🧪 Aluminum Messed with My Body — So I Built Something Better

When we were formulating baciq, the decision to leave out aluminum wasn’t a trendy clean beauty checkbox. It was personal.

Back in college, I used antiperspirants with aluminum salts for three straight years. They worked great — until they didn’t. I started getting painful pus-filled bumps near my underarms, and my sweat began leaving weird yellow stains on my clothes. It went on for nearly two years.

After some deep digging, I learned what was happening:

• The pus? Most likely from blocked sweat ducts and disrupted lymphatic drainage caused by aluminum plugging my pores.
• The yellow stains? A known chemical reaction between aluminum and salt in sweat.

That was my wake-up call. I stopped using antiperspirants. And when I started researching what would eventually become baciq, I realised my experience wasn’t rare — it was just not talked about enough.

🚫 Why Aluminum Was Never an Option for Us

1. Sweating Isn’t the Problem

Aluminum stops sweat by blocking your ducts. But sweat isn’t gross — it’s how your body cools down and gets rid of waste. Clogging that system messes with your body’s natural rhythm and detox process.

2. Cell Health + Aluminum Toxicity

Studies show aluminum can cause oxidative stress, damage DNA, and affect cell function in lab settings. That’s not something we want anywhere near skin we care about.

Source: Healthline – What to Know About Aluminum in Deodorant

3. It’s Being Studied as a Neurotoxin

Long-term exposure to aluminum is being investigated for links to neurological issues. It’s classified as a potential neurotoxin — especially concerning for a product you apply daily.

Source: Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2024

4. Even the FDA Warns Certain People

If you check the back of most antiperspirants, there's a small-print warning: "Do not use if you have kidney disease." That’s because your kidneys help filter out aluminum, and if they’re compromised, that load can build up fast.

5. It Wrecks Your Microbiome

There are over 1.5 billion microbes living in your underarms. It’s a full-blown ecosystem. Aluminum-based antiperspirants can wipe out the good bacteria, disrupt balance, and lead to odor rebound, irritation, or worse.

Source: Callewaert et al., Scientific Reports, 2016

💡 So What Did We Do Instead?

We built baciq to work with your body, not against it.

• We use prebiotics like inulin and noni extract to feed your good bacteria.
• We soothe, hydrate, and protect the skin barrier.
• And we let your body do what it was designed to do — sweat.

We’re not here to stop sweat. We’re here to stop odor, discomfort, and disruption.

That’s the baciq difference. Because when something messes with your body? You fix it.