Homemade Deodorant Recipe
To a lot of you this post is probably coming from left field… but allow me to explain!
Over the past few years I’ve started to clean house in an attempt to make our lives have less of an impact on the earth and be healthier for us. I’ve systematically started taking on different products and processes and finding ways to do them cleaner!
So that brings us to deodorant! Never in my life did I think I would be talking about the state of my armpits so openly with so many people, but low and behold I really enjoy doing product research, trying out new things and sharing my findings! For the past three years I’ve been trying various new “cleaner” deodorants, and have found some that I really like: ie. Herban Cowboy which Owen and I enjoyed and used for about two years. (side note: Owen and I share deodorant) I have since taken this whole process a few steps further and have trying to move towards plastic free products!
I’ve started to do research on what it would look like to make the deodorant myself and as it turns out I had just about everything I needed in the rig! Yesterday I made my first batch, wore it all day, sweated my ass off while installing the new roof rack and still managed to smell amazing at the end of the day!
This brings me to why I’m writing this post: I was so excited by how well it worked that I posted an IG story about it and I got about 100 requests for the recipe! So here it is!
Products Used
Arrowroot Power
Baking Soda
Coconut Oil
Essential Oils with Antibacterial Properties - I used Tea Tree, Grapefruit, and Lavender
Glass Air Tight Container
I included links to similar items, but if you have what you need obviously you should use that!
Recipe
Before you start I recommend checking to see if you have a baking soda sensitivity. Some people do, I personally do not. I use baking soda for spot treatment so I knew that my skin was going to be ok with the volume of baking soda in the recipe. If you’re sensitive to it I would back off of how much you use in your batch.
1/2 cup of baking soda
1/2 cup of arrowroot powder (this is a thickener like cornstarch)
6 tbs organic coconut oil
25 drops of essential oil
Mix together the dry ingredients to be sure they are well incorporated
add in your coconut oil while melted as well as your essential oils
Mix the combo well, I used a wooden spoon, until smooth
Once everything was well incorporated I fine-tuned the essential oils by adding just a few extra drops of each to get the desired smell
move mixture to your container and seal
I actually did a double batch because I was making it for me and my sister-in-law. I filled a small mason jar and a 4oz jar. I think that going forward I will only use the 4oz jars because I think that it’ll be easier to access the deodorant once we get towards the bottom of the jar. It’s really warm in Florida right now so I set the deodorants in the fridge to solidify for a little while and then later removed them to come to room temp. Because the binder is coconut oil the consistency will change based on temperature so we’ll just have to figure out the best way to store it as we go. In the end I went for a grapefruit forward scent.
They should be good for 3-6 months.
Application
For applying the deodorant you will want it to be room temperature so you can scoop out a little pea sized amount for each armpit. Rub it in with your fingers and go about your day!
If you all make it please let me know what you all think or if you tweak the recipe at all! Excited to hear your experiences!
Thanks for reading!
MAK
PS this recipe is a combo of a few that I found online, but mostly adapted from this one.
