byHumankind Eucalyptus Deodorant Review 2023 | Natural, Refillable Deodorant
We tried byHumankind's refillable, sustainable deodorant for a month, here's our review.
The Top Line:
Not really. That said, byHumankind’s refillable, natural deodorant is one of the best intersections plastic reduction and natural deodorants on the market, but it still misses the mark on consistency. The drawback is that it is a little pastier (rather than gel texture) than we would like.
[Updated July 2023 for pricing - byHumankind has not increased prices!]
Check out our Big Deodorant Roundup Review.
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: $12 for the reusable case and 1 fill
How ‘Clean’ Is This? Natural ingredients so natural that byHumankind claims “So natural in fact, you could eat it.”
Packaging: Recycled paper cardboard — which is nice, but we’re not sure that even that is necessary.
Purchasing & Shipping: Clean design, and improved experience since the last time we browsed the site. Shopping and shipping were pretty straightforward and very fast for us. Free shipping and byHumankind claims it is carbon neutral.
Good to know: Refill and subscription is the name of byHumankind’s game. The company tries to use limited ingredients, with a heavy emphasis on plastic reduction via packaging.
Coupons: If you subscribe, you get 15% off per 2 refills
What’s Your Impact? Each refill is made mostly of recyclable paper, so by using refills, you reduce waste by 90% each time you refill over standard deodorants. With Myro, that reduction was just 50% since the refills are also made of plastic.
The Good:
✔ Great packaging
✔ Great reduction in packaging — 90% less with each refill (this is a step up from Myro, which is at ~50% reduction)
✔ Not tied into a subscription but a subscription saves you 15% (and is super flexible)
✔ Easy to use (and pretty) reusable case (similar to Myro)
The Bad:
✗ Eucalyptus scent is so-so (smells like playdough)
✗ We don’t love the consistency
The Experience
Context: We have been trying to ween ourselves away from potentially toxic chemicals for the last two years.
The case is really nice - and it’s a cool light blue-grey color .
Unlike Myro's refillable deodorant, byHumankind deodorant came pre-filled in our tube.
Use is straightforward, and pretty smooth to twist up.
We got the eucalyptus scent which we thought would be refreshing … but it kind of smells like playdough. Odd.
Speaking of playdough, the texture is a little stickier than both Myro and Public Goods, but not nearly as pasty as the Hammond Herbs zero-waste version we reviewed before. We don’t love it.
byHumankind claims it works faster than other deodorants, and when we tried it before workouts, we can agree with that statement. But because of the mealy consistency, it didn’t feel amazing under there.
The Cost
There seems to be no middle ground when it comes to how much deodorant a person uses per year. So, we used the best numbers we could: the average user of underarm deodorant/antiperspirant uses between two and twelve sticks per year. We compared byHumankind to a number of other popular deodorant brands like Old Spice, Tom’s of Maine, and Native:
Money Report: byHumankind is on the lower end of refillable deodorants. The price is on par with drugstore-available Native
Our Recommendation:
Not really. That said, byHumankind is one of the best intersections in plastic reduction and natural deodorants on the market, but it still misses the mark on consistency. It is a little pastier than we would like. byHumankind claims that its deodorant can be eaten but maybe we would sacrifice a little more chemical for the gel-like texture. 😳
We're on a mission to reduce our personal carbon footprint with small, hopefully easy, changes in our home to fight against climate change. This means we're looking for products that may be all natural, ideally zero waste, reusable or compostable -- while still being affordable!
