# Overview of Active Ingredients Used in Deodorants and Antiperspirants Available on EU Market
## 4 Discussion  
Underarm deodorants and antiperspirants are widely used throughout the world. As such, an extensive range of products are currently available on the market. Nevertheless, while every effort was made to ensure that this analysis was as complete as possible, some online product labels lacked INCI data and, hence, could not be included in the study; despite this, 170 products from five categories were analysed. This is the first such detailed review of the deodorants and antiperspirants available on the market in the European Union. Therefore, it is not possible to determine whether there has been a clear downward or upward trend in the use of the tested active ingredients. Despite this, many scientific papers on deodorants mention the widespread use of antibacterial substances like Triclosan, Benzalkonium Chloride, and Chlorhexidine in deodorant compositions [1; 2; 19]. However, the current survey of this group of cosmetic products shows a different tendency. None of the 120 examples tested contained Triclosan \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c|c c c} \hline
**Ingredient** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Roll-On Antiperspirants**} & **Stick Antiperspirants** & **Total** \\  & (n = 40) & (n = 10) & (n = 50) \\ \hline Carpylyl Glycol & 2 & - & 2 \\ \hline Silver Citrate & 2 & - & 2 \\ \hline Benzyl Benzoate & - & 2 & 2 \\ \hline Zinc Gluconate & 1 & - & 1 \\ \hline Zinc Ricinoleate & 1 & - & 1 \\ \hline Benzalkonium Chloride & 1 & & 1 \\ \hline Zinc Sulfate & 1 & - & 1 \\ \hline Aluminium ALactate & 1 & - & 1 \\ \hline Octenidine HCl & 1 & - & 1 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: _Cont._or Chlorhexidine, despite being considered safe and effective. Only one of the investigated antiperspirants was found to have Benzalkonium Chloride in its INCI composition. The most popular antibacterial agents in the deodorants were found to be Alcohol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, and Zinc Gluconate. Aluminium-based compounds have long been used to inhibit perspiration. The first such compound, Aluminium Chloride, was introduced as an antiperspirant in 1916 by [PERSON]. The compound proved effective in inhibiting sweat secretion, but its use was associated with skin irritation and clothing damage due to its high acidity. Less acidic aluminium salts such as Aluminium Chlorohydrate (ACH) were discovered in the 1940s, and zirconium was added to increase the effectiveness of these salts 30 years later. Although aluminium-based compounds were introduced to cosmetics over 100 years ago, they remain the basic active substances for inhibiting sweat secretion [2,3]. Our findings indicate that the most commonly used compounds were Aluminium Chlorohydrate (62% of considered products), Aluminium Sesquichlorohydrate (24%), Aluminium Chloride (10%), and Aluminium Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrore Gly (10%). Surprisingly, the following aluminium-zirconium complexes were rarely used by cosmetic manufacturers: Aluminium Zirconium Octachlorohydrate Gly was used in only 4% of the included products, Aluminium Zirconium Pentachloroydrex in 2%, Aluminium Zirconium Trichlorohydrex Gly in 2%, and Potassium Alum in 4%. Zinc-based compounds, i.e., zinc salts of organic or inorganic acids, are also used as odour-absorbing agents, with Zinc Gluconate, Zinc Ricinoleate, Zinc Lactate, Zinc Phenolsulphate, Zinc Pyrrolidoncerboxylate (Zn PCA), and Zinc Sulphate being employed in deodorants [4,20]. Our data reveal that zinc-based compounds were mainly involved in the formulations of roll-on deodorants, as follows: Zinc Ricinoleate was present in 10 of 50 such products, Zinc Gluconate in 3, and Zinc Lactate and Zinc Sulphate in 1 product each. Only 3 of the 50 considered antiperspirants contained zinc salts, Zinc Gluconate and Zinc Sulphate. Alternative active ingredients in deodorants and antiperspirants are constantly being sought, as well as new testing methods to evaluate their efficacy [19].