacterial properties that normal towels do not.

If the antibacterial property of the towel makes you smile, then be ready to get even more excited, because the towel is also laced with ionized silver. Silver has antimicrobial properties that make it even better at preventing bacterial growth. It also dries faster than a normal towel, which provides further protection.

But the PT Pod is not just a towel. It has a zippered pouch built right in that the entire towel folds into. When ready to use, unzip, take the towel out, and viola, suddenly not only do you have a towel but a built in pouch to keep your belongings with you, and a snapping loop so you can attach it to your belt. The loop even has a name tag.

I never thought I would have so much to say about a towel, but there it is. I did find once that if I unzipped the zipper all the way it was impossible to close my belongings in the pouch, but this was easy enough to resolve. Also, as cool as the pouch is, I didn’t really have an urge to keep my stuff in a pouch on the towel, and I suppose it would be possible to whack yourself in the face by accident with whatever you keep in there, but these are trivialities.

These McNett products were all awesome, and all the best of their kind. Whether it was keeping my forehead and hands dry in the gym, or making my trip there much less offensive by presenting the odor-eliminating products to my buddy, these are solid products at a great price that I’d recommend to anyone.

The PT Pod, Mirazyme Odor Eliminator, Rank Away.

The post Product Review: McNett PT Pod, Mirazyme, and Rank Away Odor Eliminator Soak appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

At this point, the paleo diet is relatively well-known. But what a lot of people might not have caught on to is the lifestyle aspect of the paleo movement. Much like veganism, which encompasses everything from food, to clothing, to hygiene, paleo products are not limited to food, and the paleo movement is not limited to cooking. Primal Life Organics provides high quality products for people who have embraced a more holistic paleo approach, and I was fortunate to get to sample several items myself.

I’ve been itching to try my hand at making my own personal hygiene products for some time now. I’ve made a few things – homemade body butter and lip balm – and both were far superior (and far less costly) than products I’ve purchased. That being said, the Primal Life products were even better, for a few reasons. I received a sample of “Diane’s WOD Package,” which includes:

1. Primal Pit Stick Deodorant: Mine was in the lavender fragrance, although it also comes in Forest and Unscented. This was probably the product that impressed me most. I don’t think I’ll ever buy another deodorant – and I’ve tried them all.

2. Torn Up Primal Skin Repair: I’ve been working on my pull ups a lot lately and use this every night before bed. It provides relief both in the short term and well into the next day.

3. Grunt Lip Balm: I’ve made my own paleo lip balm before, so I can say without a doubt that what makes this product unique is the combination of oils – shea butter, coconut oil, hempseed oil, avocado oil, and extra virgin olive oil. My creation only has shea butter and coconut oil – which is good, but not as good as this one. And I’m not one to admit defeat unless it is well-deserved.

4. Dirty Mouth Primal Toothpowder and Dirty Mouth Boost Primal Gum Serum: I have to admit, I was skeptical about this one. I’m a bit attached to my minty freshness. Although I haven’t completely switched over, I was pleasantly surprised by these products. The serum contains 11 essential oils to help eradicate nasty bacteria, and the powder contains three types of clays – bentonite clay, white kaolin clay, and French green clay – to remove tartar, clean the gums, and restore minerals. I have heard a lot about products like this before and am glad I had this opportunity to try them, since my attachment to my ‘normal’ toothpaste might have stood in the way otherwise. It’s amazing how fresh your mouth can feel without the sugary minty stuff. As noted on the website, “Organic essential oils are used for their antiseptic qualities and to freshen the mouth and make you forget that you are brushing your teeth with Primal Dirt!”

5. Primal Hand Repair: This luxurious hand cream contains aloe butter, shea butter, jojoba oil, coconut oil, and extra virgin olive oil. It has kept my hands moist and refreshed through the dry winter months. A little goes a long way, and although I’ve used it almost daily for a month or so, I’ve only gone through about half of it.

All of the products have that pleasant, natural scent that comes with good ingredients like coconut oil and essential oils. The prices are also very reasonable, and if you are a Facebook fan you’ll receive special exclusive offers.

There are only two downsides to Primal Life products, if you can call them that. First, all the products are made when you order them, so you have to allow a week before they’re shipped. Second of all, they have to be used within a year because they contain no preservatives. Then again, considering the quality and effectiveness of these products, I doubt they wil last you that long.

You can find Primal Life Organics products from $7.95 at PrimalLifeOrganics.com. Diane’s WOD Package sells for $70.00.

Breaking Muscle readers can get a 15% discount on all Primal Life Organics products through 1/25/13. Just enter the discount code of “Muscle” at checkout.

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