Potassium alum is not aluminium chlorohydrate
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This is the question we get more than any other, and it is a fair one.
We say our spray has no aluminium chlorohydrate. Then you read the ingredient list and find Potassium Alum sitting there, with the word aluminium hiding inside it. It looks like we are being clever with words.
We are not. But the difference takes a minute to explain properly, so here it is.
Two different compounds
Sharing a chemical element does not make two substances the same thing. Sodium is a metal that catches fire in water. Chlorine is a poisonous gas. Put them together and you get table salt.
So it goes with these two.
Potassium alum
Potassium alum is potassium aluminium sulphate — the Phitkari block many of us grew up with. It is a naturally occurring mineral salt, used for generations on skin and in water.
It is an astringent with antibacterial properties. On your underarms, it works by making the skin's surface a harder place for odour-causing bacteria to multiply.
Aluminium chlorohydrate
Aluminium chlorohydrate is a manufactured aluminium salt, and it is the active ingredient in most antiperspirants on the shelf.
It does something quite specific. When it meets the moisture in your sweat duct, it forms a temporary gel-like plug near the surface of the duct. That plug physically restricts how much sweat gets out. This is not a side effect — it is the entire mechanism. It is what makes an antiperspirant an antiperspirant.
The difference that actually matters
Forget the chemistry for a second. The practical difference is this:
One blocks your sweat. The other does not.
Aluminium chlorohydrate is designed to reduce sweat. That is its job, and it does it well.
Potassium alum is not designed to do that, and it does not. Alum works at the surface of the skin, on the bacteria. Your sweat glands keep working normally.
That is why a product built on alum is a deodorant and a product built on aluminium chlorohydrate is an antiperspirant. They are solving two different problems. One is about smell. The other is about wetness.
Now the part where we do not scare you
We could stop here and imply that antiperspirants are dangerous. A lot of natural brands do exactly that. We are not going to, because the evidence does not support it.
You have probably seen the claims linking antiperspirants to breast cancer or to Alzheimer's. Those claims have been examined repeatedly, and major health and cancer research bodies have not found a causal link. If someone sells you a deodorant on the strength of those stories, they are selling you fear rather than a product.
So we will be straight with you. If you use an antiperspirant, you are not poisoning yourself. That is not our argument.
Our argument
Our argument is simpler, and it is about whether you need to block sweat at all.
Sweating is not a flaw. It is how your body manages its own temperature, and in this climate it does a lot of work. Most people who reach for an antiperspirant are not actually bothered by being damp. They are bothered by smelling.
Those are two different complaints, and only one of them needs a sweat plug to fix.
Sweat itself is close to odourless. The smell comes from bacteria breaking it down on your skin — we go into this properly in why underarms smell. If the smell is the problem, you can deal with the bacteria and leave the sweating alone.
That is what alum does. It is not a weaker version of an antiperspirant. It is a different tool.
"Does it absorb into my skin?"
The second question, usually right after the first.
Potassium alum works at the surface. That is where the bacteria are and that is where it does its job — it is not formulated to be driven into the sweat duct the way an antiperspirant salt is, because plugging the duct is not what we are trying to do.
What we can tell you without any hedging is what is in the bottle. All of it:
Aqua, Rosa Damascena Flower Water, Potassium Alum, Glycerin, Propanediol, Triethyl Citrate, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Oil, Polysorbate 20, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid.
Twelve ingredients. No aluminium chlorohydrate, no parabens, no drying alcohol, no synthetic fragrance. If anything on that list is unclear, write to us and we will explain it.
So which should you use?
Genuinely depends on what is bothering you.
If wetness is the problem — if you are soaking through shirts and it is affecting your day — an antiperspirant is built for that, and a dermatologist is the right person to talk to about heavy sweating.
If smell is the problem, and you would rather not block a normal bodily function to fix it, that is exactly what we made our spray for.
Most people, when they think about it honestly, are in the second group.
One thing to expect
If you are switching over from an antiperspirant, the first couple of weeks can feel like a step backwards. You may notice more sweat than you are used to, because your glands have been restricted and now they are not.
That is not the product failing. That is your body going back to normal. It settles, usually within two weeks, and we have written about what to expect in switching to a natural deodorant.
The short version
Potassium alum and aluminium chlorohydrate share an element and almost nothing else. One works on bacteria at the surface of your skin. The other blocks your sweat ducts.
We built our spray on the first one, because we think odour is the problem worth solving, and sweating is not something that needs fixing.