I live in the south, I am a sweaty bitch, and I really, really hate it when I can smell my own pits. Because of these things, I took to wearing Old Spice soft solid in “Steel Courage” scent, a scent that once prompted my mom to stop in her tracks one Christmas, sniff the air, and ask “who smells like musk?”

My mom’s got a real thing about musk. At least she didn’t ask who smelled like Axe body spray?

I fessed up, explaining that Old Spice soft solid was the only thing that could contain the wrath of my pits, that I didn’t mind the smell, that Old Spice didn’t leave white marks on clothes, and something something feminism, deodorant prices, applicator widths, etc. I was very into this decision, and didn’t care if the whole world thought I was weird for smelling like Steel Courage all day. But mom, by way of her genes, would have her day in court.

The sensitive skin I inherited from mom meant that Old Spice left me with itchy, scaly patches on both sides of my body. After podcasts pelted me with ads for Native’s natural deodorant for months, I finally snapped and got a set of samples. But would a natural deodorant be able to handle what my pits could dish out?

Surprisingly, yes. I worked through the sample scents, deciding that coconut and vanilla was my favorite, but by the time the holiday scents had gone on sale, I was sure enough about Native to order a stick of the Candy Cane scent. The rashes on my sides cleared up in a few days, and I didn’t smell like a big armpit. Not even on days where I had a bunch of stressful meetings.

Native is not anti-perspirant and does not contain aluminum, but I somehow magically do not sweat any more than I did when I was using the Old Spice. Native does say that it could take up to two weeks for your body to adjust, but I think it took me maybe a week, and even that week wasn’t terrible. How does this work? Is it voodoo magic? I have no idea, but it was a game changer for me, and might be for you, my possibly scaly-pitted, musky-smelling friends.

• This is the part where I point out that I was definitely not paid to say any of this, did not receive free deodorant, and did not even get a 4-piece Whitman’s sampler for my efforts…but if anyone from Native is reading this, I like dark chocolate.