Over eight years ago we received the following message from a reader of our syndicated newspaper column:
“I want to share a remedy I learned about when traveling in Brazil. Just apply milk of magnesia to your armpits. It is the best underarm deodorant!”
This person had left home without her deodorant and found the hot and humid climate of Brazil problematic. A cab driver told her about the milk of magnesia trick and she shared it with us.
Since then we have heard from hundreds of people that liquid milk of magnesia (MoM), found in antacids and laxatives (in a familiar blue bottle), is surprisingly effective for managing underarm odor.
Here is just a recent story from someone who also grew up in a hot and humid climate:
“My family has used milk of magnesia as a deodorant for 60 years since Cuba. That is what everyone used, even before the revolution.
“My family still uses it today in the United States, since it’s better than any deodorant.
“This is old news for us!”
The only problem with sloshing milk of magnesia on your underarms from a laxative bottle is the messiness factor. Some people get around that by using a cotton ball or a little spritzer bottle. But there is one other element in the liquid laxatives that concerns us. A purportedly inactive ingredient you will find on the label is sodium hypochlorite. You might not recognize that compound, but you will know it by its more familiar name: bleach. It is presumably added as a preservative.
We cannot speak to the reason the FDA seems happy with the idea of putting bleach, even in small concentrations, in a product that people swallow. We are equally concerned about using it on delicate underarm tissue.
That’s partly why we came up with The People’s Pharmacy Milk of Magnesia Roll-On Deodorant. It is entirely aluminum free and also contains no bleach. Not only does our MoM Roll-On come unscented, but you can also get it in a gentle woman’s fragrance. They are both easy to apply and do not irritate the armpits for most people.
