Life Goggles: Bionsen Deodorant — A More Natural Solution to BO

Editor’s note: Deodorant may not be a prime topic for polite conversation, but we all use it. Our friends at Life Goggles tried out Bionsen’s product, which features Japanese spa minerals as materials (and we’re not sure what that means, either). Looks like this is a product mainly for European readers… any US-based users? This post was originally published on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. (and please note: Bionsen’s web presence is a bit funky… there is a site here, but it doesn’t seem to include this product).

Bionsen kindly sent me a bottle of its deodorant for me to test. Usually I’m a spray deodorant kind of guy but not being able to send aerosols through the post, I opted for the pump spray. At £2.49 it’s not unreasonable, although I tend to choose my spray by being on special offer so is probably a little more than I would pay normally.

I was also reticent about the pump spray and the fact it would be wetter on my underarms, but I’ll try anything so I plowed on. Bionsen is a hypoallergenic range containing Japanese spa minerals (whatever they are) and is aluminum and paraben free. There’s some science behind the deodorant, as instead of it blocking the sweat glands like anti-perspirants, Bionsen (and other deodorants) tackle the odor instead. The “antiseptic agents and germ-killing ingredients target and kill the bacteria that causes body odor on contact. Fragrances also work to combat body odor but the natural, finely-tuned balance of the body is not affected”.

So does it work? As I said before I was worried about the wetness of the spray but after a couple of times you work out the right amount so it doesn’t dribble down your side and then I left my shirt off for five minutes after that too to make sure. And it really seems to work. I actually chose the two hottest weeks of the year to start my testing (May is the new August it seems) and it performed admirably. In fact even when I was sweating a lot, I had to get the Tube one day, there was no bad smell whatsoever. I still sweated, but sweated in a sweet smelling way.

I’m not sure it’s better than other deodorants or anti-perspirants I use, but I know it’s better for me and it’s certainly not worse which I suspect some people would think it would be. I like the smell more than other products I’ve used and think I’ll use it from now on. I discovered the girlfriend uses the roll-on as well when she tried to steal this as she thought it was for her. The roll-on is a bit cheaper at £1.99 and there’s also an aerosol spray at £2.99, stick at £2.49 and this pump spray is also £2.49. It’s available at high street chemists, supermarkets and John Lewis.