Why is it that we workout?  To maintain a healthy body weight, promote a well-rounded wellness lifestyle, and of course, to sweat.  It’s too often that we come across people who want to sweat less.  Sweat is a beautiful thing.  And, want to know a fun fact?  The most fit people actually sweat more.

People who exercise regularly tend to start sweating sooner into a work out, and sweat more during.  Why?  Because their bodies are better acclimated to the process of cooling themselves down by sweating.  So, they sweat sooner, and sometimes more, to maintain their bodies’ core temperatures. 

Sweating doesn’t just work as an awesome form of A/C for our bodies either.  Here’s just a few of the many benefits your reaping when you sweat it out during your workout. 

Clears Skin

Sometimes, we get confused and blame a sweaty workout for skin imperfections.  While it’s super important to rinse your face and not let sweat sit on your skin after a workout, the act of sweating itself actually helps you zap zits.  This is because it’s ridding your body of toxins, some of which are acne causing.  So, when we sweat them out and wash them off, we can say goodbye to breakouts.

And, not to mention, getting your blood flowing during a workout improves your skin’s natural glow.

Boosts Endorphins

Prolonged periods of sweating in the gym produces an increase in your endorphins.  Otherwise known as, the “Feel Good” hormone.  Endorphins relieve pain and boost our mood.  So, while you may be feeling a little sore after an intense workout, you’ll notice that some regular aches and pains subside. 

And, endorphins increase our feeling of general well-being, hence boosting our mood.  Endorphins are one of our hormones that help make us happy, so what we’re getting at here, is that sweat and happiness just go hand in hand.

Prevents Colds

Exercising and sweating regularly decreases your chance of catching that nasty cold that seems to get around every September.  That’s because sweat contains antimicrobial peptides effective in fighting off different viruses.  So, by sweating it out, your keeping that cold away.  Not to mention, regular exercise helps support a strong immune system.

So, next time you hit the gym, hopefully all the benefits of sweating during a workout will drive you to have your sweatiest session yet.

We’re definitely not fans of aluminum, but you already know that.  What you might not know, is why we have such disdain for a single ingredient common in most traditional deodorants and antiperspirants.  From clogging our pores to staining our shirts, aluminum’s unfortunately the culprit behind quite a few things you might have been blaming your sweat for.

In order to better understand what aluminum’s doing to our bodies, it’s important to know what it’s used for.  So, here’s the rundown on everything you need to know about aluminum: its uses and effects on your body.

Uses of Aluminum in Deodorant

Let’s start at the beginning.  Aluminum salts are commonly used as an antiperspirant agent in traditional deodorants.  Basically, the aluminum salts help you to not sweat by completely blocking your pores.  Which is problematic for a few reasons.

Side Effects of Aluminum in Deodorant

Because aluminum clogs our pores, it’s no surprise that this produces some unwanted side effects on our bodies.  Aluminum stops the sweat, and when you prevent your body from sweating, you’re withholding the many necessary sweating benefits from it as well.

Sweating is our body’s natural way to rid itself of toxins, regulate body temperature, and promote a strong immune system.  Aluminum basically just presses the pause button on all of these processes.  Yeah, not so great. 

And while you may have been giving sweat the side eye for staining your favorite white tee shirt, aluminum is actually the one leaving those nasty yellow armpit stains behind.  While aluminum salts aim to clog all of your pores, and completely stop your body from sweating, they usually don’t.  The sweat that does escape (and would normally be colorless and odorless) turns yellow when it mixes with aluminum.

So, your aluminum-filled antiperspirant is actually creating more problems than it’s solving. 

We feel so strongly about this because sweat gets a bad rap, while aluminum is actually the one to blame.  Which is why we go aluminum free, and why never get caught up thinking that sweat’s a bad thing.

Unfortunately, harsh chemicals have a knack for hiding away in our everyday items.  Whether it’s our cleaning supplies, hair care products, or sometimes even our carpets (crazy, right?).  And what’s even scarier, harsh chemicals are masters of disguise, so it’s usually pretty hard to even recognize them. 

Luckily, we have a couple of red flags we look for when picking products, so we can choose something that’s going to get the job done without doing a job on the environment or our overall health.  Here’s a few pointers on how you can detox your home and keep those harsh chemicals from sneaking in, too. 

Ditch your old cleaning supplies

Isn’t it pretty ironic that the household items meant to keep our homes clean are actually one of the top contributors to indoor air pollution?  Funny how that works.  Most generic household cleaners are full of harsh chemicals.  And, even worse, most household cleaners’ product formulas are protected trade secrets, so they don’t even disclose the myriad of ingredients we probably couldn’t pronounce anyways, on the bottle.

Luckily, there’s a ton of natural cleaning alternatives available in stores now.  And, most of these brands are forthcoming with their ingredient list.  So, you’re not stuck playing the guessing game, wondering what you’re actually spreading across your home’s surfaces.  Or, if you really want to know exactly what’s cleaning your counter, opt in to making your own cleaning supplies.  There are tons of safe and effective cleaners that you can make with items you probably have in your cabinet already, like baking soda, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide.

 Go sulfate-free

You may have caught wind of the sulfate-free craze.  We’re definitely on board.  Sulfates are technically a pesticide and known skin irritant that are stowed away in things like our toothpastes, shampoos, and conditioners.  And, not only that, but sulfates pollute our ground water, and the manufacturing process is not so nice on our earth. 

But how can we avoid them, because we obviously still need to brush our teeth and wash our hair.  There are actually plenty of sulfate free options on the market now.  Most sulfate free toothpastes are naturally flavored, too, so you can stick to the traditional mint, or if you’re feeling adventurous: hello fennel toothpaste.  And, the hair care industry has been pretty ahead of the curve, seeing as sulfates aren’t super sweet to our hair anyways, so even most big line hair care companies provide sulfate free options.

Basically, the easiest wait to detox your home of harsh chemicals is to shop brands that disclose all of their ingredients.  Because there’s nowhere for these chemicals to hide when a brand is completely forthcoming.  These are the kinds of brands we trust.  And, these are the kinds of brands that aren’t using these chemicals, anyways.