INGREDIENTS

That was fairly high on the brief.

CACTUS doesn't rely on fragrance to cover BO.

We use a multi-part deodorising system including zinc ricinoleate, triethyl citrate, magnesium hydroxide and zinc PCA.

Zinc ricinoleate helps bind odour-producing compounds, while triethyl citrate and magnesium hydroxide help make life considerably less enjoyable for underarm odour.

The fragrance makes you smell good.

The other stuff helps stop you smelling bad.

No.

CACTUS is a deodorant, not an antiperspirant.

We deal with odour rather than trying to stop your sweat glands doing their job.

You may still sweat.

You should hopefully smell considerably better while doing it.

No aluminium antiperspirant salts.

Not because we're going to tell you aluminium is secretly trying to kill you.

We're simply making a deodorant rather than an antiperspirant.

No conspiracy required.

No.

Otherwise we'd have saved ourselves a lot of formulation work.

Our fragrance is there because smelling excellent is nice.

Our deodorising ingredients are there to actually deal with odour.

Perfume and deodorant have different jobs.

We made conscious choices about what we wanted in a product that's going onto your skin every day.

CACTUS is formulated without parabens, phthalates, PEGs or BHT.

That doesn't mean we're claiming every ingredient in those categories is dangerous.

It means that where we can formulate a product we love without something, we'd rather leave it out.

We're particularly conscious of the continuing research around hormone-active and endocrine-disrupting substances, and we take ingredient selection seriously rather than using fear as marketing.

Less mystery. More paperwork. Surprisingly, we're into that.

Because “fragrance” can represent a complicated mixture of individual materials.

So choosing a fragrance isn't just: this one smells nice. chuck it in.

We work with established Australian-based fragrance suppliers so we can request the documentation, specifications and compliance information behind what we're buying.

We want the scent to be excellent. We also want to know what we're putting in the tube.

Underarms are skin. We thought we should treat them accordingly.

CACTUS contains skin-conditioning ingredients including squalane, shea butter, sunflower oil, vitamin E and panthenol, and we don't use baking soda.

But it does contain fragrance, and everybody's skin is different.

If you're particularly reactive, patch test first.

If something irritates you, stop using it.

Groundbreaking stuff.

No mysterious “proprietary botanical technology.”

CCT + squalane — glide and skin feel
Shea butter + coconut oil + sunflower oil — emollients
Beeswax + candelilla wax — keep your deodorant a stick rather than soup
Zinc ricinoleate — odour binding
Triethyl citrate — odour-control support
Magnesium hydroxide + zinc PCA — part of our deodorising system
Silica — texture and finish
Panthenol + vitamin E + cactus extract — skin conditioning
Fragrance — the bit that smells ridiculously good

Every ingredient has a job. Otherwise it doesn't need to be there.

It can. We're not going to promise deodorant has discovered invisibility.

CACTUS contains magnesium hydroxide and zinc-based ingredients, some of which are naturally pale. Freshly applied product can occasionally transfer onto dark clothing.

GIVE IT A MOMENT. Let it settle onto your skin before getting dressed.

ARMS UP. SHIRT ON. Try not to drag freshly deodorised underarms straight down the inside of your black tee.

ACCIDENTS HAPPEN. Surface transfer can often be gently rubbed away or helped with a slightly damp cloth.

Most of the time it stays on your armpits. Occasionally, your T-shirt gets involved.

Good deodorant. Bad shirt trajectory.

No.

Your armpits do not require a wellness retreat.

If you're moving from antiperspirant to deodorant, you may notice more moisture because you're no longer using something designed to reduce sweating.

That's sweat. Not mysterious toxins escaping your body.

Because the useful part of a deodorant doesn't need to be diluted with water.

CACTUS is built from oils, emollients, waxes and functional deodorising ingredients.

That gives us a concentrated solid stick with a smooth glide and proper bodycare feel.

50 grams of product. No tiny swimming pool inside.

It contains oils, butters and waxes. So unfortunately CACTUS remains subject to physics.

Normal bathroom: excellent.

Locked car in an Australian summer: considerably less excellent.

If it gets very hot, the stick can soften. Let it cool and firm back up before using it.

Your glovebox is not a bathroom cabinet.

We chose 50 g on purpose.

You probably own more than one fragrance.

So why commit your underarms to one deodorant until the end of time?

CACTUS comes in six scents because we like options.

Morning scent.
Night scent.
Going-out scent.
Staying-in scent.
Gym bag.
Bathroom.
Travel bag.

One deodorant is perfectly respectable.

We just don’t see why it has to be the end of the conversation.

Think of it as the hobbit approach to meals:

one is good. another one also sounds pretty reasonable.

50 g gives you enough product to properly use it, without turning every scent choice into a long-term relationship.

Finish one.
Stack a couple.
Swap when the mood changes.

Six scents. Two underarms. Plenty of possibilities.

This depends heavily on how enthusiastically you deodorise yourself.

Application pressure, number of swipes and how often you reapply all change how quickly a stick disappears.

Some people swipe twice. Some approach deodorant like they're sanding a deck.

We're not going to invent an exact number of weeks and pretend every armpit behaves identically.

Because we didn't want to make a supermarket deodorant and put a nice orange tube around it.

You're getting a 50 g waterless bodycare formula, a multi-part odour-control system, skin-conditioning oils and emollients, and fragrances developed with specialist fragrance suppliers.

We spent money on what's inside. We also spent an unreasonable amount of time making the outside look good.

Both seemed important.

Some ingredients are naturally derived. Others are functional cosmetic ingredients.

We're not interested in pretending natural = good and synthetic = bad.

We're interested in whether an ingredient does its job, feels good on skin and belongs in the formula.

That seemed more useful.

No. We use beeswax.

The bees have ruined this FAQ answer.

Do you have underarms?

Fantastic.

For people with underarms.

We tried to keep the eligibility requirements fairly relaxed.