Pit Potion: A magical cure for the stinkies

My best friend of over 20 years called me last week, a few hours after we sent our last email blast, announcing the launch of Pit Potion by The Nature of Beauty. "I don't understand," she said, clearly flummoxed, "You made it? I mean, no offense...but you don't make skin care. Do you?"

She had a point. I don't - well, I didn't - make skin care. At least, not for other people. Truth be told, I had been secretly accumulating quite a stash of raw ingredients over the past few years, wanting to understand how they smell, feel, and work when you mix them together. I'm not the kind of person who is content with the What; I need to know the Why and the How (I must have been the most crazy-making 3-year-old ever). Thinking I should keep these Science Geek tendencies to myself, I didn't really share my potions with anyone else. Besides, I hadn't made anything I thought was better than the products I was already selling.

Until I made Pit Potion.

The Backstory

Sure, I had found a few deodorants that worked well; a few gems in a pool of...well, let's face it...most of it was crap. I also thought those few gems could be improved upon. And their ingredients lists didn't look like rocket science to me. I already had most of them in my secret stash of stuff, including a few I knew were better than most of what was out there. So I whipped up a test batch. And here is where I got lucky: The first batch worked. It worked well, even. The texture needed some tweaks, and I needed to find the right balance of essential oils. Two batches later, and I started handing out samples to everyone I knew, and the feedback was pretty unanimous: It was ready for prime time.

Now, I know some of you will wonder why it's a cream, and not a stick. After all, it would be way easier, and a lot cleaner, to have a solid deo stick. Maybe some day I will find that magic combination of Effective and 100% User-Friendly. But for now, I can give you effectiveness, and am at about 90% in that second category.

The Potion

So here's my description of Pit Potion: A 100% natural cream with a shea butter (unrefined, fair trade) base. It's thick but soft, kind of like cookie dough I suppose, but without any coarse grains or grittiness. Smooth as silk, it rubs into the skin beautifully, and won't get on your clothing if you spend the extra time and effort to rub it into your skin with your (clean) finger. The scent is light and citrus-y, with hints of lavender and bergamot. It will keep you from getting stinky, but the extent to which it prevents wetness depends a lot on what you're wearing. Breathable fabrics are your best bet (and I think this is true even with aluminum-based anti-perspirants), as is applying the cream right after you shower. My experience is that the stink-protection lasts for about 24 hours. You'll want to make sure you thoroughly wash your underarm area every 1-3 days or so, to prevent irritation and to keep the product from balling up. It will also leave your armpits softer than they have ever been in your whole life. A lovely side effect, don't you think?

The Fans

While I certainly love it, I realize that's kind of stating the obvious. So I will also tell you that my employees all wear it - and believe me, I can't make them do anything. I can't even get one of them to stop using toxic hair color. But she uses, and loves, the Pit Potion! Stancie Wilson of Fig+Sage is now a fan, as is Liz Thomson from Organic Beauty Source, Eco Diva Elena Lipson, and makeup artist Jessa Blades. We've sold out of our first batch, and are well into the second.

I hope you will give it a try, too. I would love to see more people move away from commercial deodorants, as they are made up almost exclusively of unhealthy synthetics, toxic heavy metals, fragrance, preservatives, and a host of other things you really don't want to be rubbing on your skin every day.

Lastly, Pit Potion by The Nature of Beauty is available, exclusively, at none other than The Nature of Beauty.