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Husband is a stinky man. Seriously. Stink-y.
He, therefore, is a deodorant addict. An aluminum-preservative-and-fragrance-laden deodorant addict.
Correction: he was a stinky, deodorant addict. Cue the homemade deodorant!
I can make a batch (about 1 cup) in way under 20 minutes, including cleaning time. The beeswax and shea make cleaning a bit of a pain, so I've culled one of my old pans to use just for recipes with the messy ingredients in them. The greatest part is that it actually works! Day one of testing went something like this (ok, it went exactly like this)...
It looks like a lot of expensive ingredients, but you can make enough deodorant for the rest of your life from these. Also, I use everything here in other concoctions. Arrowroot powder is a great corn starch sub for thickening sauces (and is non-GMO!), beeswax & shea go in my balm, I put orange oil in with my vinegar/water cleaner, and tea tree oil is great for minor scrapes and cuts.
The "bare bones" recipe is just coconut oil, baking soda, and arrowroot powder. Here's what the rest of the ingredients do (so you can decide if you want to use them, too):
Orange oil - smells yummy
Tea tree oil - natural antimicrobial (so it helps to kill the stinky bacteria)
Beeswax - thicker texture and helps emulsify
Shea - moisturizes & promotes smoother pits
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup GMO-free baking soda
- 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
- 2 tablespoons beeswax
- 2 tablespoons shea butter
- 1/4 teaspoon orange oil
- 1 teaspoon tea tree oil
Directions
1. Combine all of the ingredients except the orange and tea tree oil in a small pan.
2. Cook while stirring over medium heat until everything is dissolved.
3. Stir in the orange and tea tree oil.
4. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.
5. When the mixture just starts to thicken, stir and pour into a glass container (Hobby Lobby!)
Usage
A little goes a loooong way! Scoop a tiny bit on to your finger and rub in under your pits. If you get too much, you could leave greasiness on your clothes (ick). I have a big jar of it in the bathroom and a little travel container in my desk drawer. This stuff is powerful, so I can often skip days and not have any smelliness!
Just saw this recipe and it looks very similar to what I have done. Just thought I'd drop a note to say, if you want really easy clean up, put all ingredients in a small jar and set the jar in a pan of water to heat. All you need to clean is the jar, or you can keep it in the jar to use if you're really feeling "lazy" (I mean practical).
ReplyDeleteHope this helps!
Great idea!
DeleteWith all of the oils wouldn't this stain the pits of your shirts?
ReplyDeleteI haven't had any trouble with stains on my shirts. You just need to use a VERY small amount and rub it in all the way.
DeleteThis sounds like a wonderful deodorant
ReplyDeleteand would be useful for my husband. I have a question, though, do you know a recipe that doesn't include baking soda or tea tree oil? I'm terribly allergic to them,but I love how well they work! What would be alternatives to using them?
I've heard that you can use all arrowroot instead of baking soda, but it's not quite as effective. I used the tea tree oil because of it's antibacterial properties. Clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary oils are all antibacterial, so you could use any (or all) of these! Let me know how it works!
DeleteHello! Thank you for the recipe! I really want to get away from commercialized deodorant/antiperspirant so I did try a 1st batch of homemade with just coconut oil and baking soda but it was way toooo gritty and it irritated my under arms after I used it for a couple days in a row.... so is your recipe gritty feeling? I wondered if my under arms were just sensitive so I thought I'd ask...also I guess I do need to put an antibacterial oil in because I noticed that my pits did get stinky during the day. :/ So I will remember that when I try a new recipe.
ReplyDeleteWhen I used Arm & Hammer baking soda, it was pretty gritty. I switched to Bob's Red Mill brand, and it was much smoother. The tea tree oil also helped prevent break-outs!
DeleteDoes this harden to a texture similar to conventional deodorant? I was wondering if while it is liquid I could pour it into an empty deodorant applicator, then apply it once it is hardened as I would any other deodorant. I was thinking that would be convenient to keep at work, travel with, etc.
ReplyDeleteIf you added extra beeswax, it would get to that texture. I've been using just a little less and pouring it into travel squeeze bottles for on-the-go storage!
DeleteI love this recipe, it TOTALLY works, only thing is, i wear white to work out (capoeira uniform is white) and it leaves yellow stains. maybe i am using too much? or added too many oils? or is it the beeswax? Thanks again, love your blog!!
ReplyDeleteYay! My guess is the orange oil? It tends to leave orange marks on my towels if it's spilled. You could use lavender or peppermint (which might burn if you use too much) instead if the orange color is an issue. Let me know if this helped!
DeleteI made my own deodorant using this amazing recipe and i loved it :) easy to make, i put it in little jelly jars to store. Even my hubby who has super stinky feet after using it for a week had only positive things to say. Thank you. I will experiment with diff EO's :)
ReplyDeleteWill this prevent underarm darkness and yellowing in white shirts? This is all organic right?
ReplyDelete