I’m terribly sorry that our Monday Makeover came a week late this month, but at least you had the bonus “all natural body care post” a few weeks ago when I wrote about using our goat milk soap as shampoo, which allowed me to take another chemical filled body care product off my list, so hopefully that made up for the delay. Anyways, this month I decided to tackle the recipe that I was most worried about, deodorant. It seemed like fate was forcing me to do it. No one wants to stink and we have all heard people making fun of those who use alternative deodorant options. I was not looking forward to becoming one of those people, but it had to be done.
At the beginning of this month I lost my deodorant. I actually LOST my deodorant. It wasn’t like I was traveling and left it somewhere. I somehow managing to misplace it in my house, and while my house is sometimes the cluttered mess of a house that inhabits two small children it’s certainly not THAT messy. During that time I either didn’t wear any deodorant (if I was staying home.. something I would do even if I knew where my deodorant was) or I wore Kevin’s. I couldn’t bring myself to buy more. After looking everywhere I finally found it… it was in our room stuffed under a pile of paperwork. The kids must have stuffed it there. I used it for two days and it ran out. It was like I was being told that I needed to stop using it and make my own.
Deodorant was the body product I was most worried about. I was worried about the chemicals and most importantly the aluminum. I knew this was a product that I had to tackle, but I was hesitant because, as I said before, I didn’t want to walk around smelling bad. I had been looking around for a recipe for a while when I ran across this one by A Blossoming Life. I liked the ingredients included in this recipe better than others I had seen, so I decided to give it a try.
Homemade Deodorant
- 1/4 cup Baking Soda
- 1/4 cup Corn Starch
- 5 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
- 5-20 Drops of Tea Tree
Combine baking soda and corn starch and mix well. Melt the coconut oil for a few seconds in the microwave, then mix it into the baking soda and corn starch. Finally add the tea tree. Pour the mixture into an old deodorant stick or Tupperware and put it in the fridge to allow the mixture to harden. I didn’t want to take the time to clean out my old deodorant, so I put it in one of our glass containers. It doesn’t have to stay in the refrigerator. It’s only in there to set.
The first few days of use the mixture was so hard that I had to use a spoon to scrape off the amount I wanted to use (maybe because it was colder in the house and coconut oil has a fairly low melting point, 76 degrees). After a few days the deodorant loosened up a bit to a more lotion like constancy and I was able to just scoop it out with my fingers, although I wish I had bothered to go to the extent of putting it in an old deodorant stick because it would have been much easier to apply and a lot lets messy.
So, how well did it work? Maybe not as good as your average, chemical-filled deodorant, but it does the job. I’ve worn it for over a week now. I even gave it the true test in some “sweaty” situations like loading into our show this past weekend and working a craft show all day long, and for the most part it held up. While I didn’t feel like I smelled “pretty” I certainly didn’t feel like I stunk… which is all I am really aiming for. I plan to continue wearing it. I feel better knowing that I’m not putting chemicals on my skin and I trust that it is doing the job.
