Proverb Deodorant in Coconut and Tonka Review | Refillable, Eco-Friendly Deodorant
The Top Line:
Proverb Deodorant, an eco-friendly deodorant is a ‘no’ from us. This is entirely based on price! As one of the most expensive options, we just can’t recommend it. We like the packaging, we like the texture and the scent. Even the ingredients are pretty good and the bar doesn’t leave white streaks. Our favorite part is that the refill has ZERO plastic. If you can spend the extra bucks, we think this is a good choice.
NOTE: While we were not compensated for this post, we did receive a Proverb Deodorant kit from the company. As always, we will maintain an honest review, regardless of how we acquire the products we are reviewing.
The Breakdown:
Cost & Products: There are a couple of options for Proverb’s Deodorant: (1) $20.50 for a one-time starter purchase, (2) $16.40 for a (1) $20.50 for a one-time starter purchase, (2) $16.40 for a subscription
How ‘Clean’ Is This? The main ingredients are basically foods, no joke. Tapioca, arrowroot, chia seeds. We will flag one that is perceived to be an irritant: Glyceryl Caprylate/ Caprate. Heads up: the standard deodorant does NOT contain baking soda while the Active do.
Packaging: Paper packaging. The deodorant case is made of plastic, but refillable with no additional plastic!
Purchasing & Shipping: Made and ships from the UK! So for those in the US, take note that this will travel overseas for you. Shipping to the US is also pretty steep at over $20, where as shipping in the UK is free after a certain amount.
What’s Your Impact? Refills of deodorant contain NO plastic. We love that. Additionally, the ingredients are generally on the clean side, especially when compared to drugstore antiperspirants.
The Good:
✔ Scent is super lovely
✔ Residue is minimal
✔ Texture is nice - not irritating even in the active formula (which contains baking soda)
✔ Deodorant comes in a version WITHOUT baking soda as well
✔ Zero waste after you buy the case — refills have no plastic!
The Bad:
✗ Very pricey option
The Experience
Context: We have been trying to ween ourselves away from potentially toxic chemicals for the last two years, and especially over the last six months of WFH. We’ve previously reviewed other natural deodorants: Hammond Herbs (zero-waste), Paper Cosmetics (also zero-waste), Public Goods, Myro (refillable), and byHumankind (refillable) and we did a big deodorant roundup. Here is our experience with Proverb’s Eco-Friendly Deodorant:
Popping the deodorant into the case was .. different. Not bad, just different, since it came with no packaging! ❤️
Easy to use once the deo was popped into the case.
USE LIGHTLY! One or two swipes did not leave white residue.
The scent is light and pleasant - not overly coconut and the Tonka adds a nice woodsy scent.
Works throughout the day - through workouts.
Non-irritating, glides on well (not as well as the gel-based, but pretty well).
The Cost
We used the best numbers we could: the average user of underarm deodorant/antiperspirant uses between two and twelve sticks per year. In addition to our zero-waste and refillable options, we also compared the eco-friendly deodorant from Proverb to a number of other popular deodorant brands, like Dove, Old Spice, Tom’s of Maine and Schmidt’s.
Money Report: Wow - there is no denying that Proverb Deodorant is on the most expensive side here!
Our Recommendation:
Proverb Deodorant, an eco-friendly deodorant is a ‘no’ from us. This is entirely based on price! As one of the most expensive options, we just can’t recommend it. We like the packaging, we like the texture and the scent. Even the ingredients are pretty good and the bar doesn’t leave white streaks. Our favorite part is that the refill has ZERO plastic. If you can spend the extra bucks, we think this is a good choice.
NOTE: While we were not compensated for this post, we did receive a Proverb Deodorant kit from the company. As always, we will maintain an honest review, regardless of how we acquire the products we are reviewing.
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!
