DIY Organic Deodorant Recipe
Why Use Natural Deodorant
Mainly, striving to be healthy, eco-friendly and natural - commercial deodorants contain an average of 25% aluminum salts. Then you have the parabens and triclosan, which is an eco no no! Everyday we're just painting the stuff on, and for women, on broken skin sometimes. Besides minor irritation, rashes and the not so good effect on the environment, the biggest health concern is the possible connection to breast cancer.
Shoving all of that aside {rant coming!}, I don't like using a product with over 18 different ingredients, most of which are synthetically produced and need to be decoded just to find out they are some crazy chemical chain and I still don't have an answer as to what it is.
I'll leave out the brand name {it's all the same anyway}, but here is what you can expect in just about every over the counter store antiperspirant deodorant:
Problems I've
Had with Other Natural Recipes
I've found that recipes with cornstarch and/or baking soda make me itch. I also hate that every recipe out there is made with coconut oil. I know they are trying to make the ingredients grocery store friendly, but hey - eventually, it will permanently stain your shirts, even with light use. I've also found that some recipes are more of a semi-solid powder that crumbles all over unless you use it light as a feather. Then you have the recipes that only stay somewhat solid in the fridge - BURRRR! Cold deodorant does not feel good to me. It's really shocking. And how about those goopy ones you apply by hand from a jar - so sorry and thank you, but no thank you!
What Makes My
Recipe So Great
It is basically the total opposite of other recipes. It stays solid at room temperature. You can use a dial up tube. It goes on light and creamy. The recipe is made with butters and waxes, no oils, so it keeps perma pit stains at bay. It is totally unisex -but- customizable if you prefer something with a little more feminine or masculine oomph. It's naturally antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antiseptic, cicatrisant {so if you ever knick your delicate under arm area, you'll heal quicker and won't have marks}, a natural bug repellent, keeps odor in check - Look, it's fricken fabulous okay!? Need I say more?
So, without further blabbering - my handmade deodorant recipe [please remember this is for PERSONAL use only]:
Tea Tree deodorant with Cocoa and Shea
Ingredients
Directions
Measure the beeswax, cocoa butter and shea butter into a microwavable container. A lot of recipes diddle daddle, but not this one - you are going to pop it into the microwave and microwave on high for 1-3 minutes, or until the mixture is mostly melted. Stir to finish melting everything down into a clear liquid. It's that easy.
Then you are going to whisk in your clay with a fork, until the mixture is nice and smooth. It only takes a minute. Make sure you have purchased the right kind of clay and don't play around using crazy things like rose kaolin, unless you want pink arm pits. Your clay should be either white kaolin or bentonite clay. Bentonite is a soft gray powder, exactly like the white kaolin.
Then add your essential oils and stir. Prep a chilly ice bath. It's simply a large bowl with a few cups of cold water and one cup of ice. Set your container with the melted deodorant in it, into the ice bath. Stir the deodorant mixture slowly while you let it start to cool down and thicken a bit, stir some more, cool some more...When it's just cooled off, but still drippy, pour into your container.
It's that simple. The entire process only takes 10-15 minutes.
You can let it cool over night at room temperature -or- after 15 minutes, pop into the freezer for about 30 minutes. Either way, when it's all cooled off and room temp, cap it up and use lightly as needed.
NOTES
Keep away from heat and warm light {sunlight}. Leave it on a dresser top that's always in the shade and not in your hot bathroom. Nowhere super special, you just don't want to have your deodorant melt away like a snowman in the sun.
I use completely natural unrefined cocoa and shea butters. Raw cocoa smells like cocoa, raw shea smells almost like olives, but you won't smell it at all in the final cooled product. Mixed with the tea tree essential oil, the recipe really smells like smooth butter with a slight cocoa undertone. It's soft, light and in no way too earthy.
If you use refined and deodorized cocoa and shea butter, your recipe will smell much more like the essential oils you use.
