How to Make Homemade Deodorant – i love it!

Subtitled: Please Don’t Be a Stinky Gardener

Around the time that I took the dive into going without shampoo, I found not only the handmade hand lotion recipe but also a homemade deodorant recipe. I was immediately curious about the deodorant because the previous five or so months leading up to that I wasn’t wearing anything for a deodorant, which admittedly maybe was not a wise decision to make in the middle of summer. However, ever since Scott and I have known each other and gotten to that point in a new relationship where you get comfortable talking about such things as antiperspirant, he’s been trying to get me to stop using it. I was always an antipersperant user because I hated the feeling of being sweaty, but I did have to admit that all the correlations made between using that and getting breast cancer were worrisome. Of course it took me a good 7 years to head his warning, but I finally started testing out commercial deodorants that lacked the aluminum of antiperspirants. I tried all sorts from Burts Bees to Tom’s of Maine and some other lesser known brands and all of them made me sweatier feeling than if I wore nothing at all. It was the strangest thing! So last summer I decided to wear nothing at all under my arms and I noticed that I started to feel less sweatier (this is such a lovely topic to write about – yuck!) Anyway, being that it was summer and that I built a picket fence and we had plenty of 100+ degree days, I will be the first to admit that you probably wouldn’t have wanted to stand too close to me by the end of the day.

Now, I’m all for smelling like the beautiful human being that you are, but there’s human scent and then there’s stinky scent. That was what I needed to eliminate. When Amy Karol wrote about her deodorant recipe, I had to try it. I already wanted to buy emulsifying wax from Mountain Rose and now I just needed to order two more things and I was set for making a whole line of homemade body care products. It was easy to make, although scraping out the butters was a bit of a job, but nothing to deter me. I have to say that I LOVE this deodorant and I encourage you to try it! I’ve been wearing it everyday since last November and I’m on my second batch. It doesn’t make me sweatier and I’m stink free all day long. It’s fairly cost effective, at just under $3 a batch, which lasted me about five months.

Here’s hot to make the Homemade Deodorant: I’m going to list the ingredients and how to make it with pictures, but you should really click over to Amy’s Angry Chicken to read the exact recipe.

Ingredients:

• Baking Soda
• Corn Starch
• Shea Butter
• Cocoa Butter
• Vitamin E Tablets (optional)
• Essential Oil (optional)
• Small Jar – I used a 1/2 pint jar which holds the recipe perfectly

Vitamin E tablets are expensive to buy, I think I paid around $11 for my jar, so if you want to pass on this ingredient I think you can. For the essential oils, I chose a combination of Tea Tree Oil which has antibacterial properties (and if there’s anywhere I don’t want bacteria, it’s under my arms!) and Lavender Oil because I had bought some to make the hand lotion. It turned out to be a really nice combination.

Also as I mentioned, the butters took some scraping to get out of their jars. I basically scraped and scraped and then packed them into the tablespoon measure until I had enough. If you have the chance, make this in the summer when it’s much easier to scrap. This last batch was much easier to get out than the batch I made last November.

Then you simply put all of the ingredients into a microwaveable Pyrex measuring cup (don’t put the Vitamin E Tablets or the Essential Oil though yet) and microwave it for about 30 seconds and then stir. Then 30 seconds again and stir until it’s all melted and combined. At that point I added the Vitamin E and essential oils, poured it into the half pint jar and let it sit overnight. Now in the morning after my shower I scrape out a pea sized amount with the back of my thumbnail and smear on. It has a nice texture so I don’t mind using my hand to rub it in, then if I have extra left on my hand I just rub it into my hand like lotion, which it basically is, right?

Mine kept on the bathroom counter for 5 months before I noticed that it wasn’t smelling as fresh as it used to. I only had a tiny bit left so I felt okay dumping that out and making another batch. Amy suggests making the recipe and pouring half into a container to use and keeping the other half in the fridge, which is a good idea. I found that I got three full recipes out of the shea butter container, which has a shelf life of a year. So you might want to consider making a batch for a loved one while you are at it. Also you’ll find yourself with some left over cocoa butter after making three batches of this, and I’ve found if you add a tablespoon to the lotion recipe it turns out divine! This homemade deodorant, paired with some handmade lotion along with some jars of whatever you’ve canned would make a fantastic, loving and frugal gift!

If you are looking to make this as Christmas gifts, you might want to check out my new Christmas Labels too!