Wild Deodorant Review 2020 | Refillable, Compostable Deodorant Stick
The Top Line:
Not a buy — We will keep looking. Even though it gets cheaper over time, and we did like the light, natural rose scent, we cannot recommend Wild’s natural, refillable deodorant based on price and the pasty texture and white residue that it leaves behind.
Check out our Big Deodorant Roundup Review.
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: There are three options at Wild:
(1) subscribe and save, which is a reusable case and one (1) refill ~$15;
(2) one off purchase of $35 for the case and three (3) starter refills; ✔ [We went with this]
(3) and a bulk purchase of one reusable case and five (5) refills.
When buying refills, you can buy exactly three (3) at a time at ~$7.50 each. We use around (~) because the product is based in the UK and it’s in pound sterling (£).
How ‘Clean’ Is This? The permanent case is aluminum and plastic. The refill pods use no plastic and are compostable. This is very similar to byHumankind’s refillable deodorant.
Packaging: Honestly, it was nice and special but it felt a little excessive.
Purchasing & Shipping: Very similar to Myro, the website has a lot of “stuff” on it for 1 real product. A lot of clicking to buy one product.
Good to know: Similarly, you have to create an account, and emails are related to your order. No newsletters have arrived.
Coupons: None that we know of.
What’s Your Impact? By using pod refills, you reduce waste by almost 100% each time you refill over standard deodorants.
The Experience & Efficacy
Context: We have been trying to ween ourselves away from potentially toxic chemicals for the last two years. We’ve previously reviewed other natural deodorants: Hammond Herbs (zero-waste), Public Goods, Myro (refillable), and byHumankind (refillable).
The container is designed by design firm is Morrama — a produce design firm.
The packaging was not as nice as Myro, but still excessive — though everything is cardboard.
The case is a bit larger than other deodorants we tried: it’s a bit like Old Spice, ie, more “masculine”
Putting the refill into the case was annoying. We had to use two makeup brush ends to push the side buttons. The side buttons release the bottom to you can pop in the deodorant refill. Once it’s in, it’s secure. But not ideal.
Application is on the pasty side: similar to Hammond Herbs and byHumankind.
Our first scent was Rose Blush, it’s lovely and subtle, like all of the deodorants that use only essential oils (which we love).
Ingredients are natural and are listed here.
Did its job in terms of blocking B. O. — even after a 45 minute run.
Left a fair amount of residue on a black sleeveless top - NOT OK
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 Wild to a number of other popular deodorant brands, like Dove, Old Spice, Native, Tom’s of Maine and Schmidt’s.
Money Report: Compared to the other subscription services, Wild is the cheapest if you’re a heavy user of deodorant. Over time, Wild subscription would be cheaper since the refills are $7.50 each while byHumankind and Myro are $10 for each when subscribing.
The Good:
✔ Scents are subtle and natural
✔ Natural ingredients
✔ Kept us stink-free even after a hot workout
✔ Refill pod is compostable, waste reduction is very high
The Bad:
✗ Still pretty pricey - like all of the zero-waste, natural deodorants that we have come across so far
✗ Have to commit to a subscription to get the slightly better pricing
✗ Pasty texture, which left residue on black sports bra and sleeveless WFH top
Our Recommendation:
Even though it gets cheaper over time, and we did like the light natural rose scent, we cannot recommend Wild’s natural, refillable deodorant based on price and the pasty texture and white residue that it leaves behind.
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!
