Compare Zaffré Deodorants

Choose your formula

Four sticks. Two lanes.
One question.

Which one is built for your skin.
Every deodorant that works does one of three things: blocks sweat, neutralizes the acids that smell, or traps the odor molecules themselves. We do not block sweat. The other two are what this line is built on, and choosing between them comes down to your skin rather than your budget.
No masking. No sweat-blocking. No guesswork.

It Comes Down to pH

Your underarm sits between about pH 5.5 and 6.5, a little less acidic than the rest of you because sweat output is higher there. That acidity is a defense, not a flaw. A deodorant either works with it or overrides it, and it cannot do both in one stick.

YOUR SKIN 5.5–6.5 pH 4 5 6 7 8 9 MORE ACIDIC MORE ALKALINE SENSITIVE ACID LANE · TRIETHYL CITRATE CORE & MAX MINERAL LANE · MAGNESIUM HYDROXIDE TEA TREE BAKING SODA · PUSHES FURTHEST ZINC ADSORBER WORKS ACROSS THIS WHOLE RANGE

The zinc adsorber sits in Core, Max, and Sensitive because it is stable from pH 5 to 8 and does not depend on pH to do its job. Everything built around it has to pick a direction, and an alkaline buffer and an acid-releasing ester cancel each other out in the same stick. That is why no Zaffré formula runs both, and why Sensitive is magnesium-free rather than magnesium-light.

Start Here

Four questions. One of them is yours.

  1. Has a natural deodorant ever given you a rash, a burn, or redness?Sensitive · $32
  2. Do you sweat hard, work long, and want the most capacity we make?Max · $32
  3. Do you want the everyday one, done properly, without paying for the premium base?Core · $22
  4. Have you used baking soda deodorants for years with no trouble, and want botanicals?Tea Tree · $25

The Whole Line, Side by Side

COREMineral lane$22 MAXMineral lane$32 SENSITIVEAcid lane$32 TEA TREEBotanical$25
Buy it if You want the everyday stick at a fair price You sweat hard and want the biggest formula Your skin has reacted to naturals before Baking soda has never bothered you
How it stops odor Magnesium neutralizes the odor acids, zinc traps the molecules The same, with the highest zinc load in the line Slows the enzymes that make odor, using your own acidity Tea tree and sage botanicals, baking soda, zinc oxide
Zinc adsorber Low end of its range11th on the label Highest in the line6th on the label Full strength6th on the label Not in this formula
Magnesium hydroxide Yes, the lead active Yes, in support No No
Baking soda No No No Yes, deliberately
Aluminum, alcohol, propylene glycol None None None None
The base One oil, apricot kernel. Dry, matte finish Four oils and a dry-touch slip agent. Cushioned glide Four oils, the same base as Max Three oils. Powder-forward finish
Ingredients 15 26 26 21
Scents Clean Slate Clean Slate Unscented or Clean Slate Tea Tree Fresh
After shaving Give it a few minutes Give it a few minutes Nothing in it stings Not the one for this
Irritation testing Dermatologist Tested Dermatologist Tested 0% irritation, RIPT study on this formula Dermatologist Tested

Label positions refer to where an ingredient falls in the INCI list, which is ordered by concentration. It is the one piece of dosing information every brand is required to publish, so it is the one we will point you to.

Neither One Is the Compromise

Mineral lane · Core and Max

Neutralize what has been made

Bacteria break sweat down and release short-chain fatty acids. Those acids are the smell. Magnesium hydroxide converts them into salts that do not carry.

It is barely soluble, and that is the feature: undissolved particles sit as a reserve and sweat dissolves them gradually, which is what gives it all-day capacity.

The trade: it moves your skin slightly alkaline, and alkalinity is the main driver of underarm irritation. Most people are fine. Some people are not.

Acid lane · Sensitive

Make less of it in the first place

Triethyl citrate is a plant-derived ester. The same bacterial enzymes that turn sweat into odor also split it, releasing citric acid, which lowers pH right at the surface and slows those enzymes down.

It is self-renewing. As your skin buffers the acid back up, more of the ester breaks down and the cycle restarts. It works one step upstream of neutralizing.

The trade: the acid release is gradual by design. Hit it with a sudden hard sweat and it can take a moment to catch up.

Three Things We Do Not Claim

We have not ranked Core against Max with a test. We can tell you what is in each stick and where it falls on the label, because that is a fact. Max carries more of the zinc adsorber and a bigger base. We have not run the two through a head-to-head odor panel, so you will not get a percentage from us on the size of the gap.

The actives are complementary, not synergistic. Synergistic means the combination beats the sum of the parts, which is a testable claim, and we have not run that test. Two mechanisms working alongside each other is already the interesting part.

The irritation result belongs to one formula. The 0% RIPT result is Sensitive's. A clinical result attaches to the exact formula that was tested, so we do not lend it to the others, even though we would like to.

Pick One

CORE
$22. Magnesium-led, adsorber at the low end of its range. Fifteen ingredients, one oil, a dry matte finish. The everyday stick. Shop Core →
MAX
$32. The highest zinc adsorber load in the line, magnesium in support, on a four-oil base. Twenty-six ingredients. Shop Max →
SENSITIVE
$32. Magnesium-free, baking-soda-free, alcohol-free, and the formula that returned 0% irritation in a RIPT study. Shop Sensitive →
TEA TREE
$25. Tea tree and sage botanicals with zinc oxide, on a baking soda base. The original Zaffré. Shop Tea Tree →

How Zinc Deodorant Works · Every Ingredient, Explained

8 years in development · 68 formulation iterations

Formulated and Manufactured in the USA