Magnesium Deodorant

EVERY INGREDIENT, EXPLAINED

What's in the bottle

• Distilled WaterBase / carrier

  INCI: Aqua

  Distilled water is the carrier — the medium in which the magnesium chloride dissolves and the essential oils disperse. We use pharmaceutical-grade distilled water rather than purified or tap water. The difference matters: tap water contains calcium, magnesium, chlorides, and trace organics that would react with our actives or introduce microbial load. Distilled water, produced by boiling and condensing, strips out the dissolved solids and kills any biological material in the same step. We then stabilise the formula without preservatives — magnesium chloride at our concentration is naturally antimicrobial, and the essential oils contribute further antimicrobial action, which is why the formula does not require parabens, phenoxyethanol, or the other preservative systems you will find in most water-based deodorants. The water is a vehicle, not a filler.

• Magnesium ChloridePrimary odour-control active

  INCI: Magnesium Chloride

  Magnesium chloride is the active. It works differently from an antiperspirant: it does not block sweat ducts the way aluminium chlorohydrate does. Instead, it slightly raises the pH of the skin surface and delivers magnesium ions that are inhospitable to the Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus species that metabolise apocrine sweat into the volatile thioalcohols and short-chain fatty acids we recognise as body odour. You sweat normally — the body has good reasons for that — but the bacterial fermentation that produces the smell is meaningfully disrupted. We source specifically from the Zechstein Sea deposit beneath the northern Netherlands, a 250-million-year-old evaporite bed 1,500 metres below the surface. This is the same material used in medical-grade magnesium products. It is USP-verified for purity, free of the marine contaminants that affect sea-water-sourced magnesium.

  Sourcing: Zechstein Sea.

• Caprylyl/Capryl GlucosideMild plant-derived solubiliser

  INCI: Caprylyl/Capryl Glucoside

  Caprylyl/capryl glucoside is a plant-derived solubiliser — it lets the essential oils disperse evenly in the water-based spray rather than floating on the surface. It is synthesised from coconut-derived fatty alcohols (caprylic and capric) and corn-derived glucose through a sugar-ester reaction. The result is a gentle, sugar-based surfactant — in the alkyl polyglucoside family — that is notably non-irritating even on compromised skin. It does not foam meaningfully at the low concentration we use (approximately 1%), and does not interfere with the magnesium chloride's activity. We deliberately chose this over the older polysorbate-20, which is PEG-derived and carries a history of trace ethylene oxide contamination. The glucoside is a cleaner chemistry with an equivalent functional result. No SLS, no SLES, no PEGs in the finished formula.

• Bergamot Essential OilFragrance

  INCI: Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergamot) Fruit Oil

  Steam-distilled from the fruit of the bergamot orange, Citrus bergamia. Bright, sharp citrus — the smell in Earl Grey tea, which is black tea scented with the same oil.

• Kaffir Lime Essential OilThai citrus character — signature scent note

  INCI: Citrus Hystrix Leaf Oil

  Kaffir lime — properly Citrus hystrix, locally makrut — is Thai citrus. It is brighter, sharper, and more resinous than lemon or lime, with a terpene profile dominated by citronellal and beta-pinene. This is the scent most distinctive to the formula and the one that most signals its Bangkok origin. We use the cold-pressed peel oil, not the leaf oil (which is common in Thai cooking but carries a different, more aldehydic profile). The peel is a by-product of the Thai fruit trade — farmers sell the fruit and the peel goes to distillation. This is good sourcing: no land dedicated to deodorant ingredients, just use of what would otherwise be discarded. The scent character pairs with bergamot to broaden the top-note band without sharpening it further.

• Rosemary Essential OilFragrance

  INCI: Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil

  Steam-distilled from rosemary leaf. Herbaceous and clean — the kitchen-herb smell rather than a perfume note.

• Geranium Essential OilFragrance

  INCI: Pelargonium Graveolens Flower Oil

  Steam-distilled from the flowers of Pelargonium graveolens. Rose-like, but greener and drier than rose — the shape of the scent without the sweetness.

• d-alpha TocopherolAntioxidant (vitamin E)

  INCI: Tocopherol

  Natural vitamin E (d-alpha is the naturally occurring stereoisomer, as opposed to the synthetic dl-alpha). Protects the formula's oxidative stability in the bottle and contributes its own antioxidant behaviour on the skin. Works in combination with the tocopherol fraction of prickly pear to give Bio Gold a multi-pathway antioxidant profile without synthetic preservatives.

  Sourcing: Natural d-alpha, not synthetic dl-alpha.