PRODUCT REVIEW: Wild deodorant & shower gel
Not too long ago, I reviewed an eco-friendly anti-odorant called Nuud and praised it for being blanket better than anything you can get in stores. However, Nuud is not the only product in this category that I’ve tested. The other one is a pretty cool concept called Wild and they offer traditional deodorant bars that you can put into a reusable applicator.
As mentioned in the Nuud review, one of the substances I’ve been warned against my whole life has been deodorant/antiperspirant, because pretty much all of your grocery store brands include aluminum in their recipes, which is one of those standard cancer-inducing substances. It’s rather interesting, that the world made that recipe the default, as ultimately, coconut oil and baking soda are enough to kill most bad scents. However, as I also mentioned in the Nuud review, the way coconut oil constantly changes consistency based off minimal temperature changes can make it a bit problematic as a deodorant, so alternatives are still welcome.
Wild was founded in Germany, because I remember being really confused when they first launched, as all of the newsletters and information came in German. Fortunately, they’ve become more international now and everything functions and is available in English.
I feel like Wild and Nuud are quite different, particularly in how they are marketed. For example, Nuud offers differently colored tubes, but I’ve always thought that it was silly to pay extra for something that’s going to get recycled at the end of its tenure in your medicine cabinet. Wild, however, has those reusable cases, so you can put your personality into them a bit. I’ve seen a lot of fun stuff pass through there: simple colors like green, orange, and black, but also there was a boob print to celebrate women’s day and prints from the remake of The Little Mermaid.
Another major difference between Nuud and Wild is that Wild promotes a wide variety of interesting scents for their deodorants, whereas Nuud uses no fragrances and has a very neutral/nonexistent scent. This has its ups and downs. If you are sensitive to smells, Wild might genuinely cause you some problems because many of them are very potent (I have not tried their no-scent refills). Personally, I am not scent-sensitive, but there was still at least one deodorant that I used (Ocean Mist) that was so strong-smelling that it gave me a headache and made me a bit ill every time I used it, so I gave it to my partner, who has been enjoying it without issue.
I do love that there are a lot of very gender-neutral scents in their selection, some of which are really pleasant. I’ve always hated the flowery scent of women’s deodorants, while men’s deodorants make me feel like I’m more male-presenting than I am. I’m personally a big fan of Orange & Neroli, Purple Rain, and Cotton & Sea Salt, which are both very gender-neutral scents, while my partner has enjoyed the Sandalwood & Patchouli, which is a bit more masculine-scented, and as mentioned, is now using the Ocean Mist, which is very gender-neutral. It’s a shame that some of their scents come and go—I can imagine being bummed out if your favorite is just a temporary release. That said, I’ve also enjoyed just trying new smells and seeing how I like them.
Alongside the usual refillable packets, they also have travel-sized sticks, which have a similar size and functionality to a slightly oversized lip balm. And, more recently, they’ve just released a line of body washes that comes in recyclable containers that slide comfortably into their reusable dispenser, which comes in matching colors to the deodorant containers. There are many similar scents and generally, I like the body wash, it has good smells that don’t overwhelm me, though it was a bit of a shame that if you bought them on release, you weren’t able to pick the scents to try.
If there is something annoying about how the company is currently run, it’s that, if you have an account on their site, they’re forcing you to use 2-factor authentication. While normally I don’t have an issue with this being a requirement, my problem is that the site has a “log in with password” option, but it will just automatically redirect you to the email code page, making you use the email code. This means that the option to log in with a password is an outright lie, currently. Hopefully that’s a glitch, otherwise that’s pretty shady.
If there is a new contender against this body wash on the market, it would be the current campaign from Last Object. They’ll be my next eco-product review and I haven’t funded their new line of soap, body wash, and facial cleanser, but apparently they’re pushing “stop shipping water,” which means their refills will be in powder form, rather than selling liquid soaps, much like their detergent sheets in the past. I wasn’t planning to back their IndieGoGo, but their past products include reusable swabs to replace your Q-tip swabs and cotton pads.
Overall, while I do use Nuud as my main deodorant, sometimes I’m in a hurry, which is when Wild is my savior, because it takes less time to apply properly. I do find the price-per-value better with Nuud, but I like to have both on hand just in case. Also, my partner finds the Nuud dispensers annoying, so he prefers Wild—both have their uses and market!
If you would like to try out Wild, you’re very welcome to use my referral code!
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