Why So Many of Our Customers Find Us After a Reaction

There is a pattern we see again and again in messages from new customers.

Someone has already tried two or three natural deodorants. At first, everything seemed fine. Then came the redness, the itching, the stinging after shaving, or that familiar burning feeling that gets worse as the day goes on.

By the time they find Pure & Bloom, they are usually not looking for a prettier jar or a new fragrance. They are simply looking for a natural deodorant their skin can actually live with.

And the reason this happens so often has much less to do with “natural deodorant” as a category than most people realise.

It comes down to the formula.

The problem usually is not that the product was not natural enough

When someone reacts to a natural deodorant, the instinct is often to look for something even more natural. A cleaner label. Fewer ingredients. More botanicals.

But that is usually not what solves the problem.

Many natural deodorants rely heavily on Sodium Bicarbonate, better known as baking soda, as their main odour-fighting ingredient. It is inexpensive, effective and completely natural. It is also strongly alkaline, with a pH of around 8 to 9, while underarm skin naturally sits much lower, usually around pH 4.5 to 5.5.

That difference matters more than most deodorant labels ever explain.

Underarm skin is already under pressure. It is frequently shaved or waxed, it stays warm and enclosed for much of the day, and it has a leave-on product sitting against it for hours at a time. For many people, a high-bicarbonate formula causes no problem at all. For others, that repeated alkaline exposure is exactly what leads to redness, itching and stinging.

This is why changing brands does not always help. If the new deodorant is built around the same mechanism, the reaction often follows.

Pure & Bloom was built differently from the beginning

We did not create Pure & Bloom around a “sensitive skin” marketing story.

We created the formula first.

The starting point was simple: we wanted effective odour control without asking baking soda to do most of the work.

That is why Pure & Bloom is Magnesium Hydroxide-led.

Magnesium Hydroxide is the primary deodorising ingredient in the formula, while Sodium Bicarbonate is used at around 3% in a supporting role. We are not pretending baking soda is a bad ingredient, because it is not. It works very well.

The difference is how much responsibility the formula places on it.

In Pure & Bloom, Magnesium Hydroxide does the heavy lifting. The smaller amount of Sodium Bicarbonate supports the overall deodorising effect rather than dominating it.

That is usually the reason people who have struggled with bicarb-heavy natural deodorants experience Pure & Bloom so differently.

The ingredient that was causing the problem is no longer the main event.

Why Magnesium Hydroxide matters

Body odour does not come from sweat itself. Fresh sweat has very little smell.

Odour develops when bacteria on the skin break down compounds in sweat. A deodorant does not have to stop sweating to deal with that. It has to create an environment where odour-causing bacteria are less able to thrive.

That is exactly what Magnesium Hydroxide helps to do.

It allows us to build an effective natural deodorant without relying on a large amount of Sodium Bicarbonate, which is particularly important for people whose skin has already reacted to bicarb-heavy formulas.

Pure & Bloom is still a deodorant, not an antiperspirant. It will not stop you sweating, and it is not designed to. Sweating is a normal biological process. The job of the formula is to manage odour while allowing the skin underneath to behave normally.

Fragrance is another part of the story

Not every reaction comes from baking soda.

Fragrance can also be a trigger, and this is where ingredient transparency becomes especially important.

On many cosmetic labels, fragrance is listed simply as Parfum. That single word can represent a blend of multiple fragrance components, which means a customer who reacts to a product may have no idea which part of the scent caused the problem.

Pure & Bloom takes a different approach.

Every essential oil used in each scent is named individually on the label. You can see exactly what is creating the fragrance rather than being asked to trust a generic catch-all term.

For most people, that simply means greater transparency.

For someone whose skin has reacted before, it can mean finally being able to understand what they are actually putting on it.

A deodorant should care for the skin too

We also think there is a bigger issue with the way underarm products are usually formulated.

The underarm is skin, but deodorants are rarely treated like skincare.

The priority is usually odour first, everything else second.

Pure & Bloom was built with a different idea in mind. If a product is going to sit on your skin every day for hours at a time, the base should do more than simply carry the deodorising ingredients.

That is why the formula includes Mango Butter, Shea Butter, Squalane, Calendula and Bisabolol alongside the deodorising system.

Mango and Shea Butter provide emollience and nourishment. Squalane gives a lighter, silkier feel. Bisabolol was included for its calming properties, while Calendula supports the skin-focused side of the formula.

Arrowroot and Kaolin help with moisture absorption without turning the product into an antiperspirant.

It is one of the reasons we describe Pure & Bloom as real skincare for your underarms.

Not because it sounds good on a label.

Because that is genuinely how the formula was built.

So why do so many customers find us after a reaction?

Because many of them have been moving between different versions of the same type of natural deodorant.

Different packaging.

Different fragrance.

Different brand.

But underneath, the same basic structure: baking soda doing most of the deodorising work.

Pure & Bloom changes that structure.

Magnesium Hydroxide leads the formula, Sodium Bicarbonate supports it, the fragrance ingredients are fully disclosed, and the base is designed with the skin itself in mind.

For someone whose underarms have already reacted to natural deodorant, that difference can be significant.

What we are not claiming

There is no cosmetic formula that works perfectly for every single person.

Skin is individual, and any leave-on product can disagree with someone.

We are also not interested in using words like “hypoallergenic” simply because they sound reassuring.

What we can say with confidence is that Pure & Bloom is not built in the same way as the bicarb-heavy formulas behind so many of the reactions our customers tell us about.

Two of the most common issues we see are high levels of baking soda and a lack of transparency around fragrance.

Our formula approaches both differently.

And that is why so many people who thought natural deodorant was simply not for them discover that the category was never necessarily the problem.

The formula was.

If natural deodorant has irritated your skin before

Do not assume you have to go back to antiperspirant or give up on natural deodorant entirely.

Look at how the formula is built.

Check whether Sodium Bicarbonate is doing most of the work or whether another active leads the formula.

Look at how the fragrance is disclosed.

And pay attention to whether the base has been designed simply to deodorise or whether it actually treats the underarm as skin.

Two products can both be labelled “natural deodorant” and still behave very differently on the body.

That is the part that matters.

The honest version

We did not make Pure & Bloom because the world needed another natural deodorant.

We made it because too many formulas were asking people to choose between effective odour control and comfortable skin.

So we built ours differently.

Magnesium Hydroxide leads. Baking soda plays a supporting role. Every essential oil is named. The base contains ingredients chosen not only to control odour, but to care for the skin underneath.

No aluminium. No synthetic fragrance. No need to treat irritated underarms as the price you have to pay for choosing natural.

Pure & Bloom is handmade in small batches in Yorkshire and comes in 60ml amber glass jars with bamboo lids, available in Citrus Paradise, Blossom Soft, Moss & Wood and Cloud Serenity.

If natural deodorant has irritated your skin before, it may not be natural deodorant you have a problem with.

You may simply need a formula built differently.

Explore Pure & Bloom at pureandbloom.co.uk

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does natural deodorant irritate my underarms?

One of the most common reasons is a high level of Sodium Bicarbonate, or baking soda. It is alkaline, while underarm skin is naturally acidic. For some people, repeated use of a bicarb-heavy deodorant can lead to redness, itching, burning or stinging.

Is Pure & Bloom baking soda free?

No. Pure & Bloom contains around 3% Sodium Bicarbonate, but it is not the main deodorising ingredient. The formula is led by Magnesium Hydroxide, with baking soda playing a supporting role.

Why is Magnesium Hydroxide used in natural deodorant?

Magnesium Hydroxide helps control odour by making the skin's surface less favourable to odour-causing bacteria. It allows a deodorant to work effectively without relying on a high concentration of baking soda.

Does Pure & Bloom contain fragrance?

Pure & Bloom is scented with natural essential oils. Each essential oil used in the blend is named individually on the label so you can see exactly what creates the scent.

Is Pure & Bloom an antiperspirant?

No. Pure & Bloom is a deodorant. It does not block sweat glands and is designed to manage odour while allowing normal sweating.

Is Pure & Bloom suitable for people who have reacted to other natural deodorants?

Many Pure & Bloom customers find the brand after reacting to bicarb-heavy natural deodorants. The formula is built differently, with Magnesium Hydroxide as the primary deodorising ingredient and Sodium Bicarbonate used only in a supporting role.