Do Our Body Products Fuck With Our Hormones?

Now would be a great time to give your bathroom medicine cabinet a deep clean

In my 20s, I did horrible things to my body. I didn’t work out. I was fully committed to a diet of fast food and frozen dinners. I was lucky if I got a few hours of sleep every night. And I changed my hair color every month. I’m talking extremes — like crayola red and midnight black.

Thankfully, I’m allergic to alcohol and my heart can’t tolerate any drugs. So while I did drink on occasion, I couldn’t have more than a couple drinks when I did. That was my one saving grace.

Around the time I turned 30, I started to turn things around. I was working out regularly, cooking my own meals, and had a pretty good sleep routine going. Strangely enough, that’s when I began to experience severe hormonal problems.

The first problem that arose was body odor. I know. Gross. Not only did my scent change, but it would poke holes through my deodorant a few times a day. No matter how much I applied or what type I used, I smelled rank.

Other symptoms arose. Uncontrollable weight gain. Alopecia. Lethargy. Cystic acne. And my periods stopped.

I saw 15 different specialists over 3 years and all had different theories about what it was. Anemia. PCOS. Hypothyroidism. Autoimmune disorder. Thyroid cancer. Hysteria.

In the end, I couldn’t get a clear diagnosis of what was wrong because my blood work was all over the place. I did, however, find a doctor willing to prescribe me Spironolactone which turned everything around… Until late 2020.

Why Did the Hormonal Problems Return?

I suspect that periods of intense stress are what set my body off on this rollercoaster ride of hormone and cortisol instability. In my early-30s, it was the abusive relationship I was in. In 2020, it was the COVID insanity.

But what is it that makes my body react this way when stressed? I mean, it basically becomes ungovernable for years no matter what I do.

Part of me wonders if it was the Gardasil shots I took in my mid-20s. I took two of the three. I would’ve finished the series if I hadn’t had such a nasty reaction to the first two.

These days, I know I should never have taken that so-called HPV vaccine. But after being shamed by my doctor for having an STD, erroneously told that I had pre-cancer, and then having a doctor “accidentally” remove part of my cervix (I’ll share that story soon, I would’ve done anything that the experts told me back then.

That said, I’ve also wondered if my body freaks out like this from all the abuse I put it through when I was younger. The shitty eating, all the hair dye applied to my scalp, and the general lack of care for my body — that could’ve messed with my hormones, right?

Today, as I write this, I have a different theory.

What Happened to My Hormones After I Stopped Using Antiperspirant

I turned 40 last month. And I resolved to make a big change this year.

I already eat really healthy, work out regularly, and do my best to minimize stress. I’ve also cut out toxic brands and people from my life. So to kick this decade off right I decided to detox my body from unnatural and potentially unhealthy products.

I chose to start with deodorant because of something I saw on Samantha Marika’s Instagram and website. That and I’ve heard since I was a teenager how aluminum in deodorants can poison you and give you cancer. I’ve been fine so far (knock on wood), but you never know when that luck will run out.

So I threw out the Dove antiperspirant I’d been using for about a decade and switched to an all-natural deodorant made by Native.

I expected to smell badly while my body adjusted, but it never happened. What has happened has been pretty wild though.

Normalized Hormones

The hormonal issues that resurfaced in 2020 are slowly slipping away. I can’t believe it. Of all the things I tried, never in a million years would I have guessed that not using deodorant with aluminum, phthalates, and parabens would have helped. But the weight is slipping off and my hair is growing like a weed, among other things.

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My body has stopped smelling altogether. The only time there’s any odor is after a long hike with the pups or an intense workout. Even then, it’s minimal and not all that unpleasant.

Body Hair

My body hair has changed too. It’s much thinner and less coarse. I definitely don’t have to shave as frequently anymore.

Armpit Skin

The skin under my arms has now become super soft and the red lines, bumps, and giant pores I had come to know and hate over the years are gone. I suspect my pores had been clogged and my skin irritated from having to work so hard to shave the hair off.

Other Side Effects

There are some more annoying side effects. I wouldn’t say I’m worried about them, but I just hadn’t expected them. The first was the cramping. I had really painful menstrual cramps all day and night for the first few weeks.

The second side effect was acne. Not like the painful cystic acne I get during my stress-induced hormonal periods. More like teenager acne — small pimples and bumps on my forehead and chest. They’re mostly gone now, thank goodness.

The last unexpected and strange side effect has been my libido. Holy hell is this crazy. This might be TMI, but I take birth control in part because it keeps my high libido in check. Apparently, my deodorant was also lowering my libido because these cravings I’m feeling right now are insane. I’m hoping that things even out on that front the way the cramping and acne did. Fingers crossed!

Are Our Body Care Products Fucking With Our Hormones?

As I wrap up here, I want to come back to the question I originally asked in the title of this post. For me, I whole-heartedly believe that body care products loaded up with heavy metals, chemicals, and other toxins are causing us harm. And it’s problem harm we aren’t even aware of because we’ve been using them most of our lives.

While you don’t hear a lot of media or medical outlets talking about this a lot right now since COVID seems to dominate most conversations (still), it was something we heard a lot about in the 2010s.

Time published a post called “5 Things Wrong with Your Deodorant“ in 2016.

Penn Medicine asked, “Is Deodorant Harmful for Your Health?“ in 2019.

The National Library of Medicine published a paper called “Potential interference of aluminum chlorohydrate with estrogen receptor signaling in breast cancer cells“ in 2018.

The American Cancer Society also touched on this topic with a post called “Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer Risk“.

And, yet, the FDA has done nothing and is doing nothing to ensure that these products are either stripped of these harmful and sometimes deadly chemicals or that the products are kept off the market.

If you haven’t watched any of the HBO series “Not So Pretty”, I’d suggest watching the first few episodes. Especially the one about Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder.

You’ll see just how many of these toxic products are on the shelves of your local drug store or supermarket and sitting in your bathrooms right now. And how no one really cares if we get sick from them because it means big money for their partners in Big Medicine and Big Pharma.

If you haven’t done so already, take stock of the body care products you use regularly. Then take a closer look at their ingredients. Anything with harmful chemicals need to go in your trash can ASAP and be replaced with natural products (if anything at all). It might take a period of adjustment, but it’s worth it if it can restore some of your health back to you!