Speaking of the new year, happy 2012 everyone! Welcome to the beginning of the end! We may not make it to another Christmas this year, but our last day will be Yule!
But Seriously, I hope my readers understand that the hype about 2012 is not actually the end of the world, even according to the Mayans, but the end of an age where the Mayan calendar has come full circle and will start over again, just as our "Wheel of the Year" turns every year and every year we start over, whether you celebrate the new year at Samhain (Halloween), and/or on January 1st.
While all the craziness of the holidays has been going on, I've also created 2 batches of homemade deodorant. My first batch ended in disaster as I spilled my tea tree oil in the concoction and it stunk like crazy. On top of that, the whole thing solidified in my deodorant container so hard that I couldn't twist it out to use it and I ended up breaking the container trying to get it to work.
On the other hand, I tried again and this time it worked. I put my deodorant in cosmetic jars (picture of my actual product below) and I've been using my fingers to apply.
...Just one problem. After using the new deodorant for 3 or 4 days I experienced burning in my underarms while trying to take a shower. I don't know for sure that it was my deodorant, but it could've been my deodorant reacting to my shower soap or something, too. Either way, just to see if it was my deodorant I've gone back to conventional deodorant for a few days.
Below I'll list out the recipe I used and then explain what I might try next time.
1oz pure cocoa butter, melted
1/4 cup arrowroot powder (you can also use cornstarch. I'll discuss this more in a minute.)
2 Tbsp baking soda
3 drops tea tree essential oil
8 drops lavendar essential oil
1 drop pure vitamin E oil (you can also take a vitamin E pill, poke a hole in it and squeeze out the oil)
3/4 tsp fragrance oil of your choice (I used an oil I got from our Medieval Faire one year)
I combined the first 3 ingredients until I had a nice thick consistency. Then I added my oils and continued to stir until the mixture started to solidify a little. It kind of became a little like the consistency of play-dough. I then put it into the jars with a spoon. The deodorant solidified at room temperature over night.
As I noted above, you can use cornstarch instead of arrowroot powder. This can be more economical because cornstarch is cheap and arrowroot powder isn't. However, I used arrowroot powder because I saw this video which says that cornstarch contains talc. I bought the arrowroot before researching further. After I researched the subject, I'm not sure where they got their information from. Everywhere I looked there was nothing about cornstarch containing talc. Cornstarch is a starch made from corn, where talc is talcum powder which is a powder that is made from a rock. Just to be safe, though, I bought "100% Pure Cornstarch".
That same video also uses a different recipe. She uses coconut oil, which I might try using next time. I researched coconut oil and it's very moisturizing and beneficial to the skin, especially dry skin. I might also try using less baking soda because after researching more, (I didn't research enough before making this stuff, huh?) I found that baking soda can irritate your skin if you have sensitive skin. The itchy/burning rash I developed seems to be from the amount of baking soda I used. I've discovered from several sources that baking soda is the deodorizer in this recipe, but as it can also be a skin irritant, you can change up your recipe to fit your skin's level of sensitivity.
I also found advice that says to apply witch hazel water to your underarms just after shaving to reduce red bumps, and to wait about an hour after shaving to apply the homemade deodorant to avoid discomfort. To me, that just means I need to shave my underarms at night so I can put my deodorant on in the morning right before dressing.
I found another recipe online through this video. My only warning about this video is that the woman who made it was not at all prepared to make this video. I like her recipe, but I had to force myself to watch the whole thing because she kind of carries on without getting to the point. Because of that, here's her recipe written out:
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp baking soda
1Tbsp coconut oil
1Tbsp cocoa butter
1Tbsp shea butter
a few drops tea tree essential oil
a few drops lavender essential oil
For reference, here's the original recipe I found off of the first video:
6-8 Tbsp coconut oil
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
I believe in the video she also adds tea tree and lavender oils.
Okay! So that's homemade deodorant. Hopefully I gave you, my readers, enough resources to make your own! Play around with your recipe, and leave me a comment with your results, or your questions!
Again, Happy New Year and have a lovely, naturally homemade 2012!
--UPDATE!--
I went back to my recipes and created a whole new creation, which I can happily say works... so far!
1 oz cocoa butter
2-3 large spoonfuls shea butter
6-8 large spoonfuls coconut oil
3-4 cups cornstarch
1 1/2 Tbsp baking soda
1 tsp witch hazel
3 drops tea tree oil
5 drops lavender oil
3 drops vitamin E oil
3/4 Tbsp fragrance oil
Before adding my oils, I played around with the consistency of the mixture, adding more cornstarch if need be to thicken. Once I added my oils I put my mixture in a nice stone container I found at TJ Maxx, and put that in the fridge for about 30 minutes. It created a luscious body-butter like consistency, all I was missing was the whipped factor!
For the past 3 or 4 days I've been using this deodorant lotion, and it's been wonderful so far. I've also started dabbing witch hazel on my underarms right after I shave and I can see the rash slowly disappearing.
It may sound funny, but putting on deodorant has never made me feel like I was at the spa... until now. This deodorant is fantastic!
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