Can we just be honest for a minute? How many of you actually wore deodorant after your first couple weeks of radiation?

Because for serious y’all, wearing deodorant on sore armpits is hard!

When I first started radiation treatment I wore deodorant, like any socially acceptable human does. I bought aluminum-free deodorant to avoid the painful interaction of aluminum and radiation. I even bought it from someone who makes it locally just to add to the feel-good vibes of healthier living. The recipe consisted of shea butter and patchouli essential oil, among other things. My inner hippie chuckled proudly at finally wearing something with patchouli in it, and I happily sauntered to the checkout counter with local goods in hand.

But that whole hippie-buying-local thing only lasted about two days.

Shea butter is a wonderful thing, but it’s a bit solid. I ran the deodorant bar over my armpit multiple times until I felt the shea butter had warmed enough to actually spread a layer on my skin. In doing so, I became paranoid about pulling off one of those tape circles protecting my radiation alignment marks. Surely that little circle, placed ever so conveniently in the middle of my armpit, wouldn’t be able to withstand stroke after stroke, day after day of hardened shea butter.

The last several months I’ve gotten into the essential oil craze. (Don’t judge – it’s a craze for a good reason!) As such, I knew there were some natural deodorant recipes on Pinterest, and I remembered seeing one in particular that was more of a liquid than a solid. The next day I was blending a concoction of aloe, witch hazel, baking soda, and Clary Sage essential oil into a spray bottle for my very own (and even hippier) natural deodorant.

But then there never seemed to be a good time to apply it…

In the morning before treatment I’d shower to rinse off any of my oils and creams from the night before. Any lotions or ointments on the skin during radiation can act as a barrier and thus impede the effectiveness of treatment. But when I got home I was applying my oil regimen, and my armpit was sufficiently saturated with other fluids. No point putting deodorant on three layers of ointments, right?

I may lose some friends over this confession. After all, we’ve had a warm spring and summer is quickly approaching. And let’s not forget the hot flashes from chemo-induced menopause! Those are fun…

So all in all, I’ve pretty much given up on deodorant for the time being until my radiation burns heal. Hopefully my lavender scented coconut oil and lemon cream scented body lotion are enough to make me still smell acceptable in enclosed spaces.

But hey, nothing screams “hippie” like going au naturale and skipping deodorant.