Home-Made, Chemical-Free Deodorant

I don't know about you, but I've tried a couple different "natural" deodorants with no success. Crystal deodorant: still smelly. Random other deodorants from my health store: still smelly. Ick. I can deal with the sweatiness, but I did not want to smell. I didn't even want to smell like mostly roses with slightly smelly undertones. Again, ick.

So, when my friend smelled her armpits in the rest room one day and announced, "My deodorant seems to be working! And I made it myself!" I was all for getting the recipe from her. I told her if it worked well for her, I'd give it a try.

Now, a couple months later, I am in love with my home-made deodorant. I seriously don't smell anything, not even on the sweatiest, most disgusting days, like we've had around here lately. (Holy heatwave, Batman!) I am so in love with it that I will share the recipe with you. It originally came from somewhere else out there in interwebland, so let me know if you know its source, and I'll give credit where credit is due.

Drum roll, please... :

6-8 tbsp coconut oil, in its liquid state
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch (I used cornstarch because that's what I had the most of and because it's cheap. My friend used arrowroot powder because some people are sensitive to cornstarch and she didn't want to take any chances.)
Mix it all up, and store it in a jar.

Now, over the last month, when the weather here got really hot and my deodorant completely liquified (coconut oil is such fickle stuff!), I've had to tweak the recipe to make it summer friendly. I basically re-melted it in the microwave, then stirred in another 1/4 cup each of the baking soda and cornstarch (or so -- maybe more). I guess you could say I re-saturated the mixture because the top layer had become only oil, which was completely useless as deodorant on its own. Now, it's back to working like a charm. Just be aware that its consistency will change based on the temperature in your house. The fridge, which I thought would solve this problem, only served to make it rock-solid and almost impossible to scrape out.

Well, I'm off to do some air-conditioned shopping right now. And I know that when I get there, I will still smell like... nothing!

p.s. If you want scented deodorant, I'm sure you can guess it's pretty easy to add some essential oil to the mixture to get the effect you want. Or, if you love the smell of coconut, you can use the extra-virgin variety for a nice, tropical flair. Just don't lick your armpits! (Well... I guess you could, since all these ingredients are edible, but it might be kind of gritty.)

Enjoy!