In early 2016, when Erica Feucht was pregnant with her first child, her husband Jason begged her to stop using traditional deodorant because of all of the chemicals it contains.
“We’ve always wanted to get more natural and more natural and as we’ve moved in that direction, deodorant kind of rose to the top of the list,” Erica Feucht said. “First we addressed what we ate, then it became what we’re using on our bodies.”So in response to Jason, Erica slapped some hand sanitizer on her armpits. To both their surprise, it actually worked.
“Weird journey, pregnancy led us to booze.”
Erica Feucht
“I told him, ‘Well if you want me to use that, you’re going to have to find something that works because I have too many things on my plate,'” Erica Feucht told Circa.
Because the alcohol-based hand sanitizer worked, Jason decided to try his drink of choice: whiskey.
“Weird journey, pregnancy led us to booze,” Erica Feucht added with a laugh.
After a good bit of trial and error, the Colorado couple had an all-natural, whiskey-based deodorant by May of 2017.
It’s called Pit Liquor, and beyond whiskey, each bottle contains six different teas, vodka, arrowroot and salt.
“Then in addition to those things, we’ll have whatever the scent components are, which would be like vanilla, black pepper or lavender,” Erica Feucht explained. “We use the actual plants.”
Although Pit Liquor is made entirely of things that are safe to eat or drink, in order to be in compliance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Erica and Jason had put things in the deodorant to discourage anyone from drinking it.
So they went with salt and Kuding tea, which is considered incredibly bitter.
Erica added that this deodorant will not make you smell like you hit the bar before heading to work.
“It’s exactly like how hand sanitizer goes on and smells kind of like alcohol at the beginning and then you’re just left with whatever it actually smells like,” she explained.
For people who want to be extra cautious, but are looking for an all-natural deodorant, Erica said they’re also introducing a non-scented vodka-based deodorant.
Right now, Pit Liquor is solely available for purchase on Kickstarter. The one-ounce bottles go for $7 and the 3.4-ounce bottles sell for $11.
As for the future of Pit Liquor, Erica and Jason are just focusing on whiskey for now but hope to later branch out into rum as well. They also hope to eventually get a patent for their whiskey-based deodorant.
Read more stories from Alix Hines on Circa.
Alix Hanson 