Our award wining aluminium-free deodorants have garnered praise from journalists, beauty editors, natural products retailers and consumers alike. Testament to this is the two awards won in 2011 by our Intensive Crystal Roll-on Deodorant: the 'BEST BUY' award in the Natural Health Beauty Awards in the hotly contested deodorant category, and 'WINNER' in the inaugural Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards, and in 2012 it won a third natural beauty award by being voted the 'WINNER' for the second consecutive year in the Green Parent Natural Beauty Awards.

So what makes our crystal deodorants so effective? The Intensive Roll-on is made of potassium alum crystal – many crystal roll-ons use ammonium alum, but the potassium form of the mineral salt is twice as effective at preventing odour.

Typically it takes 5 days to ‘grow’ the crystals used in many brands of crystal deodorants, whereas the crystals we use take 7-8 weeks to form. The potassium alum starts its life as potash, a mineral rich compound mined from the earth. Although rich in potassium, it also has many impurities, so the basic manufacturing method of growing the crystals in a large vat (an organic acid is used to catalyse the reaction to synthesize the crystals) means that impurities can be present in the deodorant – these impurities can compromise the effectiveness of the deodorant, and can also act as an irritant, especially if applied to the underarm area soon after shaving. alva use a unique but simple method to enhance the purity of their crystal deodorants – hemp ropes are suspended into the vats containing the potash and organic acid, and when the crystals start to form they migrate to the hemp ropes and ‘grow’ up the length of the rope. This forms a ‘purity gradient’ whereby the crystals at the top of the ropes have a very high level of purity, and this is what makes our crystal deodorants so effective.

The Intensive Crystal Roll-on and Crystal Spray Deodorant, the FOR HIM roll-on and spray, and all Daily Care Roll-on Deodorants use potassium alum, and only the Sensitive Crystal Roll-on, Sensitive Spray and Sensitive Deo Sticks use ammonium alum.