Essential Oil Deodorant

If you read many blogs or spend much time on Pinterest, you are probably aware that a lot of people are making their own deodorant lately. If you don’t you probably had to re-read that last sentence. Yes, people make their own deodorant. I am one of those weirdos. I blame Leslie. She started it. 

But before I get into all that, let’s talk about commercial deodorants. What’s wrong with using them? They’re cheap enough, they’re readily available, and come in a dozen different fragrances. I'm so glad you asked. The fact is, most commercial deodorants are FULL of TOXIC chemicals. I assume you know the difference between a deodorant and an antiperspirant, but just in case, I'll fill you in. In the simplest terms, an antiperspirant prevents you from SWEATING and a deodorant prevents you from STINKING.  

I'm not an expert in this area, but from what I've read, sweat does not smell... at first, but it is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria because it is dark, warm, and moist in your arm pits. Once the bacteria starts doing its thing, that's when things go downhill. There is one other thing you should know. I've heard this from multiple sources and found it  to be true myself. When you switch from commercial products to a natural version, there is a detox period where you're body is eliminating all the junk (official term) that has been trapped for weeks, months, or decades. During this time it is not uncommon to have more body odor than usual, but please don't give up and go back! Your body will adjust before long and you will be healthier in the long run.

Here are just a FEW of the COMMON ingredients you will find:

• Aluminum- it is the primary ingredient in MOST antiperspirants. It is a metal that prevents sweat from escaping through your pores. Common sense tells you that this is not a good idea. God designed our bodies to sweat out impurities; so thwarting God’s plan is never a good idea, right? But, because I like nice dry armpits, I ignored what my gut told me for many years. Aluminum has been linked to both breast cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. I’d prefer to avoid both.
• Parabens- are used in many body care products, including deodorants. They are known to disrupt hormone balances, which can lead to early puberty and hormonal cancers. Organ toxicity and birth defects are also results of exposure to parabens 
• Propylene glycol- is a petroleum product that in large quantities causes damage to the central nervous system (think brain), heart, and liver. Are those important? I think so. 
• Triclosan- being classified as a pesticide by the FDA and a possible carcinogen by the EPA is enough to make me say “no thank you.”
• Fragrances- this is so bad it deserves a whole blog post of its own, but to be brief, there are hundreds of chemicals that could be in “fragrance.” Many have not been tested and they don’t have to be. They are protected under 'trade secret' law and companies don’t have to reveal what is in their product. They contain phthalates, which are hormone disruptors and they cause allergies, cancer, and birth defects. Just do an internet search for “are fragrances bad” and prepare to be appalled. I’m going to stop now. 

Now that we know of several reasons to avoid store bought deodorants, we have a problem. What do we do about stinky armpits? Let’s get back to my story and how all this is Leslie’s fault…

Back in the Spring we went on our annual girls trip and Leslie gave me a sample of some deodorant that she had made. After I got past the fact that it was brown and, in actuality, made from dirt (bentonite clay) I tried it and liked it. It worked better than the store bought deodorant that I had been using.  

I had switched to Tom’s of Maine a couple of years ago because it was more natural and was only somewhat satisfied with the results. It still had ingredients I wasn’t sure about.  

Then we bought a Himalayan salt deodorant bar that I tried for a while, but I always smelled sour. Gag! It works WONDERFULLY for my husband. He never has any odor. He’s been using that one bar for at least a year now and it appears to be exactly the same size it was when it started. I’m not sure how that is happening, but if it means I don’t have to buy another one for ten years, I’m okay with that. Real salt is made from minerals that have likely been on earth since the day it was created, so I don't think I have to worry about it spoiling.    

Anyway, back to Leslie’s deodorant. I liked it so well, that when I got home I ordered the few ingredients that I didn’t already have and made a batch of my own. After several months I began to get very irritated under one of my arms and the deodorant started burning and seemed to make it worse, so I stopped using it.  

At that point I switched to using homemade body butter. I found the recipe here. I figured it had a lot of the same ingredients, minus the bentonite clay, so I hoped it would work, and it did. Within a week the rash had cleared up, and I still smelled good, so I stuck with it.

Everything was going great until a couple of weeks ago I had been rushing around the house cleaning up and got a little sweaty and stinky. I felt like I needed to shower, but had to be somewhere in thirty minutes, so that wasn’t an option. Ok, I’m getting out of my comfort zone here… but the truth is, I smelled bad. I was standing in the laundry room pondering my situation, and I looked over and saw a small spray bottle of hand sanitizer spray I made recently for a class I was teaching. It was simply a two ounce spritzer bottle filled with fractionated coconut oil and about thirty drops of essential oils. I used a blend of wild orange, cinnamon, clove, eucalyptus and rosemary that has antibacterial properties.

You can also get the spray bottles in the health and beauty travel section of the major retailers like Wal-Mart and Target for about a dollar each. I thought, “what can it hurt?” and proceeded to spritz it on both armpits. It’s not like it could make me smell worse than I already did. It first I thought it was just covering up the stinky smell, but by the end of the evening when I finally got around to taking a shower, I didn’t smell bad at all. I even had my husband check. I know. I just needed to be sure. Besides, he owed me after all things I’ve had to smell.

There are other essential oils with antibacterial properties. Clove, geranium, melaleuca (tea tree), and rosemary are also know to be antibacterial. 

If you make some of your own, you will want to find a way to label it. You have several options. You could simply write on it with a Sharpie.

That would never do for me. If you have  a label maker, you could easily print a label.

You could wrap the bottle with a pretty piece of washi tape.

Or, you could print out a pretty label. I prefer the pretty label.

CLICK HERE if you would like to print this label. You can print it on label paper and cut it out or if you don't have label paper, just print it out and use clear packing tape to adhere it to your bottle.

I’ve been using it every day since and like it as well as anything I have tried. The bonus is that if you carry the hand sanitizer in your purse, you’ll always have your deodorant with you, not that you’ll need it. By my calculations it costs about $5/ bottle to make and should last several months, so over time it averages about what you’d pay for a store bought deodorant without all the toxic chemicals. I haven't had any issues with the oil staining my clothes, but if that's a concern, witch hazel might be a good choice. A bonus is that is is less expensive than the coconut oil. Please let me know if you try it, and if your results were as good as mine.