Thread: Walmart alum stick

I cant be the only person to have seen this but I figured I would mention it. I read up on the alum aftershave block and saw where someone mentioned it made good natural deodorant. It jogged a memory of a stick I had as a teen so I figured why not give it a look. I found a stick at walmart for less than $3 and its even infused with aloe. I can get 3-4 sticks (60grams each) for the cost of one 70 gram "shaving" block from most of the suppliers I have seen. If Im wrong to use it let me know, but based on the ingredients listed on the two products I cant see why it isnt applicable to shaving.
Sorry about the green overtone. The walls are green and with poor lighting it overpowered my iphone camera.

tried looking it up and couldn't find it, do you have a link?

found it......

It list Ammonium Alum as the main ingredient

I think you want Potassium Alum(astringent/styptic and antiseptic)

The only brand I found at the local wally world is Pinaud Clubman. I use the styptic pencil of that brand and it works. I would assume that it should work. I mean the mustache wax works marvelously also.

I'm currently using an alum deodorant stick (Ammonium Alum) as an aftershave, works fine, but is"harsher" than Potassium Alum.

Guys...the stick is for deoderant,the block is for both deoderant and shaving.Also whole foods sells those deoderant sticks and the brand is called Thai-deoderant stick....I kid you not. People in india and asia have been using Alum sticks and blocks for deoderant for a very long time.

I didnt cath the difference in the type of alum. Is there any real difference as far as applying it as an aftershave? It definately is an astringent. It also closes up weepers and leaves a good tingle behind. It eases the transition to aftershave as well. I shall google it when I have some freetime.

ammonium alum=Deoderant=harsher=for under arms................pottassium alum=deoderant,shaving=not as harsh=for face.

Its still not as harsh as my styp pen. That thing zings like a wasp.

As others have said, ammonium alum is harsher, and more of a body deodorant, than a facial astringent. I don't know of any real reason ( although there may be one that I am unaware of) why you can't use an ammonium alum stick on your face if you want to and don't mind the extra burn.

That said, most online vendors I know of sell a potassium alum product starting at around five or six bucks, and the stuff lasts for years, so the savings would be fairly small ( unless you prefer the extra burn, which some people might, of course)

If you use the stuff as a deodorant the idea is you paint a layer on your skin and the bacteria won't grow so no odor. The only problem I've found is it has no qualities to retard sweat so if you sweat a lot the alum will wash off buy itself.