Make Homemade Deodorant ?!

Raise your hand in the air if the first time you heard of homemade deodorant, your thoughts were something along the lines of:

• That is just GROSS. 
• Those people are crazy. 
• They've taken DIY/all-natural way too far. 
• They must be a bunch of dirty hippies.
• Some people have too much time on their hands.

If you could see me, I would have both hands waving in the air. I had heard the hype about aluminum & other nasty stuff in the commercial deodorant, but I was sure that there was an easier way to get a nice safe deodorant without mixing it in my kitchen. Something along the lines of handing over some money for it at a store. Something that felt a little more hygienic or scientific or something like that. 

I mean, I make soap, and shampoo bars, and lotions, but making deodorant felt like it was only one step away from making my own tampons and hauling my own water.

Then I was browsing a blog that interested me (I don't remember which one), and saw a link to a homemade deodorant post. And I had to pause, because - get this - the author was not a dirty hippy. In fact, she was really put together and organized. So I gave it a look, and it didn't look too bad. 

Then, shortly after that I came across another post about DIY deodorant where the author had all the scientific reasoning behind the ingredients she had used. And it made sense. 

I mean, baking soda absorbs odors. And coconut oil has all sorts of claimed properties, among which are that is kind to skin and anti-bacterial. The same goes for tea-tree, rosemary and citrus oils. And beeswax firms it up a bit, besides which it just smells yummy.

And then I noticed my deodorant was running low. And I did have all the ingredients on hand for one of the recipes, so I tried it. And I really liked it. I didn't stink at the end of the day like I did with sbad (store-bought anti-perspirant/deodorant). I didn't feel any more moist. And in fact, when I did get all hot and sweaty (in my exercise classes), I smelled really yummy when the essential oils were released as the waxes warmed up. There were only a few problems. 

1 - was that I wanted to keep smelling my armpits, which really isn't proper social etiquette.

2 - the recipe I tried got hard on cold mornings and it had too much powder. The result was that it was crumbly, so if I pressed too hard (which I nearly always did), little bits would break off and fall into my clothes, or I would get a large smear of powder/wax across my armpit, which really isn't the look I am trying to pull off. Also, nobody else in my family would use it this way. My husband just refused, and I didn't offer it to my nearly teenage daughter because I could just picture her mashing it onto her armpits, only half paying attention, and running off to school with a trail of white pasty chunks falling out of her clothes as she moved. (Please tell me that other people have children like this.)

So, I looked at other recipes and noticed that the ratio of powder to wax/oil ranged from 8 parts powder to 1 part wax, to 1 part powder to 2 parts wax. Most recipes, however, had nearly equal portions of powder and wax. I tried those & felt waxy/sticky. And I was noticeably more moist. Not my favorite feeling in the world unless I am swimming in a pool on a hot day. So, I tweaked the original recipe by softening it up a bit and lowering the amount of powder just a tad. The result is a creamy, non-crumbly concoction that stays soft, rubs on cleanly, and does not leave any white smears behind as evidence.

Citrus Vanilla Mint Deodorant

3 TB cornstarch 

2 TB baking soda
2 TB arrowroot powder (or just use more cornstarch)

2 TB coconut oil
1/2 TB olive oil

12 drops essential oil (I used 2-3 each of Tea Tree, Orange, & Vanilla)

optional * 1 TB shea butter (to soften more)

Melt oil in microwave on 70% power. Start with 2 minutes and stir. Microwave for 30 second intervals at 70% power, stirring after each interval. Once fully melted, add olive oil and powders and mix with a fork until well blended. (If mixture firms up, return to the microwave to soften) Add essential oils, and mix again. Place in a clean container and rub a small amount on as you would a lotion.

I tried putting this in a clean roll-up container, and it was possible, but not really great. It is soft enough that unless I dabbed the deodorant on, I ended up using too much, and then I had to wipe off the extra white powder - which defeated the whole purpose of the container! So I just decided to come to grips with touching my armpit. And it really doesn't bother me now because I know all the ingredients that are in the deodorant & I touch most of them all the time in some way or another. So go get friendly with your armpit & enjoy smelling great!