got my birks and threw away my razor. NOT!!! still wearing high heels and my legs are smoooooth.
i made the lame tree-hugger joke because my post today is about making your own deoderant. just basic stuff, none of that weird crystal stuff that you buy for 89.95(i think you have to chant as you use it for it to work)or just going stinky in order to be "green". i got the recipe from little house in the suburbs and it goes like this:
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup baking soda
10 drops essential oil(they recommend tea tree or lavender)
you mix it all together(takes about 2 seconds)
you can use it just like that-dust it on as a powder OR if you want to put it in a stick form you add
2-3 tbs coconut oil
you find it in the baking aisle by the shortening. its a little pricey-i got mine for 6 bucks on sale-but a little goes a long way and it has other uses besides making your own deodorant.
once you have it all mixed up you pack it into an old, empty stick deoderant container. it needs to "cure" about 24 hours for it to hold together properly when you apply it.
sometimes i am suspicious about things that are so easy. how could 4 ingredients mixed together so quickly work effectively? things dont need to be complicated to work and this homemade deodorant is proof of that.
i got freaked out a few years ago about the aluminum used in most commercial stick anti perspirant/deodorants and switched over to the "natural" stuff. i used both arm and hammer and tom's of maine and were happy with how both of them worked, but the $6 price tag was not fun especially when you can get the nasty aluminum stuff practically for free when you watch for sales and have a coupon.
i found this recipe just as i was at the end of my tom's of maine 12 hour natural deodorant. i had everything, but the coconut oil. i picked it up on my next trip to the grocery store and made it that day.
i am so excited about this stuff. it really works. goes on smooth and invisible and there are no potentially harmful chemicals being applied to my skin. and its cheap. in this economy, i love saving every little penny i can. this recipe saves quite a few. if you try it out, let me know what you think!
Wow! I use coconut oil instead of Crisco so I have that, might get some different essential oils to try but I have the rest! Thank you so much! I'm always scared about the aluminum too and hate spending so much on deodorant. I saw a site awhile ago where you can order the stick tubes new and lipstick tubes too. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeletei was wondering if you could substitute the coconut oil for regular 'ole shortening. thanks for mentioning that!
ReplyDeletethe original recipe calls for tea tree oil(i think for the antibiotic qualities). i am not sure what oil i used since i didnt mark the bottle(silly me)and i was worried that without the tea tree oil it wouldnt be effective. not the case!
thanks for the tips on the tubes.i was familiar with the lip balm pots and tubes, but not the deodorant cases.
I would suggest finding someone you trust to help you develop an evidence-based understanding of your body smells and deodorizing needs. If you're showering regularly (every few days, particularly if you've done something that will make you dirty, like shoveling manure), you probably don't need deodorant all that often.
ReplyDeleteMost folks have an inflated understanding of how bad they smell, encouraged primarily by the companies that sell you things designed to make you stop smelling badly. Normal body smells, even after strenuous exercise, are not particularly unpleasant, and most can only be noticed in close proximity. Sweat does not smell badly (it doesn't really smell at all). Arm-pit and foot-odor come from microbes that feed on dead skin and carbohydrates found in sweat, rather than from the sweat itself. You can easily tell if your arm-pits are getting unpleasant, and that's a good time to involve a commercial deodorant (antiperspirant has limited power to stop you from sweating, so have realistic expectations from that) because those have an ingredient that kills the odor causing microbes. But you can likely get by on one or two applications of that a week if you're showering regularly, and you don't need to be using perfumed body washes to scrub away every whiff of your own natural body smells. Again, get someone you can trust who you can ask "Do I smell bad?" who will tell you if you do, so you can calibrate how you're actually smelling to someone else.
I don't know if the stuff you're making will kill off the odor-causing microbes, but there's nothing in it that's going to hurt you. My fragrance-sensitive friends would prefer you leave out the fragrances entirely -- you probably don't need them.
But does it stop you sweating?
ReplyDeleteNothing will stop you sweating. You have to sweat to cool your body down, and you have to do that, to a greater or lesser degree, all the time. Antiperspirant reduces the effectiveness of some of your sweat glands, but that's about it.
ReplyDeleteblain(as usual) is right. its really kind of bad to try to completely inhibit your body from doing what is natural. HOWEVER, who wants to have the tell tale sweat spots on their clothes? NOT ME! i am not a particularly sweaty person, so its not like i am fighting against any major moisture, but i can tell you that since i have stopped using the typical anti-perspirant/deodorant, this recipe has worked the best. the arm and hammer did not stop moisture at all and was ok as far as odor. the tom's of maine worked for the 12 hrs it promised, but i could immediately tell when it had stopped working. i have been using the little house in the suburbs recipe for almost a week now. it has kept me dry and keeps on working. not even mild stinkiness is wafting from my arm pits. i am interested to see how it fairs in warmer weather, but so far...I LOVE IT and i am recommending it to everyone.
ReplyDeleteps- blain, i did ask a trusted friend to be on the look out(or nose out)for any embarrassing odor that might be coming from my general direction. i was in the clear!