Homemade deodorant in 5 minutes or less.

A lot of people get weirded out when I mention that I make our deodorant.  Well, I've been doing it for almost 2 years and you haven't complained that I stink yet, have you?

I get weirded out by conventional deodorant (and other conventional cosmetic products), so we're even.

Then I tell them how amazing it is- seriously, the best deo I have EVER had; absolutely no odor after wearing it in the heat, and I've tried MANY deos.  I've even tried men's deodorant because it's "stronger".  Yeah, well I still stunk.  Just keepin' it real.

Usually the reply is "I don't have time to make my own."

You guys.  I hate that response.  *stepping on my soap box*.  It takes 5 minutes.  Maybe less, I'm being pretty generous here.  Seriously.  And once you have the ingredients there's really no excuse.  No excuse, I say!  I'm sure everyone has baking soda and cornstarch in their house.  So go pick up some tea tree oil and Vitamin E oil (both at Trader Joes- I'd recommend getting these items there because their prices are SUPER CHEAP, and hopefully you already shop there for some things), then go get some coconut oil (at any old grocery store, usually near the other oils/shortenings but might be in the "natural" section).  Bam.  That's it.

I use a plastic container from LUSH cosmetics- it used to have "Ocean Salt" in it, but now it's the perfect container for our homemade deo (yes, Kraig and I both use the same one and we both smell AMAZING).  We use two different essential oils, tea tree (from TJs) and Eucalyptus (from a natural food store- fairly easy to get here in PDX but in Ohio you may have to look around... then again the eucalyptus oil isn't necessary.)

So, first things first.  Gather ingredients and make sure you have a container.  Luckily our container is the EXACT size we need.  Providence!

 Next, you need to evaluate the weather.  Strange but true.  If it is over 70 degrees, there is a good chance your coconut oil is melted or at least quite soft.  If it's under 70 degrees, it's likely pretty solid so I'd highly recommend busting out a tiny saucepan.  I always use a saucepan because our temps don't get all that high, at least not enough to turn the CO into a liquid.  Chunky coconut oil = chunky deo.  Bad.

So I heat the pan on low-med and pour in my oils (recipe below) then turn off the heat. You don't need to cook your deo, you just need to melt the coconut oil.

Then I add the other ingredients, mix thoroughly, and pour into container.  Since it's liquefied I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours until solid, or you can just keep it in the bathroom overnight.

That's it.  It probably took me a whole 3 minutes and I carefully measured (definitely measure but don't beat yourself up by being ultra-exact.  It's going on your armpits, for crying out loud.)

Ahh, beautiful homemade, non-toxic, super-effective deodorant.  It's AMAZING, I dare you to try it and tell me otherwise.

You may be wondering how we apply it.  With our fingertips, silly!  It's a pretty soft formula, especially in the warmer months, so we just get a pea-sized amount and put half under each arm.  Then we wash our hands, of course.  It's really not as weird as it may seem at first....

THE RECIPE:

Sayward’s Homemade Deodorant Recipe

1/3 cup Corn Starch

1/3 cup Baking Soda

10 drops of Antibacterial Essential Oil (tea tree, lavender, or eucalyptus)

10 drops of Antifungal Essential Oil (tea tree, peppermint, sandalwood, or eucalyptus)

2 tablespoons Vitamin E Oil

3 tablespoons Coconut Oil

Some helpful notes:

This recipe lasts a good 6 months and that's between two users.  If you can't spare 3-5 minutes once or twice a year, I'll gladly buy your cancer stick  conventional deodorant for you!

Another great thing about this deo is it won't stain your clothing.  No more yellow pit stains!

Finally, if you have any irritation (everyone's skin is different!) just increase the coconut oil by a little and decrease the baking soda.  Play around until you get a good formula for your skin type.  You can also decrease the tea tree oil, add lavender instead (soothing), or any of the other listed essential oils.  Like I said, we do half tea tree half eucalyptus, but you can do all tea tree if you only want to buy one essential oil.

(PS.  Trader Joe's tea tree oil doesn't have a handy dropper like some oils... so if you have a mL dropper or 1/8 teaspoon it will come in handy here.  The equivalent is 10 drops ~ 0.5mL ~ a little less than 1/8 tsp.  If you use all TT oil, you can measure up to 1mL or just under 1/4 tsp.  Less is more, though- seriously, essential oils are potent and can irritate if used in too concentrated a solution).

*disclaimer, it is not an anti-perspirant.  This doesn't bother me because anti-perspirants are really bad for your skin (some say it increases breast cancer risk).  Anti-perspirant deos have an aluminum compound in them, and besides just being an awful thing to apply to one's skin, it also blocks oil glands- that's how it keeps you from, well, perspiring and that is bad.  Sweat is good, and this deo blocks any odor, so it's really just a little wetness.  Anyway, I haven't used an A-P deo in years because it caused really painful, really awful cysts (blocked oil glands!)  


You can check the safety (or toxicity) of your deodorant here.  My old deo was a super-natural, super hippie kind and it still got a "moderate risk" grade.

Price:  This is hard to gauge since I use the same oil bottles for a long time and for many different uses, but I'd estimate this is no more than a couple of bucks.  And in my experience it lasts longer than a deodorant stick....  But the up-front cost will be about 15-20 dollars.  Again, the oils will last a LONG time (years and years) if you only use them for this purpose.