CRYSTAL Deodorant Stick (30003), Unscented, 4.25 Ounce

I love this stuff! I have been using this brand of deodorant for years. I haven't put regular deodorant on my arms since 2013 (and I'm an active, sweaty male). So when local pharmacies stopped carrying the Crystal I got nervous. Thankfully I found this online. Let me give you a run down of how this stuff works: First, there is only one ingredient. Literally. It's just a crystal. So no nasty chemicals, no additives, nothing. Even the fancy all natural deodorants like "Tom's" can't claim that. Second, due to there being no chemicals or additives, it works differently. Instead of killing or neutralizing the smell, it blocks it. When you rub the crystal on your armpit it leaves an invisible coat of crystal. That invisible coat physically blocks the smell from being able to leave your armpit. "But I've tried this and it doesn't work!" That's because you're doing it wrong. Since you're blocking and not neutralizing the smell, you need to cover quite a bit more area than you do with normal deodorant. Otherwise the smell will seep out the sides of your layer of crystal. So here is what I do: ***First I extend the crystal all the way out. ***Next I wet the crystal, as directed by the package. But to be more specific, I quickly turn the faucet on and off. It doesn't need a lot of water, just enough to get it to glide on your arm pit as opposed to having it be dragged. ***Then, with the crystal turned sideways, I proceed to cover the underside of my arm as if I was painting with a roller brush. I know the top of the crystal is rounded and that's probably how the manufacturer intends you to use it. However, what did I say above? You need to cover a lot of area in crystal in order for it to be effective. The best way to do that is to turn it sideways with it fully extended so you can cover more area in fewer strokes. ***I then wet the crystal again and proceed to "paint" the other side. ***When I am done I dry the crystal before putting it away Let me better explain the "painting" process. With the crystal all the way extended I hold it horizontally like a rolling paint brush. Then, if I am doing my right arm, I start a FULL INCH to the right of my arm pit. I then stroke it up to about FIVE INCHES above my arm pit, then back down to five inches below my arm pit. I then slowly move in toward my chest while still moving the crystal up and down in the described pattern until I get a FULL INCH to the left of my armpit. Yes, some of your chest will be covered. Yes, area outside of your arm pit will be covered. This is to prevent any rogue smells from escaping. The bigger the blanket, the harder it is to escape. Then, before I finish, I go back over just the arm pit area a few times for good measure. I then repeat this process on the other arm. If at any point the crystal gets too dry to smoothly move up and down your arm, then put some more water on it. However, don't drown it in water as you don't want to end up spreading nothing but water. You're probably thinking that it sounds like it takes a lot of time. You would be correct. It does take double, if not triple or quadruple the time to put on regular deodorant. But it's totally worth it to avoid smearing nasty chemicals or additives on your pits every single day. Over time the crystal will shrink as it's gradually applied to your pits over days, weeks and months. Eventually it will fall out of the container. That's okay. In fact, now it's even easier to paint your arms! And you can still store it in the container. KEEP IN MIND though that the Crystal is fragile. If it's dropped it will almost certainly chip if not totally break apart. I've never made it to the very end with a crystal. My clumsy self will drop and break it eventually. But it's still worth it. ***VERY IMPORTANT*** The Crystal will not work well right away. You pits are used to years, decades of using crazy ass deodorant products. Look at it this way. Let's say your skin never really gets dry so you never wear face lotion. Now let's say for some reason you were convinced to start wearing lotion to slow down aging. After a few months of use if you don't put lotion on, your face will be dry. That's because you skin got accustomed to the lotion so it stopped producing as much oil. Same concept with deodorant. After years and decades of smearing gunk on them, your pits got used to sweating more so your body could push out all those nasty chemicals. Not using deodorant for one day isn't going to change that. You need to use the Crystal for at least 2 weeks before your body will adjust to it. I've had many friends give up on the crystal because they were too impatient. But the ones who listened to me and waited it out haven't looked back. Give this stuff a shot. Your body will thank you.

NOTE: Salt deodorants work by killing the bacteria that cause odors under your arm. It is not an antiperspirant, it's more a natural antibacterial. You will absolutely not like this item if you are looking for something to stop you from sweating. I purchased 2 brands of salt crystal, both are identical and this review covers both from my experience. Pros: Last a long time, no odor, natural, no chemicals or additives, works great on under arm smell, lasts a couple days after applied, Cons: not an antiperspirant, some people find it ineffective, easily broken if dropped I purchased this for the first time after trying many, many different types of deodorants and antiperspirant. Between living in Florida and L.A. heat was a given, and sweat happens. I would notice that when I used most deodorants I would not sweat, and there wasn't a "sweat smell" under my arms, but there was a weird unpleasant smell that would happen sometimes. A sort of "dirty deodorant smell" that would appear towards the end of the day and the "deodorant balls" that formed under my arms (yuck) with some deodorants. I tried all sorts of brands, different scents, unscented, roll-on, stick, gel based. Most were fine, no sweat, no gross under arm sweat smell, but by the end of the day it was all the same, almost like the stuff had broken down and got funky. I have a sensitive nose, and even if no one else smelled anything, I did and it was gross. One day I was reading about using salt to kill bacteria that caused odors, and someone mentioned salt for deodorant. I was up for anything so I purchased some. I used it the day I got it, I was sure it would fail, and was actually amazed that it worked. While I did sweat in the heat, there was absolutely no odor, no sweat stains, no clumpy white stuff under my arms. The lack of smell was actually unbelievable. It took me a while to get used to feeling wet under my arms sometimes and not thinking "Oh no! I am gonna smell!" but after a while I just trusted I would not smell even while sweating. My husband, who is very manly and can kick some deodorant butt when working in the yard, tried it after a few months of seeing me use it. Let me tell you now that I really did not think it would work on him and was shocked when it did. When he uses it he can sweat like a pig, but there is no odor. Actually works better for him when he knows he is going to be sweating because most antiperspirant aren't going to stop you from sweating at the gym (or working in the yard) and fail you so why bother. The salt didn't fail and he was odor free... sweaty, but odor free. As an added bonus, I found this out a few times while camping, that if I couldn't put more salt on the next day, as long as you haven't washed it off or showered, it works just the same! I also learned on that same camping trip that if you did start smelling you could rub more salt stick under your arms and it killed the smell within moments (It was a LONG camping trip -lol-). For smelly feet folks it will work on your feet, too. Jump out of the shower, rub it on your feet and between toes if you can, and let it dry a bit before putting on shoes. Wives, get your hubby to do this and you will thank me later. When you first use it it feels like you are putting nothing on and it can be weird. There is no white or gel goop to show you everything is covered. Just make sure to wet the stick and rub it EVERYWHERE under your arms. I actually go up my arm a bit and down my side a bit, not just the center underarm. There is no such thing as using too much, so go to town. After a little while you will get the hang of it and it will be nothing. Putting it on after a shower makes it simple, I don't even dry under my arms, I just rub the salt bar while wet and make it easy. I also took mine out of the bottom part and rub it longways under my arms, it covers much more area per swipe and makes it much faster to apply. Be aware that if you drop this it can shatter and be useless. I dropped mine and had to purchase another after it broke into a million sharp pieces. Overall, I personally LOVE it. I use it everyday, and have never been let down, but I am ok with being wet under my arms on very hot occasions as long as I know I will not smell. For some people this will be a deal-breaker. It will not stop you from sweating, it will just stop you from smelling. If you are ok with that, you will absolutely love it.

I feel like I'm performing a weird ritual every time I rub this crystal on my armpits, but this honestly works better than any deodorant I've used before (and I've tried soooo many). I eventually threw out all my other deodorants once I realized they all sucked in comparison. It keeps the B.O. at bay all day and longer, doesn't leave any residue and stain clothes like other deodorants, and the product lasts forever. I have a stick I bought 6 months ago and it looks like it has barely been used! I feel like if I bought a dozen of these they would last me the rest of my life? My husband was interested in it and now has been using it and loving it as well! He usually gets smelly pretty quickly when he sweats, but this has helped to tamp down his B.O. by a LOT. And even when he gets B.O. now it doesn't smell that bad. If you are used to an antiperspirant (like I was) you will have to get used to the feeling of your armpits actually sweating again. But my sweat doesn't stain my clothes now. It was just the deodorant doing that. Also it is unscented, so I felt a little naked at first, but I realized the scents of the other deodorants were just masking any B.O. and sometimes actually making me smell worse. So, the unscented is actually a good thing. Plus if you wear a perfume, the fragrances won't mix together. Note: When you apply this, make sure your armpits are wet! I apply it right out of the shower. Otherwise it won't go on effectively and will just rub your skin raw. To reapply, I just run it under the faucet first.

Good product, easy to apply. Works well with no smell. Only drawback is that stick is subject to breakage if dropped, as it is brittle. (Stick can break away from its plastic holder, which is a nuisance.) That is the only reason for 4/5 stars. Would recommend.

(I'm going to keep saying deodorant...but I actually mean deodorant/antiperspirant) So, I bought this as my last resort, can't take it anymore, it's either this or I'm done cure. My underarms have been stained very dark for as far back as my teenage years. I have NEVER EVER been able to shave all the hair from under my arms. I'd get most...but not all. didn't matter if I shaved up, or down, or side to side, or with the assistance of a mirror, or a different razor (I could go on for days). Then about...3 years ago my underarms started itching horribly. I stopped shaving, figuring that they were irritated. Didn't help. I switched soaps. Nope. I changed laundry detergents...no. This went on for months while I tried removing one thing after the other to make this itch go away. Nothing was working. And now, it's getting worse because I can't help but to scratch it and I ended up ripping open my skin pretty badly. At this point, I'm starting to get abscesses forming under the skin of my underarms. They get pretty big, some of them about the size of a golf ball under the skin. Painful. I thought, maybe it was from the underwire on my bra rubbing that area. So, I bought unwired bras (another disaster!). This went on for...a little more than a year. FINALLY I went to see my doctor. He says I have a fungal infection...which I honestly believed had to be the issue. In order to treat the 'fungal infection', I had to wash and dry the skin well and use an anti fungal cream. I was supposed to do this twice a day for 4-6 weeks and the infection would go away. I was also put on 2 weeks of antibiotics to help clear up the abscesses, which ended up taking more than 9 weeks on antibiotics to clear. So, for 8 weeks I washed the skin under my arms, then applied the fungal cream twice a day. Since I couldn't wear deodorant during this time, there were days when I had to wash and apply the cream a few times because I would sweat and the sweat would cause the cream to kinda just 'slip' away. More than once I was in a public restroom with personal cleansing wipes trying to maintain my dignity while re-applying this cream. After 8 weeks of treatment, the itch was gone. The irritated skin was gone. The fungal infection was clear. YAY! I'd wait another week or two to ensure it wasn't coming back and then, as always before this fungal problem, I'd shower, and then put on my deodorant. And about 2-4 hours later, I was tearing at my underarms again...I couldn't help it. This went on for a year. A whole year of going through treatment, and it would go away and then it would come back again pretty much right away after I resumed normal hygiene practices. I'd see the doctor, he'd say it must not have been cleared completely and extend the medication for the next round. I spent A LOT of money on meds and doctor's visits that year. Still itching. Still getting abscesses. So, this left me scratching my head. I didn't want to keep paying $100 a month for the anti-fungal medication because there was no end in sight. I got desperate. I switched brands for a month, it didn't help. I switched to a different brand...didn't help. I switched from a stick to a spray, from a spray to a gel, hypoallergenic, no scent, no dye, no perfume, no frills...no change. In between every change I'd go through the anti-fungal medication regimen to ensure that I wasn't simply turning down another option due to carrying over the previous problem. At this point, I'm pretty close to desperation. Honestly...think about it. Do you want to be in your late 20's or early 30's, knowing you've still got AT LEAST 40 years left to go and you won't be able to wear deodorant at all? I was coming to the conclusion that I'd have to go the rest of my life without deodorant...and I didn't like that idea. My last talk with my doctor had him suggesting that my problem might be stemming from the antiperspirant because it's meant to keep moisture out and it does so...but from both sides. So, when you 'wash' your deodorant off (which I would do with a heavy bath sponge and then I'd rake my nails through my underarms to remove ALL of it) you're not really washing it ALL off and because it stays on the skin, it irritates the skin by clogging the pores which could cause itching and it was looking like this was the explanation of my problem because I'd been using deodorant for over 15 years at this point. But nowhere that I looked did I find deodorant without the antiperspirant, and without dyes, and perfumes, and hypoallergenic...blah blah blah. I had to get a prescription from my doctor to get it. Still no change. Non at all. I was so depressed. I was envisioning the rest of my life alone. So, I was telling a co-worker about all of this. And she says to me, "Maybe you're allergic to something in the deodorant and it's not the antiperspirant." Hmm. I got home and checked my deodorant and saw the main ingredients included a heavy metal among other things. Finally, it occurs to me after all this time (funny how sometimes, we just don't think) to go online and do a search on allergy to deodorant. And there it was...page after page after page of people with similar complaints as me, with similar stories as me, etc. I even found a page that someone documented what they were going through in pictures and I realized that it was just like what my underarms looked like. They all recommended buying a deodorant 'stone'. I found several options for deodorant stones on Amazon. I kept looking for my own convenience because I knew that if I'd bought a crystal/stone that was just a rock...it would likely end up in my boy's aquarium tank with all the other 'odd' rocks he finds. I picked this one because it's packaged pretty much the same as the deodorant was. It didn't cost much...probably the equivalent of 2 sticks of my 'old' brand but those 2 sticks would last me 2-3 months. I've had and used the stone everyday for about 3 months now and it shows NO sign of use. This time though, I didn't transition between my 'old' brand to the new with medication in between to clear the infection. Nope. One day I used my deodorant, and the next I used this crystal brand. Within 2 weeks all my problems were gone. No more itching! After the final abscess drained about 3 weeks into using the crystal brand, there's been no more abscesses! After 2 months, I noticed that the dark 'stain' my skin had was lightening up considerably. I don't know if it will ever go completely away but from what it was to what it is now...I'm thrilled! Shaving is no longer hell...my skin is softer. I've noticed that my t-shirts no longer have that waxy layer to them under the arms. I'm SO happy with this product! Please don't ever stop selling it. Now, this part is important: This IS NOT an antiperspirant. Meaning, it WILL NOT prevent sweating. It will, however, neutralize the odor from the sweating so that, when you do sweat, it doesn't smell putrid. (I actually wonder how much that phenomenon is from the product or from the skin pores not being clogged/infected anymore). This product HAS to be applied directly after your shower. Shower, get out, apply product then do everything else. If you shower, then go down in your basement to check the dryer for clean pants, then sit on your bed talking to your dog, then apply lotion to legs and feet and then comb your hair and brush your teeth after you've air dried and half dressed yourself and THEN try to put it on, it's not going to work. Because your skin in that short period of time is already producing fluid. Might not be sweat...just oily lubricating type fluid. This oily type fluid makes it so that this crystal can't be rubbed directly against the skin like it needs to be. If you wait, you'll have to wash under your arms again (or you could use personal cleansing wipes, or alcohol but really, it's just easier to do it right after you step out of the shower). This product HAS to be used wet. I get out of the shower, and completely dry my underarms. I wet the stone and apply. Occasionally I have to re-wet the stone to complete one side, at the least I have to re-wet it to apply to the other arm. You should be able to tell when you need to wet it again. But if not...you wet it again when it no longer simply slides across your skin. If it's dragging...wet it. You have to apply this crystal generously. You may have only had to swipe the deodorant across a 2" X 4" patch. That's great. But this needs to go well beyond your deodorant borders to be truly effective. Hence the reason why you might need to wet it more than once to do each underarm. Now, I'm not guaranteeing you fabulous results. I'm not telling you that this WILL solve all your problems and boost your earning potential while bringing back your receding hairline after making you the world's greatest lover. I'm sharing with you MY personal satisfaction with this product in terms of what this product has done FOR ME. I'm a nurse. I'm not telling you that so you'll trust me medically. I'm telling you that because I want you to understand that I work, physically, pretty much everyday. Not only am I a nurse, but I am also in my final semester of nursing school for an advanced degree. All of this means that I pretty much every single day and/or night work or work in clinical for school. The units I've worked for clinical are kept at a balmy 76+ degrees with patient's room sometimes sitting in the upper 80's. Personally, I prefer cold climates. In these situations, I DO sweat. I DO NOT feel like it's excessive but I do sweat. I have not once since starting to use this product smelled the sweat the way I would when I was still using the 'regular' deodorant/antiperspirant. At my job, I bathe my client every day. That's everyday standing in an enclosure with him while the hot shower runs. Again, I DO sweat but I don't smell it. (And neither does anyone else). And I'd also like to tell you that there have been times that I was at home for a day or two in a row...maybe I didn't shower one day...maybe I showered but I didn't use my crystal...either way, no deodorant. If I'd done this prior to switching, I could smell myself and it had that putrid, acrid/infection smell. Since using the crystal...the sweat will have a slight odor (like...odor while still using old deodorant would be at an 8-10...now it's no more than a 2-3) but it's nowhere near as strong or noticeable as before. I'm heading into my first summer after the switch. I'm hoping it goes well. I'm certainly going to put it through the paces. I have a lot of yard work to do this year as well as several trips planned. Hopefully I won't have to amend my review. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. I want to say one more thing, very quickly, before I'm done here. Mass produced deodorant/antiperspirants contain magnesium (a heavy metal) as well as a list of other questionable ingredients. Who knows what a lifetime of use exposes you to. For the women out there, they think there might be a link between deodorant use and breast cancer, as well as lymphatic cancer (think about how close those parts are to your underarm). That's scary. This crystal is literally all natural. It's a rock. They don't add anything to it. There's no fragrances. If you want fragrance, puff a little (TINY BIT) of scented powder near your underarm. There's no white staining on your clothes because it doesn't leave a residue. Your pores clear out. There's no more 'work' to completely wash away the product you applied yesterday morning. The ONLY problem that I've had is that it's a stone, so if you drop it, it might break. Also, it's a pretty dense stone...meaning it's a tad heavy for its size. Depending on your counter top/flooring, if you drop it, it might break your flooring or counter top (or your toe). Mine was dropped once from about 5.5' from the floor and all that did was break the little nubby on the plastic container that make it stay in position after you turned the dial. But that's no big deal...my stone is still WELL above the stop of the container. At this rate, I expect it to last me 1.5-2 years, if not longer. If you're having issues (especially if you're like me, having issues in silence because they're embarrassing) then this is a cheap option to try. This cost WAY less than even a portion of a month's worth of the medications. It's cost WAY less than any of my 'normal' brands of mass produced deodorants. Before I ordered it, I told my husband that it was worth a shot. Thankfully it worked for all of my...'issues'...and I'm grateful that I tried it.

When my doctor initially recommended this to me, I was skeptical to say the least. I mean, a deodorant stone? Seriously? Is that what they were passing around at Woodstock? But after using it for a little over a month now, I can honestly say it works! For the last ten years, I've dealt with armpits that were constantly red, sore and beyond itchy. Shaving only exacerbated the problem, but if I didn't shave that lovely b.o. stench would only get worse. And then there were the abscesses. One or two would pop up every few weeks under the skin and would for the most part go away, but a couple of times a year one would stick around and get bigger and bigger until it was literally the size of a golfball and painful beyond belief. Then I would have to make an embarrassing trip to the doctor to get it drained, and despite the numbing medication they shot me up with first, it still felt like someone stabbed my pit with a hot poker. I even had to have one surgically removed because it was too large for the doctor to remove in the office. That was another experience in pain I won't go into. I was given differing opinions as to what the cause was. First a doctor told me it was my deodorant and told me to switch until I found one that didn't bother me, so I tried out just about every single deodorant out there; stick, gel, spray, cream you name it I tried it, sometimes the less powerful stuff took longer to irritate me, but it always did in the end. Then the surgeon who removed that huge abscess told me to switch to an electric razor as that would irritate my skin less. I tried it, and it just irritated my skin even more. Should have known better than to listen to a man about that. Finally about two months ago, I went and saw a dermatologist for an unrelated problem on my arm, but when she got a look at my armpit, she made a comment about how irritated it looked. I explained to her what I'd been dealing with, and she just nodded and said, "Oh yeah, that's from the antiperspirant you're using. A lot of people just can't tolerate the chemicals they use." I felt like that coyote from that roadrunner cartoon, after someone dropped an anvil on its head. I mean I'd been dealing with this problem for a decade and resigned myself to another 5 or 6 decades of the same agony, but one look at my pit and you can tell me exactly what my problem is? Seriously? Then she did one better and told me how to fix it. She told me that I needed to get a deodorant stone. Okay, I admit, I scoffed a little at that, especially when she told me that it wouldn't stop me from sweating. I sweat a lot, and I'm not embarrassed to say that it reeks, bad. But she told me that using the antiperspirant was actually making my b.o. worse, because my pores were clogged and constantly infected. She said that after a few weeks of using the stone, not only would the irritation and boils stop, the odor would actually be fairly normal even when I don't use it. She also recommended using an antibacterial soap like Dial to wash my armpits to get rid of the bacteria that was causing the odor and then switch back to my normal body wash after a couple of weeks. Again, I was extremely skeptical, but I was willing to give it a try. I'm so glad I did. For the first week, I washed my armpits twice a day with Dial and applied the stone immediately afterwards as instructed. This is important because it won't work otherwise, it has to be directly on the skin. I could not believe the difference. I didn't realize just how much I hated that perfume smell regular deodorant puts out, and the more you sweat the more powerful it smells. This stuff doesn't smell at all. You just smell like you and it's awesome. It also doesn't leave residue on your clothes. No yellow stains on the sleeves like someone rubbed cheese on them, and no dark stains after you wash them either. Now I only wash my pits when I shower in the morning, and I apply the stone right after and I'm good to go all day. I don't even sweat anymore than I used to and it doesn't stink. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to sit down and stretch my arms over my head without having to endure that overpowering girly flowery powder puff smell. There's no oily, or congealing feeling to it either like there was when I was using antiperspirant. It just feels completely natural. It's been five weeks, and I haven't had a single abscess, which is a miracle for me. And that itchy, irritated feeling is gone too. Also, this stuff can be applied to other places on the body as well, not just the armpits. I'm trying to convince my brother to use it on his feet, because odor eaters isn't cutting it. Bottom line: the proof is in the pudding, or in this case the armpit. This stuff works and it works well. You do have to spend a lot more time applying it than you do with normal deodorant. Two or three swipes on the underarm isn't going to do it. You have to apply it generously over a large area, and again you have to apply it immediately after washing the area otherwise it will not work. But when applied correctly, it's a pit-saver.

Wow. This deodorant has blown my mind. If you struggle with smelly pits, cysts in your arm pits, and want to avoid cancer-giving products, get this deodorant! Basically it's a hard crystal that you wet and rub on your skin. What I do is wet my pit area first, then wet the stick and rub it on my pits and all around that area generously. It takes only a minute to dry. It works amazing! I don't smell anymore, and the deodorant itself has no scent. But there are some drawbacks. After a while the water loosens the crystal and causes it to fall out of the deodorant stick holder. If you don't catch it, it will shatter into a million pieces. I took mine out right away and just hold it with my hands after my first one shattered. Also, it takes a few weeks for your pits to detox all the gross junk you've put on them before, so you'll smell worse for a while. Lastly, I've found the crystal leaves my armpits dry and itchy unless I put some chafing cream on after it dries. Believe it or not, with all those drawbacks it is still so worth it. The stick lasts forever, no more cysts in my armpits, I smell great, and it lasts all day. Get it!!!

Matt's wife: After 2.5 years (I'm just ordering my replacement now - wow on longevity!!), I can confidently say this is the best deodorant I've ever used for odor control and gentleness! I had been searching for something that would not harm the environment if wading in a mountain lake on a hiking trip, was easy on clothing fabrics, and gentle enough for very sensitive skin. It was all these things and more. Only two significant downsides: takes a little longer to apply (since you apply it wet and your armpit needs to air-dry before clothing) - I just do something else (like apply face cream or brush my teeth) while it's drying, and it doesn't reduce wetness (I change my shirt if needed - this is rare). Pros: one application gives me 1-2 days of odor protection (depending on my activity level), doesn't ruin my clothes, no feeling of a "cream" in my armpit, and natural ingredients. Cons: be careful - and don't drop it or accidently knock it on the side of the sink (I did this when shaking off excess water and got a large crack in it), and it doesn't stay in its holder very long (no big deal - you can just hold it with your hand). Note: I'm not sure how well it would work on hairy armpits since the product needs to coat the skin directly.