In youth, our wide-eyed aspirations may not include “natural deodorant entrepreneur,” per se, but what a world it would be if every ambition included the conscience and care that Bailey DePew brings to her brand. Here's how her journey brought her to start Bai-li Essentials, kind to the planet and your pits.
Being the Change
In 2019, DePew had been living in Los Angeles for 12 years and despite the increasing availability of natural deodorant options, didn't think of herself as someone who could make the leap. “I was like, ‘I'll never give up my clinical strength!'” DePew says. She wanted to escape products rife with aluminum and parabens, but the search for a plausible alternative wasn't easy.
One reason was that the sea of crunchy brands is still so often packed in plastic and with the shady term “fragrance” on the ingredient list. If she wanted a deodorant that was worth cutting ties with big pharma, she'd have to devise the perfect formula herself.
“I never thought I'd be in this industry,” DePew says, “but when I started making my own deodorant at home and it was really working, I thought, if I'm on this journey for something more sustainable, I bet others are also seeking something like this.” She was right.
DePew and now-husband Jack started in the kitchen of a one-bedroom apartment, but since they've moved their burgeoning business east, all production takes place in a woodworking shop on a property here in the Lehigh Valley. “Jack calls it my ‘she-shop'!” DePew says.
Each deodorant and lip balm is hand-poured in the she-shop, which means its footprint to local buyers has a very short stride.
The Packaging Problem
DePew is highly attentive to the growing trend toward zero waste. How discouraging it is to put your money toward a product made with all the most ecological ingredients only to have to throw away a piece of immortal plastic trash at the end of it? “I had seen one or two brands at the time I started my business using the cardboard push-up tubes and just thought it was the coolest thing!” DePew says.
She was able to locate one of the only manufacturers of this type of packaging in the U.S., a company in Oregon, and source her deodorant and lip-balm tubes there, with labels made from sugarcane pulp.
This packaging is vulnerable to spills, but DePew isn't about to let her products go to waste for mere aesthetic concerns, embracing imperfection by selling seconds at a discount.
Body- and Earth-Friendly Formula
Borrowing from Mandarin, the name Bai-li is not only a pun on DePew's name but evokes the essence of her product: pure-beautiful, made with the simplest ingredients and authentic intention.
“I wanted people to be able to pronounce and understand every ingredient,” DePew says. The list is in the single digits, devised through trial and error. For months, DePew was her own guinea pig, casting aside common deodorant go-tos like baking soda when they resulted in a rash. Less-staunch seekers might have given in and gone back to pharmacy fallbacks, but not her. With her formula perfected, DePew began to source bulk ingredients from a variety of brands that share her dedication to sustainable practices.
“Every ingredient has its own unique odor-fighting qualities, but I would say the biggest odor blocker in Bai-li is magnesium hydroxide, which is a naturally occurring salt in our Earth!”
Armpit Ecology
So odor is outdone, but what about perspiration? Well, slippery pits are part of life. “I'm a big advocate for sweating, even though it may be uncomfortable,” DePew says. “It's your body's way of ridding itself of toxins. It's an important bodily function which is why antiperspirants are so bad for you.”
So many factors play a role in this bodily function, like what we eat, our stress and activity levels throughout the day, and even the ecosystem under our arms. That's why Bai-li offers another function that other deodorants don't: probiotics. When DePew learned that our underarms have their own microbiome, she was fascinated. And when you're making your own deodorant, you can prioritize whatever you want. Bai-li's probiotics seek to act on the balance of bacteria that can make a difference in how you smell.
“Probiotics help eliminate the bad odor-causing bacteria, while feeding the good bacteria,” she says. “I tell everyone you may experience a detox period after switching to a natural deodorant because your microbiome needs to recalibrate and rid itself from the chemicals and toxins that are used in traditional antiperspirants. Just give yourself time and your body will balance itself back out.”
For luscious lips, well-tended underarms and the satisfaction of alignment with a local, lovely brand, look for Bai-li at Kimberton Whole Foods locations, Easton's FD Market and online.
Published as “Ask the Expert” in the August 2023 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
