Watching the Tin Man come alive on The Wizard of Oz. Remembering my fiancée putting a platinum ring on my finger. Seeing my goldsmith father's latest creation. These are all encounters with metals that I have relished.

Wearing anti-perspirant that contains aluminum? No more.

On a toiletries run last month, I stopped in the deodorant aisle for something to replace my gel deodorant and anti-perspirant that was marking up all my shirts. For a couple years I had been using Secret products. The brand's platinum line offers 24-hour protection, and it used to sell it in a pear scent that I liked.

I've long been aware of aluminum's questionable effects, but when I read, "Ask a doctor before use if you have kidney disease," I had to reach for the bottom shelf. That's typically where the natural brands are located. Of course, since my hippie mom often tried to make me switch to the crystal stuff when I was a teen, I had an innate aversion to going the natural route.

My nurse practitioner at Boulder Community Hospital told me this week that aluminum zirconium's potential link to breast cancer concerns some people too.

When I told her -- anonymous to respect HIPAA -- that I wear a Tom's deodorant, she promptly responded: "I think it makes me smell."

Hopefully someone will tell me if they sense I'm overly confident in the natural stuff.

She prefers a natural deodorant roll-on.

So, give me foil, cans, Halloween costumes, trailers, lawn chairs and ladders. I'll pass on the anti-perspirant.

With it being Friday, I'd like to leave you with this trivia from Washington State University: "You would have to drink 2000 liters of beer to get the same amount of aluminum as (an) antacid tablet. The aluminum contents of beer pales in comparison to that of tea, bread and even hamburgers.

More resources:
- How anti-perspirant works
- Kidney disease
- Breast cancer