Finding the best hyperhidrosis antiperspirant is a challenge because there are dozens of brands to choose from, all of which claim to help treat excessive sweating. Plus, there are plenty of misconceptions about hyperhidrosis itself, leading sufferers to try solutions that don’t work.
To further complicate matters, some major antiperspirant brands label themselves as viable treatments for hyperhidrosis, even though they don’t use the active ingredients which are proven to help treat excessive sweating.
To be clear, hyperhidrosis is a specific medical condition that requires more than just your conventional over-the-counter antiperspirants.
The good news is that because hyperhidrosis is a specific medical condition, we know through scientific research what types of antiperspirants work best to treat excessive sweating.
In this post, we look at the different ways antiperspirants try to treat hyperhidrosis, including explaining the key differences between “clinical-strength” antiperspirants and prescription-only antiperspirants. Then, we cover Duradry, our FDA-approved 3-step system that uses proven ingredients to treat hyperhidrosis without the added inconvenience of getting a prescription.
Try Duradry’s 3-step solution that works to stop excessive sweating. Use Duradry PM at bedtime, Duradry AM in the morning, and Duradry Wash to deep clean and prepare your skin for total protection against hyperhidrosis. Get started for just $20.
Clinical-Strength Antiperspirant vs Prescription Only Antiperspirant
Hyperhidrosis sufferers experience excessive uncontrolled sweating at certain focal points on their body, such as their armpits, forehead, back, hands, or feet — or in multiple different areas.
Excessive sweaters won’t find relief from conventional antiperspirants because those brands don’t contain a strong enough concentration of sweat-blocking active ingredients to treat hyperhidrosis. They’re offering you an umbrella made of paper towels during a rainstorm.
To achieve dryness, you need to find hyperhidrosis antiperspirants. These are antiperspirants specifically developed to treat overactive sweat glands.
Hyperhidrosis antiperspirants generally fall into two broad categories:
- Clinical-strength or prescription-strength antiperspirants, and;
- Prescription-only antiperspirants
But not every product within the same category is as effective. As we cover in the section below, there’s no agreed-upon definition for what makes an antiperspirant “clinical strength” vs regular strength. So while some leading hyperhidrosis antiperspirant brands (like Duradry) use the right active ingredients to treat excessive sweating, others don’t.
And while prescription-only antiperspirants tend to be effective, they’re inconvenient (and often more costly, especially when you factor in doctor consults) — and can often come with unpleasant side effects, like irritated skin.
Below we cover the pros and cons of clinical-strength antiperspirants and prescription-only antiperspirants.
Clinical-Strength Antiperspirants
Clinical-strength monikers don’t actually have a fixed meaning. Any brand can label itself in this way as “extra” strength without meeting any established, third-party qualifiers.
In our post on finding the best clinical strength antiperspirants, we explain a common pattern:
First, plenty of store-bought clinical-strength antiperspirants don’t contain Aluminum Chloride. A tiny compound that reaches deep into your pores to your sweat glands, Aluminum Chloride is one of the most effective active ingredients to curb your hyperhidrosis.
Second, even the ones using Aluminum Chloride may not contain a high enough concentration (like Certain Dri’s 12%).
Note: While it may seem inconsequential, applicator methods make a significant difference in how effective your antiperspirant will be. If you’re using a liquid dab-on applicator, you’re not going to cover as much of your skin as you would if you’re using a gel like we use in Duradry PM.
Other brands forego Aluminum Chloride in favor of ingredients like Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex. While that is a quality ingredient with sweat-stopping properties, (we use it in our Duradry AM antiperspirant), it isn’t sufficient on its own to treat hyperhidrosis. It needs to be supported by something a bit more robust, which we offer through Duradry PM.
Research shows that hyperhidrosis sufferers benefit significantly from antiperspirants that use Aluminum Chloride. The problem is that several leading antiperspirant brands that use Aluminum Chloride are prescription-only, which brings us to our next section.
Duradry’s 3-Step System uses the perfect concentration (15%) of Aluminum Chloride: enough to stop your excessive sweating, without requiring a prescription, and with less chance of irritating your skin. Get started today for $20.
Prescription-Only Hyperhidrosis Antiperspirant
There are several leading prescription-only antiperspirants that doctors prescribe for hyperhidrosis, such as Drysol and Xerac AC. These brands do contain Aluminum Chloride, making them effective against excessive sweating. But they use such a high concentration of Aluminum Chloride (20% or more), in which two drawbacks occur:
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They require a prescription. So now you need to factor in the cost and time of seeing a dermatologist to treat your hyperhidrosis.
- They come with an increased risk of skin irritation. Reducing the amount of sweat you’re producing is the goal of any antiperspirant — but if the trade-off is rashy skin, then you’re just switching one problem for another. Sadly, irritable skin is a major drawback of lots of antiperspirants, because they use aluminum compounds to plug your pores but don’t use any other ingredients to treat dry skin. When we made Duradry, we created a system that treats your excessive sweating, without causing dry, flaky, skin.
Note: There’s also a prescription-only antiperspirant that doesn’t use Aluminum Chloride. QBREXZA is a prescription-only antiperspirant that uses Glycopyrronium Tosylate as its active ingredient. This works by blocking the neurotransmitter that activates your sweat glands. QBREXZA, which comes in a box of 30 towelettes, can cost up to $600 without insurance.
To provide a hyperhidrosis antiperspirant that is easy to get hold of, affordable, and effective, we source only the finest active ingredients for Duradry's 3-step system, which we cover next.
Duradry’s 3 Step System: Achieving Dryness within a Week
I personally suffer from hyperhidrosis and set out to create a solution after growing frustrated with the time and money I spent trying to find effective hyperhidrosis antiperspirants. (I had even tried some of the more extreme hyperhidrosis treatments, such as botox injections.)
By using the best European-sourced ingredients — and using the most optimal concentration — I’m proud to have made a system catered specifically to treating hyperhidrosis. 97% of our customers achieve full dryness within one week after using our 3-step system.
Here’s how Duradry accomplishes that:
1. Duradry PM
You apply Duradry PM at bedtime, around two to three times a week. By applying Duradry PM’s unscented gel before you go to sleep, its active ingredients do a better job at seeping into your pores and blocking your sweat ducts through the night — when you tend to sweat less.
Note: We made Duradry PM as a gel because we’ve found that gels coat more of your skin with antiperspirant than liquids.
Duradry PM contains a 15% concentration of Aluminum Chloride. We chose this concentration because it gives you the benefits of Aluminum Chloride without the drawbacks. 15% Aluminum Chloride doesn’t require a prescription, and studies show it’s just as effective in treating hyperhidrosis as higher concentrations.
Plus, we also use Salicylic Acid in Duradry PM, which has two benefits for our customers:
- Salicylic Acid helps reduce inflammation and redness in your skin by removing dead skin cells, meaning less irritation overall.
- Research shows using Salicylic Acid with aluminum-based compounds helps increase the effectiveness of your antiperspirant.
2. Duradry Wash
Packed full of vitamins and moisturizers, Duradry Wash removes residue bacteria and oils from your skin. This way, when you use Duradry PM and Duradry AM (which we cover next), more of the active ingredients make direct contact with your skin.
The more contact your antiperspirant has with your skin, the more effective it’ll be.
Let's say you're treating your underarms for excessive sweating. If you're applying antiperspirant on skin blocked up with bacteria and residue deodorant or antiperspirant, that means the active ingredients you need to treat your sweaty armpits aren't making it to the source.
You can use Duradry Wash daily.
3. Duradry AM
Duradry AM is a stick antiperspirant that can be used every day. It uses Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex (20%), another compound that works to block your sweat. This adds an additional layer of protection, helping boost the effectiveness of Duradry PM’s formula.
How to Stay Dry Going Forward: What Duradry Does Differently
The first step to treating hyperhidrosis is realizing that excessive sweating is a diagnosable medical condition. (If you want to learn more about the condition, check out our article on stop excessive sweating, where we go into detail on how hyperhidrosis works.)
Once you understand how hyperhidrosis works, you can understand more about the antiperspirants that are made to be convenient and genuinely effective.
What Duradry does differently from other hyperhidrosis antiperspirant brands is threefold:
- We developed a simple three-step process that works to keep your skin sweat-free while fighting body odor and reducing any risk of skin irritation;
- Our products use the perfect level of Aluminum Chloride concentration — so you get the best results without needing a prescription, saving you time and money;
- We use the purest European-sourced active ingredients, meaning only the best compounds are entering your body. Further, our ingredients have a low pH level, which means they're much more potent. Put simply, you get more with less.
You can get started with Duradry today for just $20, and you don’t need to get a prescription. If you’re not happy with the results, we’ll give you a full refund — no questions asked.
