Itchy underarms - how to deal

This is a deviation away from my normal type of blog post, but I felt it would still be useful to blog about.

About 2-3 months ago, I started experiencing really itchy underarms - sometimes I would scratch so much, the skin would break. Obviously this was both painful and an inconvenience, so I had to change something.

After doing some research, I found several reasons that may have been causing the uncontrollable itchiness. I decided it may have been due to shaving my underarms daily (the hair grows so quick!) as this can often cause irritation to the skin. 

So I decided to epilate my underarms instead. 

Yes, it hurt a LOT when I first tried, it probably took me about an hour because I had to keep stopping from the pain. Sorry if this puts you off, but its true. The hairs in that area are quite coarse, which is why it hurt a lot initially. I think another thing that scared me was that you could hear the hairs being plucked out (as your underarms are close to your ears). I did experience a few spots of blood but nothing too much. Make sure you pull your arm back as far as you can to stretch out the skin, it makes it easier. I found that for a day after this first-time epilation, my underarms felt quite sore when I stretched out my arms. But things definitely improved.

I am still epilating my underarms a month later, and I'm getting great results! The hairs have been growing back much finer and I only need to epilate once a week (much better than shaving every day). It doesn't hurt much anymore as the hairs are so fine. If you're willing to deal with the initial pain, I would recommend epilation. 

Despite this change, my underarms were still itchy. 
So the next culprit was deodorant.

The deodorant I was using before (a Garnier roll on) was the reason for the itchiness. I tried a few others, but still had the same issue. I noticed that when the roll on dries, a white powdery residue forms. Is that normal or was it just me?

Anyway, I had heard about natural deodorants before so I decided to do some further investigation. There is a huge amount of information online suggesting that most deodorants contain aluminium which has been linked to cancer. Also, anti perspirants block your sweat glands to stop you from sweating using a wide variety of chemicals, surely that can't be good for your body! 

So I decided to purchase natural deodorant. I bought two bottles from Fresca. They offer hand made deodorant, free of aluminium, alcohol and parabens, and blended with essential oils. Also, in 2012 they received the award for the best aluminium free natural deodorant. 

I received the two bottles a week later ($15 each), Jaisara and an unscented one. Unfortunately, one broke in transit but I received a replacement very quickly! I was happy with the customer service. I was a little hesistant about using them at first - they are not anti perspirants so you will still sweat, but the deodorant will make sure you don't stink! I'm finding that they do last most of the day and are very gentle to the skin - no stinging but most importantly...no itching! 

I'm really happy that I've finally solved this problem as well as changed a few things about  my beauty grooming routine.

If you're still reading this, then thank you for reading this word heavy post!