Yes that’s right, homemade deodorant. I can only imagine the look on my mother and sisters’ faces right now. I did, I set out to find how I can make my own deodorant, if it would be effective and if it would be worth my time. It was actually so much easier than I had ever anticipated and I’m excited to share my findings with you.
I started by using this recipe. It had four simple ingredients, three in my case:
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil
- essential oils (optional, I didn’t use any)
After I had completed my currently in use deodorant I saved the container. I carefully took the entire thing apart and soaked it in soap and water. I then scrubbed it really well and let it air dry completely.
It’s a simple process of mixing the baking soda and cornstarch in a bowl. Add the coconut oil and continue to mix. If you chose, you can add essential oils. I didn’t because I didn’t have any on hand except tea tree oil and I didn’t want my pits smelling like that. Coconut oil’s melting point is 76 degrees so I had to warm ours on the stove before adding to the mixture; more effective than the microwave.
Don’t be confused, our house is hot as hell but for some reason I accidentally put the oil in the fridge so it was solid. I allowed the mixture to cool so not to melt the container. Once cooled I carefully poured it into the deodorant container.
Here’s where my experiment takes a sad turn. First, it was the best product I’ve ever used as a deodorant. On really hot days I would still sweat a tad but nothing major. People weren’t running from me due to bad smells. It’s hot, your body is going to sweat. Here’s the thing. As mentioned above, our apartment is SO hot. As in I put a thermometer in the living room last week and it said 88 degrees. We have crank windows so a simple window unit won’t cut it.
Because of this the deodorant was melting due to the 76 degree melting point of the oil. However, if I put it in the fridge it was too cold and I couldn’t twist it up and it really wouldn’t stick to my skin. If I woke up, took it out of the fridge, let it warm and then put it on it was still too liquidy and not effective.
So in the end I had to come to terms with the fact that in my personal living environment it wasn’t going to work. And we really couldn’t justify a $400 stand alone air conditioner just so I could have my homemade deodorant. Defeats the whole purpose of being frugal, ya know?
However, I know that I won’t live in this 88 degree apartment forever and I fully plan on making another batch come fall/winter. Though, the sad party about the oven of a home that we live in is that even in the winter it was probably 70-75 degrees in the place. No exaggeration. We can’t control the heat and apparently we live in a building full of newborns or 90 year olds. It’s insane.
So in the end, I will most definitely be making this again and I foresee it being my go to forever as soon as I can get the temperature in control. Also, it cost me $0 to make because I had everything on hand. Even if I didn’t have everything on hand it would have cost me about $10-12 for ingredients that would probably make 10 or so deodorants. Not half bad at all.
How about you guys, would you try this? Would you do it for the money savings or the lack of conventional ingredients or both?!
I’ve been looking into homemade items too, but I wanted to try something as simple as possible. This sounds crazy, but Braggs ACV worked awesome. You put it on a cotton ball or similar, and wipe your pits in the morning. You’ll smell slightly like ACV for about 15 minutes (tops for me, normally gone within 5-10). While it does allow you to sweat, I didn’t smell. I prefer not to be sweating a lot in the summer at work, so I went back to my regular but I’ll be trying it again in the cool weather. I really liked it. I’ll actually be doing a blog post on it at some point.
I’ll have to try the ACV too. I use ACV for everything!
I’m starting to make my own products also. While I haven’t made deodorant yet, I would try adding maybe 2 tsp. bees wax pastilles to your mixture to keep it solid. Since I live and breathe doTERRA essential oils, try Lavender to eliminate waste and
Lemon for cleansing. Thanks for sharing! Visiting today from Thrifty Thursday.
Michelle @ On A Wing And A Prayer
Thanks Michelle and welcome! I’ll have to try the beeswax pastilles!
Perhaps a strange question, but are you a pretty smelly person sans deodorant? Like, does this work for a person that gets some stank on, or are you generally smell-free?
Haha not strange, quite awesome of a question actually, Michaela! I would say that in general I’m not a smelly person. However, I workout daily and am very active so I do get my smell on at times. My suggestion would be to try it out if it’s of interest to you. It took me a total of maybe 10 minutes to make and if it doesn’t work out for you all of the ingredients are household ingredients that you can find uses for around you home. Good luck!
Thank you for the great recipe. I will have to gather the ingredients and try to make my own. I would like to share an excellent all natural, aluminum free deodorant (I’ve been using for almost 8 months). I’ve tried the salt crystal, Tom’s, etc.. but they seem to work only for so long. However, I have experienced nothing but success with Nutural. After wearing this deodorant all day, and completing a 3 hour session of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates before dinner, there is still NO! stink and no stains on my clothes. I love it. nuturalife (dot) com
Thanks so much for the recommendation, I’m definitely going to check it out!
First of all, the recipe needs more coconut oil then what was said on this recipe and it still crumbles when I use it. second of all it stinks!!! I start sweating and it smells awful! It didn’t work at all.
Hey Heather – sorry to hear about your experience. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to the troubles you had since I didn’t experience the crumbling. I also have an incredible sense of smell and I didn’t think it smelled at all! Bummer that you didn’t have a good experience, but I guess it’s something that will vary with body type. Thanks!
I know this is an old post, but I love your recipe. I don’t keep it in a deodorant stick. I keep it in a small jar with a lid and apply it with my finger. It works perfectly otherwise I would be very stinky. The only down side of this deodorant is that the baking soda will darken your armpits over time. It is still worth it to me because I am allergic to basically every deodorant on the market and many of the natural ones don’t work. This one works great!