Homemade Deodorant

Yes, you read the title correctly.  I've been slowly changing our household, cleaning and personal products over to organic ones for the past few years.  I use EWG's Skin Deep as my guide, its a great resource!

My next step was to take a few of these items and make my own.  Because I have extra time on my hands.  Because even a lot of organic products contain ingredients that aren't 100% pure.  I started with all of our cleaning products (a post coming soon on that!) and I love them so much I thought I would give homemade deodorant a go.

Most deodorants contain aluminum which is toxic when it enters the body.  There are organic options out there but they are pricey and honestly, they don't work well.  So, 2 weeks ago, the girls and I decided to try our hand at making it ourselves.  (I had to wait a couple weeks to post this to make sure it really worked!)


Here's what we did:

Add 4 T. coconut oil to a small bowl

Add 1/8 cup corn starch

Add 1/8 cup of baking soda and mix these 3 ingredients very well until you have a nice paste....similar to the consistency of deodorant (sorry, that was a bit obvious, yes?)

Once you have the consistency you are looking for, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil.  I chose to add 2-3 drops of both lavender and tea tree oil but I think I would just do tea tree for the men-folk.

Scoop it into an old deodorant container.  It rolls up great and is easy to apply.  And it really works!  I've used it for a variety of occasions now (think: chasing after a toddler) and I love it!  And, I think the cost is around $1 per container.  Not too shabby.

I am working on toothpaste now.  The first batch tasted like wet cardboard so I will keep experimenting and keep you posted.....