Have you ever looked at your deodorant and thought, “Man, I wish I could just eat this instead of regular food?” If you have, and you’re big on jam bands, then buckle up.
The Grateful Dead released a branded deodorant that is edible and vegan, so no dietary restrictions can keep you from the fun of eating your deodorant.
The line was created by North Coast Organics, which is based in Indiana and founded by Nathan Morin, who is a bit of a Deadhead himself apparently.
“I just missed out on seeing the actual Grateful Dead at Deer Creek in the summer of 1995 but made it a point to catch Phil Lesh and Friends several times in 1999, and have been ‘On the Bus” ever since,” North Coast Organics founder Nathan Morin told Louder Sound. “I have seen countless post Jerry shows (Phil and Bobby at the first Roo, Dead Heads for Obama, and Fare Thee Well are highlights) and had an ever evolving relationship with this band.”
The line includes five scents: Skull & Roses, Unscented, Sunshine, Timber and Workingman’s.
Grateful Dead deodorant announced https://t.co/qYXwaC5YWO pic.twitter.com/CGP9P3VShn
— Stereogum (@stereogum) June 20, 2020
Now that we’ve done our job and laid the ground work, we feel obligated to answer the question that is no doubt on your minds: “Wait, you said you can eat these though? What do they taste like?”
Thankfully, we have an answer for you.
Stereogum’s Kelly Connaboy did the real journalism here, and tried each one and rated them on taste, fragrance and whether the experience reminds her of the Grateful Dead.
Here’s her assessment of the Skull & Roses, uh, flavor? Scent?
I found that this deodorant did taste like its scent, almost exactly. It tasted like “the scent of rose and lavender essential oils, mixed with shea butter.” Not like a “food,” exactly, but it was at least familiar. The texture was disturbing. Again, it was almost exactly like what you’d expect the texture of a natural deodorant to be—chalky, powdery, like you were eating deodorant for a website. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Here’s a glowing review of “Sunshine:”
The thing about the deodorant is for your first few seconds of mushing it between your tongue and teeth all you get is the sense that you’re eating deodorant, but then after a few seconds you get the taste.
And, for the record, her assessment of their actual quality as natural deodorants is that they “kind of” work.
The key takeaway here is that Grateful Dead fans will love having another branded item to add to their lives. If someone in your life is a fan, you definitely know about it.
But should they eat deodorant? Probably not. They probably will never have to. It seems like a waste of deodorant that sort of works as deodorant and maybe even reminds you of the Grateful Dead while you use it. And if that’s your jam, then that sounds great.
Here’s another thing to keep in mind. Jam band concerts are very long. I’ve never seen Phish or the Grateful Dead, but my friends who have tell me about the three-hour sets and “intermissions” and all of that. So, I think if I were standing in a giant crowd for seven hours or whatever eternity they keep you there, I might get peckish enough to take a couple chomps out of my deodorant, which is no doubt working overtime to keep me smelling decent to those around me in the sea of humanity spread out in all directions.
From a promotional standpoint, where you have to judge things on the brand visibility, usefulness and reusable factor, this does pretty well. Obviously, if you go nuts and decide to eat it all in one sitting, the reuse score goes down a little. But if you take a few bites here and there over the course of using it as deodorant, it will probably last a while. It’s probably not the most hygienic thing in the world, but neither are jam band concerts.
