One of the biggest challenges for anyone looking to strike out away from the commercial brands of deodorant is that the vegan natural alternatives are often borderline prohibitively expensive as well as a bit on the messy side.
On top of that, they often don’t last that long, only going for a few hours before you have to do the whole ordeal all over again.
It’s not super fun.
I recently heard about Lume as a big name in the natural deodorant space, with a line of vegan and aluminum-free deodorants that were free of many of those fun chemicals that made commercial brands so dangerous…and so effective.
The only difference here was that Lume did things differently from other natural deodorants.
Not only could their product be used under your arms, but it could be put on just about any external part of your body.
And while that certainly seemed…strange…, it certainly got my attention.
What was it like? How did it go?
Well… that’s where things get interesting.
But I’m getting a bit too far ahead of myself. First thing’s first, for the folks in the back, what even is Lume, and why should you even care?
Meet Lume – The New Natural Kid On The Block
The company was founded by Shannon Klingman, a resident working towards her OB/GYN.
The story goes that she met a lot of people in her residency that were dealing with body odor.
Like, a LOT of people. Like, enough people that she took time out of her day to create a deodorant.
Now, one of the interesting things you’ll find is that, unless you’re a mad scientist, you’re not going to have a ton of harmful, toxic, cancer-ridden chemicals just lying around your house when trying to put together a deodorant.
So as it was, she managed to put something together that would handle the funk while not having all the fun things that give you cancer.
Not only that, but she made it so that you could put it on any part of your body (I can’t be the only person that thinks that’s strange).
After about 10 years of working at it, she managed to put something together that got people’s attention, and that’s what I’m looking at right now.
It’s noted to work by removing the odor-causing bacteria immediately upon contact with sweat.
Interestingly, it does this through the use of antibacterial agents. That was kind of a shocker for me.
For all this talk about deodorants fighting smells and odors, you don’t normally hear of them going after the bacteria itself.
That’s more of a zinc thing.
So, needless to say, the more I looked into Lume, the more I was intrigued.
Yes, I had heard all the talk about “natural” “organic” and “vegan” from tons of other companies.
Turns out, it’s not nearly as impossible as some would think to make something that doesn’t include poison.
But my issue wasn’t about that. If I wanted organic, there’s a Whole Foods 10 minutes away.
I wanted to see if this would handle my odor, not leave a mess, and not require CONSTANT re-applications.
Lume & Me – A Love Story
Ok, so where do I start? Well, I guess the first thing to mention is how you get this stuff.
Like many other products, Lume isn’t offered in stores so much as it’s an online-only brand.
For some people, that may be a problem, but for me it was fine. In 2022, online ordering is kind of the name of the game.
The company offers a few different options, and this is where I found out what the whole “wear anywhere” was all about.
You see, it’s not just deodorant sticks.
Yeah, that’s an option, but they also offer creams as well as wipes, and even body washes and butter.
It blew me away when I saw that could handle more than just my pits! I could get the creams so my neck wouldn’t smell or my feet or my… special petal.
Ok, Lume. I’m interested. Let me see what you got.
Turns out a lot. They offer unscented, peony rose, lavender sage, warm vanilla, coconut crush, silver spruce, clean tangerine, and a few others.
On top of that, you can order it in bundle packs, smaller travel sizes, as well as the wipes I mentioned earlier.
They sell everything as a subscription or a single-purchase option.
Even though the subscription came at a 10% discount, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about everything.
So without further ado let me tell you about everything.
Texture & Consistency
Remember, I said the big thing for me wasn’t about the fact that it was or wasn’t organic. Today, that’s easier than ever.
The main points were how it feels, how long it lasts, and the price. I’m including the scents because that turned out to be more of a factor than I thought.
But how does it feel? Is it that same messy situation?
Turns out, not really. I won’t lie to you.
It almost gets to that point.
Almost.
This is because their products are water-based instead of oil-based, so it feels more like a lotion than anything.
I don’t have a problem with lotions.
Whether you’re using the cream option or the solid one, it’s going to be very reminiscent of most lotions you’d buy.
Now, almost is a bit uncertain of an answer, so let me make it clearer.
I don’t have a problem with Lume’s texture or its consistency.
While my pits are a tad slicker than I’d like, when I lift my arms I’m not looking at a mess.
That’s all I was looking for and it handled it amazingly.
Now, on the other side, when using the cream options AS a lotion stand-in, they’re awesome.
It absorbs into your skin very well while leaving you (me) feeling super soft in those areas.
I didn’t go overboard and slather it everywhere, but I was super curious about how putting deodorant “everywhere” was going to go.
Turns out (at least for Lume) that it went pretty well!
Scents
Let’s get scents out of the way. Like I said, I’m not a scent person.
Still, this is a review so I gotta talk about scented deodorants… which makes things a bit awkward.
Let me explain.
None of Lume’s deodorants are all that “smelly”.
Sure, their unscented isn’t going to have a big blowout smell, but you’re not going to get overwhelmed by any of their other options as well.
I thought Warm Vanilla was my favorite. I love the smell and always will, so that offers a pleasant enough waft now and then throughout the day.
Peony Rose was also not bad, nor was Clean Tangerine.
Lavender Sage was “fine” but I’m not a lavender fan so there’s that. The same goes for Coconut Crush.
It’s not “terrible”, but it’s also not appealing.
But again, the saving grace for me was that NONE of these were super loud or perfumey.
The issue is I know a lot of girls that love a deodorant that smells good.
I know a lot of guys that love a deodorant that smells good. For people, it’s a whole thing.
For me, I like something unscented so it’s not competing with any other sprays or perfumes I want to wear.
I guess this comes down to if you love strong smells. If you do, Lume isn’t going to be your jam.
Sorry.
If you’re like me and you prefer more muted smells (or no smells at all) from your deodorant, Lume knocks it out of the park here.
Staying Power
This. This is what made Lume MY deodorant. I’m not even kidding. Not greasy? Check. Not smelly? Check. Not pricey? Ehh… we’ll get there.
But the thing that sold it for me was the fact that this not only does its job (you’re NOT going to smell like sweaty garbage) but it does it all day long.
Let me repeat that.
It does its job and you don’t need to check yourself every 2 hours! It’s a natural deodorant that doesn’t fall apart 5 minutes after you put it on! I’m crying right now! (not really)
There’s not much more to say other than, if you want your deodorant to do its job without constant re-uploads, I can’t sing Lume’s praises enough.
Seriously. Get it just for this alone. I’m serious.
Price
Ok, so here’s the thing.
Lume is a very interesting case. On one hand, I can tell you the price and you can say they’re expensive.
That’s fine.
HOWEVER, that’s only looking at one side of the coin.
I just said that these guys smell good without being overpowering, kill odor, stay on forever, and don’t make a mess on your arms (and body).
The reality is that you’re not going to get all of that for the same price as the other brands. You just can’t.
Again, are they a bit pricier than others? Yeah. But you’re also going to be using less with more effect too.
Not only that, but they’ve got some good bundle options to handle the price a bit as well.
I’ll be honest here, I think that, for what you get, Lume does everything right at a reasonable price.
If they were at this price range and I was getting more of the same, I’d be singing a whole different tune.
Still, budget is a reality.
If you’re not willing to drop more than $8 on a stick of deodorant, there’s not much more to say other than you’re missing out on something special.
Verdict
So what were my impressions of Lume?
When you get right down to it, this was a surprise hit that I didn’t expect to come out swinging the way they did.
To be completely honest, I expected to be trying to find the good out of an otherwise bad brand, giving you my best fake smile, and saying, “It’s just more of the same”.
I didn’t have to do that here and thank god!
If you’re looking for a deodorant that smells good, keeps you from smelling bad, and does it all after your first roll in the morning, this IS the deodorant for you.
Seriously. You’re not going to find something that does everything it does as well as it does.
I told you I got the one-time earlier. Let’s just say I have another monthly subscription to add to my Netflix and Amazon accounts.