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Follow the following recipes to learn how to make your own deodorant:
Basic Recipe
Ingredients:
2 tsp. zinc-oxide powder
2/3 cup witch-hazel extract
2 tbsp. aloe-vera juice
30-40 drops essential oil(s)
Directions:
In a small bowl, stir the zinc-oxide powder into the witch-hazel extract, and add the aloe-vera juice and essential oil(s). Fill an 8-oz. dark-glass spray bottle with the fluid.
For Daily Use
Ingredients:
Basic Recipe
30 drops rose-geranium essential oil
Directions:
The rose geranium oil is high in terpene alcohol, which inhibits the proliferation of odor-causing bacteria.
For Sensitive Skin
Ingredients:
Basic Recipe
30 drops calendula extract
10 drops lavender essential oil
Directions:
Calendula and lavender oils are mild yet potent fighters of bacteria and odor.
For Excessive Sweating
Ingredients:
Basic Recipe
30 drops sage essential oil
Directions:
Sage oil inhibits sweat-gland activity by as much as 50 percent. It also is antiseptic and astringent and gently constricts pore size.
These recipes are by Natural Beauty. Please visit their website for the full article on these recipes along with other ideas.
Herbal Stick Deodorant
Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbspn beeswax (yellow is best)
1/2 tbspn cocoa butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
15 drops white thyme essential oil
15 drops rosemary essential oil
25 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops castor oil
Directions:
Melt beeswax in a glass jar standing in hot water, add the cocoa butter,
and when it has melted, add the oils. Stir to mix thoroughly, then pour
into a clean, discarded deodorant stick case and leave to cool and set
This herbal stick deodorant recipe is by Snow Drift Farms.
For those interested in purchasing their own eco-friendly deodorant try taking a look at Crystal Roll On Body Deodorant, Pure & Basic Green Tea Green Clay Deodorant Stick, Kiss My Face Summer Active Enzyme Natural Stick Deodorant, and Kiss My Face Lavender Active Enzyme Natural Stick Deodorant.
21 Comments so far!!
I love these recipes. They are easy to follow and with easy to find ingredients. Thanks for sharing!
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Where do you get Zinc Oxide powder would be my only question. They probably do it in chemists I imagine, another good natural deodorant is bicarbonate of soda apparently if you dust a little on your feet and under your arm pits it's supposed to help you stay fresh.
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Try http://www.amazon.com/Zinc-Oxide-Powder-1lb/dp/B001EME6DK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1222496128&sr=8-1 for zinc oxide powder.
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I like the recipes...but think I will have to first 'sweat' a little to look for all the ingredients...;)
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I had no idea that you could make homemade deodorant. I wonder if this would work with my husband though who tends to sweat a lot?
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i find the idea of using baking powder on my armpits a bit odd, and could work out quite expensive too... some of these oils come in tiny bottles and the recipe calls for 'drops' of them.. you won't make a lot of deodorant out of it... you'd need gallons to last you a month or so.... cost a fortune!
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Essential oils usually come in 10 mls. bottles and each ml. is 20 drops (200 drops per bottle). It depends which essential oil you choose as to how expensive a product is. Oils such as Lavender, Tea Tree, Rosemary, petitgrain etc. are inexpensive whilst Neroli, Rose and Jasmine are VERY expensive. I lectured in aromatherapy but have never made deodorants. My specialities are treatment creams/lotions/oils/inhalers for conditions such as eczema, acne, arthritis, migraine, stress. Small bottles of essential oils can go a long way if used correctly.
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Most of the commercial eco-friendly deodorants I'e seen are either sticky or they leave marks on clothes. They also act as deodorants but offer no anti-perspirant action. It's good to know that sage oil can be added to gently constrict pores and offer some anti-perspirant action.
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Be very careful using sage oil (if you are referring to neat essential oil) Do your homework and check out any contra-indication. There is a lot of information on the internet and many very good, inexpensive books listing the uses and safety issues of essential oils. Sage is a useful oil but must be used with caution. All essential oils are wonderful, God-given products and we SHOULD us them but we must also treat them with respect and use them correctly or we could harm ourselves.
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I like the recipes, but I am afraid I don't know where to find most of the ingredients. I have heard of using baking soda, not baking powder.
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Most of these ingredients can be find at places such as luckyvitamin.com, amazon.com, mountainroseherbs.com, and herbalremedies.com.
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I use bicarbonate of soda and it's effective and inexpensive. I cycle 16 km each day and stay unsmelly. In Australia a box is about $4 and it lasts me about 6 months.
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It sounds like you came across quite a find, Bronte. Great work!
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I make a simailar stick deodorant but I add baking soda and teatree oil. These homemade recipes work. I actually make them and sell them as a supplement to my homemade soap business.
Just a tip, you can also make your own paper push up tubes for the stick deoderant.. just make sure that the recipe is fairly cool before pouring in!
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Where do you sell your products?
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Would you like to share your recipe and how you make them?
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Great ideas. I love stuff like this so please keep them coming. Easy to make and easy to find natural ingredients. Whats not to like?
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What are the difference between the ingredients here and what is listed on most commercial deodorants?
I know that some ingredients are found in both types of deodorant but are listed by their chemical names in commercially produced products and the common names when blended at home.
Is there some place to compare the names?
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I must learn how to do this, recently I bought a deodorant and it wore out half way through the day, that was embarrassing.
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These are really helpful recipes! Thanks so much for providing them! How about an article in the future on how to make our own essential oils, as those are expensive?
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You would not wish to make you own essential oils unless you wish to make a huge investment in equipment. Essential oils are the neat therapeutic oils of plants and are expensive for a reason. Some give a very small yield of oil (such as Rose, Neroli, Jasmine) which make them VERY expensive whilst others give a better yield (such as Lavender, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree) which makes them less expensive but still not, what some would call, cheap. It is an expensive process, not for the amateur. Essential oils are used in very small quantities though. If you wished to make a massage mix sufficient for an adult person's whole body you would use 6 - 8 drops of essential oil. The remainder of the mix would be the carrier oil (the greasy vegetable oil into which you mix the essential oils) which is not expensive. Considering there are 200 drops in one small 10 mls. bottle that is not expensive. Don't ever use 'perfume' oils for massage. Most people have a severe reaction to these and they have no therapeutic properties whatsoever, even though they might smell like the real thing. Perfume oils are meant for using in pot pourri or a burner.
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I am not giving up my anti-perspirant. The recipes are only for deodorant. This doesn't work for perspirant most of the time.
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wow..zamma....you really gave me a good idea...I think I too can make something like that now....
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I like these natural deodorant recipes. I must say, though, that they are not strong enough for outside activities (social or exercise). I use the natural deodorant when I am staying at home, but, sadly, when I go out I still need to use the store-bought chemical kind.
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I completely understand, Heretoday. If I ever come across a deodorant recipe for such things, or can seem to think of one, I will be sure to post it here.
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How do they make the natural crystal deodorants, solid and spray? Is it the rock crystal science project of some kind we all did for the science fair? (I find those work through all EXCEPT the hottest summer days in my no a/c car in South Texas)
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Pam, You can make the spray deoderant by simply adding 3/4 tsp of ammonium alum to 1/2 cup of very warm distilled water and shake well. put in spray bottle after it cools and spray three shots under each arm. You should let it dry a little before putting on your shirt. You can make it more effective by adding 1 drop of grapefruit seed extract. I havnt yet made the crystal yet, but as soon as I do I will post it here. Hope this helps.
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Thankyou Keith,
In order for the crystal type spray to work, I found that the underarm has to be washed with pretty warm water and a good amount of soap. Then dry and spray and dry. I do other things like the funky chicken until it is dry, or get out the hair dryer. It does not work on my boys or husband on any but the coldest days however. Is this related to aluminum like the toxic aluminum on the awful chemical deodorants?
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