What “Clean” Actually Means
THE STANDARD
“Clean can sound like a marketing word until you ask a simple question: clean by whose standard?”
Clean, to Hutch, is a kiddie pool and nowhere else to be.
There is no single, government-defined meaning of “clean deodorant.” There are retailer standards, independent certifications, ingredient databases, and a federal baseline. They do not judge products the same way. But together, they can reveal how to look past the front label.
For MINT, the point is straightforward: we use a baking-soda-based deodorant formula, not an aluminum antiperspirant formula. MINT contains none of the ingredients Whole Foods bans in body care, including the aluminum compounds used in conventional antiperspirants, as reflected in Whole Foods’ current body-care policy and its archived ingredient lists. That is useful context, not a certification claim or a substitute for reading an ingredient list.
Nobody polices the word “clean”
Here is the part nobody tells you: no one owns the word “clean.” The FDA regulates cosmetics, but except for color additives, products and ingredients do not need FDA approval before they reach shelves. The agency’s own list of prohibited or restricted cosmetic ingredients names just 11 categories. That is the federal floor, not a definition of “clean.”
Into that gap step a handful of private standards: a grocery chain, an ingredient database, a certifier, a retailer, each drawing its own line between “fine” and “not fine.” None of them speaks for the others, and none carries the force of law. So instead of asking you to trust one seal, here is exactly where MINT’s six ingredients (Mentha Piperita oil, Elaeis guineensis/palm oil, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, sunflower seed wax, and zinc ricinoleate) land on four of the standards people bring up most.
Whole Foods: on the acceptable side, off the banned list
Whole Foods keeps a running body-care standard, “Our Standard: Beyond Clean Beauty”, that bans 240+ ingredients, including parabens, phthalates, PFAS, and aluminum chlorohydrate, the familiar active in conventional antiperspirants.
All of MINT’s ingredients are on the acceptable side of that line. Four of our six ingredients (baking soda, palm oil, corn starch, and zinc ricinoleate) are named acceptable by name on Whole Foods’ archived body-care ingredient lists, at both the regular and stricter “Premium” tier (baseline list and Premium list). The other two, peppermint oil and sunflower seed wax, aren’t singled out by name, but fall under categories Whole Foods already treats as acceptable (essential oils, plant-based waxes). None of MINT’s six ingredients appear anywhere on Whole Foods’ current published banned list. We aren’t Whole Foods certified and we aren’t sold there, but that should give you some comfort.
EWG Skin Deep: five 1s, one honest exception
EWG’s Skin Deep database scores personal-care ingredients from 1 (safest) to 10. Five of MINT’s six ingredients score the best possible 1: palm oil, baking soda, corn starch, sunflower seed wax, and zinc ricinoleate all land there. For baking soda, corn starch, and sunflower seed wax, EWG states outright that the ingredient is “not currently on EWG’s Skin Deep Restricted or Unacceptable Lists.”
We’re not going to round up on the sixth. Peppermint essential oil, the ingredient that makes MINT smell like mint, scores a 4, flagged mainly for a higher allergy/sensitization concern, the same reason we wrote a whole separate post on sensitive skin. We aren’t EWG Verified, since three of our six ingredients would need extra substantiation paperwork to qualify for that specific badge, but five clean 1s and one honestly-labeled 4 is a real record, not a certification claim.
Credo’s Dirty List: not on it
Credo Beauty’s Dirty List names 2,700+ chemicals it prohibits or restricts outright, including every paraben and the aluminum salts used in antiperspirants. None of MINT’s six ingredients are on it. The only one Credo even mentions by name is palm oil, and Credo frames that as a sustainability conversation, not a safety one, explicitly declining to prohibit it. We haven’t applied for Credo’s Clean Standard, but none of our ingredients would trip their banned list.
MADE SAFE: nothing in the banned categories, with an honest caveat
MADE SAFE screens against a published list of banned/restricted hazard categories (see it here), covering things like endocrine disruptors, PFAS, and formaldehyde releasers. None of MINT’s ingredients fall into any category on that page. We’ll flag the caveat ourselves: MADE SAFE publishes categories, not a full ingredient-by-ingredient list, and says outright that its list “is not exhaustive.” We haven’t submitted MINT’s formula for MADE SAFE certification, so we can’t claim more precision than that page actually offers, but it’s one more data point pointing the same direction.
What “clean” should mean to us
No standard can make a personal-care choice for you. A long banned list is not the same thing as a promise that a product will work for every person.
But a few things are true, and worth saying plainly. Nobody controls what “clean” means, since there is no single referee. All of MINT’s ingredients sit on the acceptable side of every standard that publishes one, and none show up on any of the banned lists we checked. We aren’t certified by Whole Foods, EWG, Credo, or MADE SAFE. We haven’t applied, and honestly, we’re just getting started.
That is the bar we try to meet with MINT: a short, understandable formula, no aluminum antiperspirant actives, and no inflated certification claims. Just a clear product and a clear explanation of what is in it.
This is what clean looks like to us, too.
Still have questions?
We’ve covered irritation, ingredients, and everything else people ask us most often over on our FAQ page. And if you’re curious about exactly what’s in the stick and why, the Ingredients page breaks down all six.