Most of us have probably seen Wild Deodorant advertised by influencers across our social media platform of choice at some point. With their pastel coloured, instagram-friendly packaging and compelling eco-friendly, sustainable refillable approach and brand mission (which you can read about here https://www.wearewild.com/pages/our-mission), it took me a surprisingly long time to jump on the bandwagon and give them a try. Reflecting back on this, I think it was due to the subscription model, and my reluctance to get pulled into something that might in any way, be a hassle to extricate myself from. I was beginning to feel somewhat fatigued by the fact that anything and everything seemed to be signing us up to some form of subscription, and so I resisted my curiosity for some time.
I eventually changed my tune after, like many, I struggled to purchase all my personal hygiene and care products during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, at which point a subscription service seemed like a very smart move. With my decision made, I decided to give Wild a go as they seemed to be one of the more established brands in the deodorant subscription space.
The sign up process online was pretty easy, and I opted to jump right in to their flexible subscription. This signs subscribers up for a £12 starter pack, which includes a case and one refill, and then a quarterly subscription thereafter, costing £15 for three refills, which works out at £5 per refill cartridge. For me, £5 per refill was broadly equivalent to the anti-perspirant I was already purchasing, so the additional £12 for the case seemed like a bargain if it resulted in a successful sustainable swap.
It’s worth noting that subscribers are charged for their first quarterly refill pack a month after signing up for the starter pack and all follow up charges take place between 8-14 weeks depending on the schedule the subscriber has opted for. I decided to sign up for the 12 week delivery schedule. Wild describes this option as being suitable for deodorant users that apply only once per day, but I have found this suitable even when applying twice per day the majority of the time.
As I waited for my starter pack to arrive in the post, I decided to do a small amount of research about natural deodorant, and how this might differ from the standard anti-perspirant I had been using since I was a teenager. Let’s just say, I stumbled across a whole heap of information and YouTube videos, basically informing me that I had not considered the switch in any amount of detail. And I was a little shocked!
In my excitement at signing up to the Wild subscription, I hadn’t considered at all how the product might work differently to my previous anti-perspirants, even down to the fact that Wild is a natural deodorant, not an anti-perspirant. This pretty much guaranteed that I would experience some level of sweating after switching to Wild, which is something I wasn’t particularly used to.
There was also the absolute horror of something called the “detox phase”. This is where the body detoxes all the aluminium that has built up with the use of an aluminium-laden anti-perspirant and the bacterial composition on the underarm skin changes.
To provide a very brief description of what happens during the detox phase, aluminium-based anti-perspirants when used over a long period of time create an aluminium “plug” that blocks the pores under the underarms (so gross….) and stops the user from sweating. Switching to natural deodorant means that over time, these “plugs” will no longer be there, but it also means that in the interim, these “plugs” will be removed from the body. Due to this, for a period of between two to four weeks, users might notice increased dampness underneath their underarms and a much stronger body odour smell. Great…. Exactly what I had been trying to avoid! However, I figured that if I was going to do this at any time, when would be better than during a lockdown??
First impressions…
The deodorant case and refill turned up in a branded box, very well packaged and completely plastic free. There was even a handy little explainer under the lid, demonstrating how to pop the deodorant refill into my handy dandy new case. As you can see I opted for the mint green colour as this made me feel *fresh*.
Following the instructions, I successfully installed the deodorant cartridge and was ready and raring to go. For my first refill, I selected the Fresh Cotton and Sea Salt, which incidentally, is still one of my top two favourites today.
I was super impressed with the quality of the case. It felt hardwearing and reassuringly weighty but yet still very tactile and nice to hold. It didn’t feel flimsy in the slightest and I was very happy with the fresh green colour as it was true to the images on the website.
The refills arrive in compostable cases meaning that there is zero plastic waste with this product. AMAZING!! On arrival, the refills have a little compostable lid that you take off prior to inserting into the metal case. Once the refill is finished, the entire refill can be thrown into either your non-recyclable trash or you can separate the small portion of deodorant from the compostable package and pop the packaging into your compost bin. Such an improvement on throwing away single use plastic every time your deodorant runs out, I think we can all agree!
Final thoughts…
At this point I have been a Wild customer since March 2020, so I think we can safely assume that I am a major fan of this company and product.
Regarding the “detox phase”, I am sorry to report that this is a very real thing… About two weeks into using the Wild deodorant I noticed that my underarm body odour had changed to what I was normally used to, but it didn’t click straight away as I was expecting any change to be immediate and plus, the UK was experiencing some warmer weather at the exact same time, so I had chalked it up to that instead. Once I realised what the issue was, I kept a very close eye (or in this case, nose) for any changes or additional issues, but by the end of week four I had zero body odour issues at all, thankfully.
Thoughout my subscription I have tried many of the scents on offer through Wild, and as expected, I hold a few firm favourites, chiefly, Fresh Cotton and Sea Salt and Mint and Eucalyptus.
The Fresh Cotton and Sea Salt scent is lightly sweet and fresh, not strong or overpowering, but very pleasant to use, and in fact, this has become one of my go-to’s in the range.
Mint and Eucalyptus is very fresh with a little zing, slightly stronger in scent than the Fresh Cotton and Sea Salt, but again, not overpowering. Neither of these scents would compete with any additional fragrance that you might also be wearing.
I have also tried Coconut and Vanilla, Jasmine and Mandarin Blossom and Lavender Haze but these didn’t appeal to me quite as much. The Coconut and Vanilla and Lavender Haze scents were just way too subtle for me and I didn’t notice that these scents made me feel as fresh as I would have hoped. The Jasmine and Mandarin Blossom on the opposite end of the spectrum was a little overbearing for my personal tastes.
I have also been fortunate to be able to try several of Wild’s limited edition scents. Wild appears to release one limited edition scent once a quarter, and they are produced on a limited batch run, meaning that if your delivery doesn’t fall around the time that the limited edition scent is released, it can be very difficult to secure these as part of your delivery. If I was to suggest one thing, it would be to request that Wild make it easier for everyone to try the limited edition scents, as they offer a little bit of fun into what can be a pretty boring and dry (hopefully!) topic.
Saying that, I haven’t found myself to be much of a fan of the limited edition scents. The first I tried was the Lemon Meringue Pie. Now to Wild’s credit, this really did smell like a Lemon Meringue Pie, from the zesty citrus through to the sweetness of meringue and the warm toasted notes of the biscuit base. I just hadn’t banked on quite smelling like a biscuit myself after application 🤣 So while the scent was spot on, it just wasn’t what I look for in a deodorant scent.
The next limited edition scent released was Toffee Apple. Now I love most things apple. Apple cakes, apple desserts, apple scented candles and room sprays. But based on my experience with the Lemon Meringue Pie, I figured this would largely sway towards the sweeter toffee side of the scent. With this in mind, and my reluctance to smell like literal dessert, I decided to give this one a miss.
The next limited edition scent that I decided to brave, and in fact I am currently using is Rhubarb and Raspberry. I was hoping this scent might be fresh and tart with a little underlying sweetness… My powers of deduction however, were incorrect. This scent reminds me very strongly of those rhubarb and custard hard boiled sweets, which I love, and I find to be absolutely delicious, I’m just not sure it’s the scent I want for my underarms 🤣 I will continue to use the refill however, as the scent itself doesn’t last too long, and once I am dressed after application, I don’t notice it at all.
Enough about the scents I hear you say, how does the deodorant actually perform? Well, considering I come from an anti-perspirant preference background due to my unfortunate proclivity to sweat a fair amount, I have been remarkably impressed with Wild’s deodorant. I rarely find myself to sweat very much at all any more, workout’s aside, and I never notice a smell of body odour or a desperate need to freshen myself up due to deodorant failure. In fact, I cannot imagine going back to any of the deodorant products that I used to use. I have everything I need in my Wild deodorant. It costs me no more than my usual anti-perspirant of choice, it comes in a range of scents, several of which I really enjoy, it travels easily, I never have too remember to pick it up at the shops, and rather importantly, it produces zero single use plastic waste. I literally have no reason to try anything else and I will be sticking with my refillable Wild deodorant for the foreseeable future.
Have you tried Wild’s natural and refillable deodorant? Let me know in the comments below!