In my May 9 column, I sang the praises of “Stainless Steel Soap” as the world’s cheapest deodorant.
Readers who tried to find the product at the Mercado San Juan de Diós in Guadalajara were unsuccessful, for which I apologize, but I have learned that it is available from a small chucherías (trinkets) shop on Federalismo near the corner of López Cotilla.
Here comes another strange but wonderful deodorant, which I first bumped into some 35 years ago in the form of a little crystalline rock marketed as “Thai crystal deodorant.” You were supposed to wet it and rub it in your armpits, but before I could properly evaluate its merits, I dropped the rock on a hard floor and it shattered into a thousand pieces.
Several decades later I found it again on a pharmacy shelf in the United States, this time shaped and packaged in the style of an ordinary push-up deodorant stick. I found this product to work so well that I never bought another deodorant again, except for the stainless steel kind, of course.
Just what is this crystal composed of? Potassium aluminum sulphate, otherwise known as alum, the third most abundant substance on earth after oxygen and silicon. Why does it work as a deodorant? It is said to create a very unfriendly environment for bacteria to grow in, and, of course, the cause of body odor is bacteria. What are the advantages? It’s said to be “natural” and, despite its chemical name, contains no possibly carcinogenic aluminum salts such as aluminum chlorohydrate, which environmentalists frown upon and which blocks pores, preventing natural sweating.Disadvantages? You have to wet it before applying, which could be a problem if you find yourself wandering in a desert with no water. But then again, in that scenario smelling good may not be your top priority.
Curiously, various references to this mineral state that it has “long been known and used” not only in Thailand, but in Mexico as well.
Long used in Mexico? I asked around and for while couldn’t find a single soul who had ever heard of alumbre, which, I discovered, is Spanish for alum. Then I mentioned the word to my brother-in-law Pepe.
“Alumbre?” he said. “Sí, cómo no. My father used to use it for whitewashing fences ... as a fixative.” Of course, when I suggested using a chunk of alumbre as a deodorant, he looked at me like I was crazy. This led me to Wikipedia where I discovered alum was being used “way back in Roman times,” for purifying drinking water, of all things. I also discovered that it’s good for pickling foods and tanning leather and is known as a fine blood coagulant and flame retardant to boot. And it seems that alum was used for hundreds of years as the secret ingredient of the Papal States for fixing dye in wool.
Next I asked archaeologist Francisco Sánchez about the use of alum in Mexico.
“Fray Bernardino de Sahagún (who has been called ‘the first anthropologist’) says the alumbre rock was well known in PreHispanic times and much used by tintoreros (dyers),” he replied.
Now that I know this rock is good for just about everything and anything, I was not surprised when Sánchez told me alumbre was also used by the Mixtecas to cure sicknesses. Deposits of alum, he added, can be found in the municipality of Zacualtipan in the state of Hidalgo.
If you want a lump of alum for yourself, you don’t have to go all the way to Hidalgo. Just try the most rustic-looking ferretería (hardware store) you can find. If you want your rock dressed up like a modern deodorant stick, you can order one from www.thecrystal.com, a website where you’ll find lots more tantalizing information on the mysterious alumbre.