Indie Deodorant Brand Schmidt’s Is Being Acquired by Unilever

A quick pit-stop ahead of your regularly scheduled beauty news: Unilever (the brand behind Dove, Suave, and Degree) announced that it will be scooping up the aluminum-free (and much-beloved) deodorant brand Schmidt's, a month after Procter & Gamble (of Secret antiperspirant fame) added Native Deodorant to its family of products.

It's significant news, because often when the clean-beauty curious dabble in naturals, deodorants are a gateway to so much more skin-care goodness. “Today’s consumers are more in tune to what they put on their bodies, and natural products in general have been growing,” Schmidt’s co-founder Michael Cammarata told Women's Wear Daily. “As natural products are becoming as effective as traditional products, we’re seeing a huge move…[toward] natural products.”

This isn't even the only clean beauty announcement Unilever has made this week. On Monday, the brand announced a more natural line, known as Love, Beauty, and Planet, would be coming to shelves in 2018—and this brand isn't only aiming to put forward cleaner formulas, it's also pushing limits on sustainability. The conditioners in the line are made with "fast-rinse technology," which requires less water to remove, they're scented with ethically sourced oils, and are made from 100 percent recyclable bottles.

Sustainability, as it happens, is also something that's top of mind for Schmidt's. “[The deal] is something that allows us to reach more customers sooner, and the ability to really be customer-focused and focus on sustainability,” Cammarata told WWD. According to the article, the deodorant business is primed to rise from $20.2 billion in 2016 to $23.4 billion in 2021, so it's likely that there will be even more activity in this corner of the beauty world.

As for who's next? Hard to say—but since Well+Good editors have tested a more than handful of these aluminum-free formulas throughout the years, there are a few we can recommend for your medicine cabinet.

Keep scrolling to check out some seriously sweat-wicking deodorants.

Speaking of sweat, here's what happens if you stop showering and this is why Shay Mitchell feels more comfortable with post-workout hair.