The 0ni

I lost my deodorant.

I had already been cutting back, because there are significant amounts of research being done to try and draw a link between use of products with parabens and aluminum on the armpits and risk of developing breast cancer. While there is no conclusive evidence that such a link exists, the idea that people are questioning it makes me slightly uncomfortable. On top of that, I haven’t really found a good deodorant/antiperspirant…. ever? So the chance to try to make something myself at home for at least as cheap as the “traditional” brands, and at cheaper than the “natural” brands seemed like as good a reason as any to jump in. Also, the deodorant that caught my attention is made completely from things that are already in my kitchen.

Plus, I lost my deodorant.

I just used it the other day, which may have been last monday when my husband was last here….but i have looked for it every day and I have no idea where it evaporated too.

Moving on, this post from Crunchy Betty about deodorant and this post from Kitchen Stewardship about taking baby steps toward switching to natural deodorant were my inspiration. I liked some of these recipes for homemade natural deodorant but i don’t have the resources right now for the fancy stuff :

So here’s what I did:

1. Mix 1/4C baking soda and 1/4C corn starch with a fork.
2. Add in one TBS at a time of organic virgin coconut oil. Cream the oil into the powders until you get a creamy consistency.


It's fluffy.

3. Add a few drops of essential oil. I don’t have an impressive essential oil stash, so I put in tea tree oil. You could add in any essential oils you like – I’m thinking about adding lemon and lavender to the next batch, if I ever run out of this one.
4. Clean out an old deodorant container, if you want to be able to apply it in the “traditional” deodorant way. Since I lost my deodorant, I couldn’t use a girly-style container. Luckily, I found an old container lying on my husband’s side of the bed that he forgot when he went back to work. I boiled it and scrubbed the inside of the container with an old toothbrush to remove the old deodorant residue. Man, did it stink like a chemical factory D:


Three simple parts.





Nice and clean inside.

5. Use your fork to pack the deodorant mix into the container. I had a little trouble with this, but I found that as the container warmed up to my hand temperature, the oil would warm up a bit and slide further down.


First scoop into the container





Almost fully packed.


I made too much to fit in the container, and my attempts to wipe the excess oil off only made it melt out all over the place.

The mixture was on the mushy side at this point, but I took a little bit on my finger and rubbed it in under my arm. The oil soaked in almost immediately, but the grainy texture seemed a little bit weird. My armpits itched a little bit overnight, but not much of a big deal.

I left the deodorant out on the counter overnight to set, but it didnt really look any different this morning. I rubbed some more in under my arms after my post-work out shower, capped it, and stuck it in the fridge before work.




Firmed up pretty awesomely, with an awesome rugged texture.

It showed great improvement, it was firm and deodorant-y looking. And I rubbed my finger on the top to smooth out the rugged areas. Then I rubbed it under my arms, and it felt pretty good. Like “real” deodorant.



I put this on with a black cap-sleeve shirt on, and the thing I hated most about “regular” deodorant – the white rings under the arms! – they didnt appear all night. The story might go differently over the course of a day, but I’m dubious.

The weird part is my underarms feel kind of grainy, but only to the touch. I was worried it would feel like sandpaper rubbing against my skin, but it’s not noticeable at all. I reapplied after taking a shower tonight, but mostly because I just really like the feel of it. The graininess is a little bit weird, and I feel a little bit itchy, but i didnt smell nasty pit funk on myself all day – a nice change after a full week without being able to find deodorant.

I would love to get a hold of one of those containers for the creamy type “regular” deodorant – it has the dial-up plunger, plus a cap on top with little holes in it. Each turn of the dial pushes one “click” of cream up through the holes, which you spread on using the rounded top. The consistency I got when I mixed this reminded me of that immediately.

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Posted on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 11:31 pm in Craft, Food, Health, Home   |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback URL

Tags: antiperspirant, baking soda, beginnings, coconut oil, corn starch, deodorant