Natural Deodorant

[hairfitness101]

See, if I'd only asked you and consulted here, I'd know that! I'm just glad I didn't pay for the stuff. Its nice to spend so much less and really get what you are expecting from a product. You know the old saying, "If you want something done right, do it yourself," certainly applies here. Thanks again for the great tips everybody. Really liking it here. I miss LHC but I'll be back here often.

[SpiralingWaves]

Inspired by this thread, I made up a lotion type deodorant a couple of days ago. Yesterday was hot and humid. I was sweating even though I wasn't moving. Yuck. I used a pea size amount for each arm pit. By late afternoon I was still feeling fresh. I didn't get *fire pits* and I liked the cooling sensation I got from the tea tree oil. I also like that it didn't leave any type of residue, which will be great for wearing tank tops this summer (very happy about this!). I didn't shower last night, but planned to this morning. When I woke up, I did a sniff whiff test. Nothing. Nada. I have to say I am amazed. Now I just need to put it to the 'work-out' test, though I am not too worried at this point.

Here's the recipe:

Deodorant Lotion

2 1/2 T Aloe Vera Gel
2 T Virgin Coconut Oil
2 T Baking Soda
2 T Arrowroot Pdr or Cornstarch

10 drops tea tree eo
10 drops lemon eo

I mixed all ingredients together. I didn't even need to heat it up, the coconut oil was already melted. This made a runny-ish creamy consistancy, so I put it in a small squeeze type bottle. Used pea-sized amount per pit. Makes approximately 2 oz.

Thanks guys for the inspiration!

[LisaJaney]

OK, Ladies, I compiled all the recipes so far, and here's a printable version of them:

Spiraling Waves’ Deodorant Lotion
2 1/2 T Aloe Vera Gel
2 T Virgin Coconut Oil
2 T Baking Soda
2 T Arrowroot Pdr (cornstarch would probably work well here)
10 drops tea tree eo
10 drops lemon eo
I mixed all ingredients together. I didn't even need to heat it up, the coconut oil was already melted. This made a runny-ish creamy consistancy, so I put it in a small squeeze type bottle. Used pea-sized amount per pit. Makes approximately 2 oz.

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Kimberlily’s Recipe for Cream Deodorant
1 T coconut oil
1 T shea butter
15 drops Palma Rosa EO (or Lavender or TTO)
1 t cornstarch
2 t baking soda
Melt-n-mix, put in a pot and apply with fingertips. (I would like to try adding some beeswax to firm it up and make it a stick-application deodorant)

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Lissom Llama’s AVG and Baking Soda Deodorant
A pinch of soda (size of my pinky nail) and a similarly-sized glob of Aloe Vera Gel.

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Suncat’s Deodorant Spray
20 drops of Lavender EO
10 drops of TeaTree EO
10 drops of Rosemary EO
Fill the rest of a 4-oz bottle with a 50:50 mix of Bragg ACV and filtered water.

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Suncat's Deodorant Cream
1 T Cocoabutter flakes
1 t Coconut oil / Sheabutter mixture (this is a 75:25 mix she had on hand)
1 t AVG
2 t Cornstarch
1/4 t Baking Soda (I like the sounds of this less-soda recipe!)
5 drops Lavender EO
2 drops Tea Tree EO
Mix the coco butter flakes with the coconut oil and shea butter then add the aloe vera gel and stir until well blended. Add the cornstarch and baking soda and mix well. After everything is mixed add the essential oils. I just used a kitchen spoon and mixed everything in a small ramekin then transferred it to a 1/2 ounce cosmetic jar.

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Teela’s Deodorant
1 T Shea butter
1 T Coconut Oil
1 T Baking Soda
1 T Corn Starch.
A big squirt of aloe to help thicken it up a bit
Lavender EO for fragrance.
Keep in a squirt-bottle and apply in the mornings.

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Hairfitness101’s recipe
Apply AVG, then dust with cornstarch. (could we mix the two? I’d like to try that)


As we get more, I'll add them to my Word-Document and edit this post or something. Maybe I ought to send it to Steph (I'll report this post) for an article. I don't want ANY credit for any of it, as none of the recipes are mine, but it's nice to have them all in one place! I'll keep an eye on this thread and add to the pit-recipe-book as we come up with "other stuff that works, too!"

[SpiralingWaves]

Thanks LisaJaney for putting this together! I will definitely refer to this list in the future.

Btw, I wanted to mention that I used arrowroot pdr because I didn't have any cornstarch around. I'm sure cornstartch would work very well in the recipe.

Also, I just came back from a killer workout (so proud of myself!), which I'm sure I'll be paying for tomorrow, lol. Anyway, not a foul smell to be sniffed. I just dabbed a bit of the deodorant lotion on each pit this morning, no shower, then headed out for my morning workout. Gee I smell so fresh!

[hairfitness101]

Originally Posted by LisaJaney

Hairfitness101’s recipe
Apply AVG, then dust with cornstarch. (could we mix the two? I’d like to try that)

I say, go for it! If it works like this, then you could add some skin friendly EO's or maybe jojoba/coconut as a carrier+ EO's. I like spicy scents, thinking ginger/cinnamon/orange? Hmmmm. If it doesn't mix well, I suppose the AVG can be mixed with those things and then just dust with CS as usual.

[Elyce]

hairfitness, I like citrus-y and spicy scents as well, but I used lemon eo and I'm not really happy with the result. A strong lemon scent is just a bit too close to pit-scent, so it's not a great association. I think I used too much lemon (used 30 drops, I think, in a mixture that yielded about 4 oz of cream-style deodorant, loosely following kimberlily's recipe). I wish I had something I could mix with my batch to tone down the lemon a bit, ginger and/or cinnamon sound great but I don't have either. Oh well, live and learn, but don't make my mistake

Thanks for the recipe-book LisaJaney!!!! Hopefully it can become an article or a sticky, I have a feeling many of us will want to refer back. Oh, and I hope others post comments if they try these, it's all very helpful.

[Wind Dragon]

I have one pit that's sensitive to baking soda. Weird. I made up a batch of stuff based on Wonderly's recipe a long time ago, fell in love with the stuff and then after a month or so thought I had a fungus or something. Quit shaving and deodorant and everything for a bit, and then when I went back to my mix it happened again. Figured it out that time, but not whatever the other variables were because it comes on so slowly. Went back to commercial aluminum compound stuff for the rest of last year's heat wave.

Diluted my original mix with a bunch more cornstarch and a little more jojoba oil and tried it again, took longer but finally ended up with an itchy-painful pit again.

I haven't done anything else to my mix yet this time. The amatuer scientist in me won out over common sense, and made me try a few other things first. So while I am going to further dilute it quite soon with AVG (not currently in there at all) and some more cornstarch and see what effect that has, here are a couple of things that might help if you think you might be sensitive to your current baking soda concoction but aren't quite ready to give up on it:

• Mix it thin enough or creamy enough that you can apply it gently.
• Smooth on only in the direction of hair growth, even if there's no hair there.
• After showering, make sure pits are completely dry and cool before applying.
• Do not apply immediately after shaving - wait as long as possible.
• Wash off old stuff and rinse away completely before lathering up or whatever for shaving.

That last one I finally got after my last experience, but here's the good news. Mind you, I didn't wait until I looked like I had some kind of flesh-eating virus under there this time, but got the hint as soon as I got itchy (and it was in both pits this time.) Washed thoroughly as soon as I was able to that evening, then applied aloe vera gel. Nice and soothing. Washed that off in the morning and didn't use anything at all that day. The next day, I was able to go back to using the stuff again. No problems yet, although I've only been shaving once a week and try to stay pretty much au natural for that one day.

[kimberlily]

Great idea, LJ! Your note about the beeswax is intriguing... If only I had some beeswax.................

[katkero]

For those of you who use backingsoda and aloe vera gel: I use for the moment pure aloe vera gel because I have a rash and it works as good as the mixture. I put a drop of gel on in the morning and I don't sweat and stink.

[hairfitness101]

Elyce, Ooo boy, I guess that might not work. I could see how the lemon might come up smelling too much like pledge or something. I'd still like to try cinnamon though. When I do, I'll post my results, and if anyone else does, please post it.