The Big 20/20 Event: Day 15: Homemade Natural Deodorant Stick

Welcome back to “The Big 20/20 Event” - I am so glad you’re joining us! We will be sharing 20 fantastic tutorials from a host of awesome contributors, for 20 days.

If you enjoy the tutorials, make sure you sign up for my newsletter, as all my newsletter subscribers will receive a beautiful PDF eBook at the end of the event, showcasing all 20 tutorial projects to keep and peruse at their leisure!!

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Homemade Natural Deodorant Stick

 

 

If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that I switched the family to all natural, homemade toiletries about 1.5 years ago. The one thing I was somewhat hesitant about though, was deodorant. Somehow I didn’t think I could make that one myself.

You see, we live in the desert, that means it’s REALLY hot, which in turn means, there’s a fair amount of everything from ladylike perspiration to downright, not-at-all-lady-like sweating.

Even though I switched to all natural deodorants quite a while before then, it took me a long time to find something that actually worked - and had the right ingredients!  And over the years I have tried many, many “alternative” deodorants, with very little success. They either didn’t work at all, or not for very long! Or they smelled rather unpleasant! Or they weren’t entirely “natural” enough to be worth it, as many of the supposedly natural deodorants still had a bunch of undesirable ingredients in them.

I finally found one that worked for me ingredient wise, it worked all day and it smelled good enough for me to still feel feminine! The catch? It was around $10-12 a pop. Granted it lasts a while, but I just have a hard time paying that much for a deodorant on a regular basis!

 

So, I set about making my own. I started with some of the many tutorials on the web, but I found that most of them turned out too oily/greasy for me to feel comfortable with. I wanted mine more on the powdery/dry side but still glide on.

Today, I’m sharing with you the recipe that’s been working best for me!

It’s quick and easy to make, it glides on enough to be a deodorant stick, it’s nourishing to the skin but not greasy, it has ingredients  that I already have in the house and best of all - it keeps me smelling nice all day! And, since I usually make orange and vanilla for myself, it goes nicely with the Orange Honey Shampoo I make and use.

Is it an ANTIperspirant? No.

Part of the problem with regular deodorants and anti perspirants/deodorants is, a) the aluminum, which is a carcinogenic (cancer causing,) and b) the fact that they are designed to block our sweat glands and pores. This is to reduce sweating, but I do believe that this is not a good thing for our bodies. We sweat for a reason!

 

I would like to note here though, that like with all transitioning to more natural products,  there might be a short adjustment period. The first  couple of weeks of use, you may not find it quite as effective as you would have hoped. Stick with it though! Once the body detoxes the old stuff out and becomes accustomed to the new goodness, it will work pretty well for you!

A note on  the deodorant container. You can purchase them new, or you can use your existing deodorant/anti-perspirant container.

To clean an existing one, twist the deodorant stick all the way up to the top, break off and scrape out any remaining deodorant. Then wash in hot soap and water, until none of  the old stuff remains. Dry thoroughly and it’s ready to use for your homemade version!

The containers I used were meant to be filled from the top.

There are however some on the market that are meant to be filled from the bottom. They are the ones that come with an inside cap. Not the general cap, but an extra one, directly covering the deodorant stick. You will need that cap, so make sure you have all the parts before you begin filling a reused container!

You will need:

1 Empty Deodorant Container

1/8 cup Arrowroot Powder/Starch

1/8 cup Baking Soda

2 1/2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil

1 heaping Tbsp. Beeswax Pellets

5 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil

1/8 tsp Sweet Orange Essential Oil

1/8 tsp  Vanilla Essential Oil **

 

**Please note that sweet orange and vanilla is my favorite combo, but you can use any essential oil combination you like here. For example, rosemary and lemon grass, is a nice, fresh combo, that is a little less “girly”.

 

Preparation:

Melt beeswax and coconut oil in a pan or double boiler over low heat.

Whisk in the baking soda and arrowroot powder.

 

 

Remove pan from heat, and stir in essential oils. Add more essential oils if it isn’t fragrant enough. Be aware however, that if you use a LOT more essential oil, that you will get a softer deodorant stick, due to the increased oil content. However, 5 or so more drops of any given essential oil is fine!

Pour into deodorant container. Fill it all the way up to the very top of the container. It may look like it’s going to spill, but it will settle as it cools.

 

 

Leave it uncapped while it’s cooling. If you are impatient, you can speed up that process by putting the deodorant stick in the refrigerator.

Once it’s completely cool and solid gently twist and move it up and down just a bit to loosen it. Then cap.

And now it’s ready for use!

 

 

Notes on using your deodorant:

1. This is not quite as solid as your store-bought deodorant, so don’t twist it up as high as you might be used to. Just go a little above the top edge.
2. It does leave white marks if it gets on dark clothing while applying it, so bear that in mind.
3. Don’t be tempted to put on lots and lots. It won’t work more, the more you put on, especially during the adjustment period.        There is such a thing as too much with this deodorant! If you build up a thick thick layer under your arms, it will eventually start to either become unpleasant or crumble off, like it would with any other regular deodorant too. Just use a couple of strokes under your arms and enjoy your naturally fragrant self!

 

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Birgit Kerr

Meridian tapping mixed media and digital artist, blogger, crafter, baker, cook, caretaker of numerous growing things (human, animal and plant alike) and general creator extraordinaire!

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Homemade Coconut Milk Shampoo And Clarifying Rinse

In my effort to go all natural and mostly organic in terms of food, the next logical step for me seemed to be to go back to making my own beauty products. Prior to getting married and having children, I was making my own soap and many other beauty products.

All that came to a screeching halt when the twins arrived and somehow I never quite got back into it. Don’t get me wrong, we were using the natural and organic stuff, but even those still have many undesirable ingredients.

Since the pregnancy, or since my move to Phoenix, I have had increasingly worse trouble with eczema on my scalp. Oddly enough, my hair remained strong and thick and healthy, but my scalp has been terrible. Itchy, raw, open, and forever flaking.

I’ve tried so many things, even the medicated shampoos which made matters worse really.

Then I went shampoo-less for many years, only using tea tree conditioners to wash my hair. This made things a tad better, but not all that much.

Three weeks ago I decided I had enough and I was going to give my homemade shampoo/hair treatments another go.

I don’t even know why it took me so long to go back to this!

Within just a few washes, my scalp felt significantly more healed of the sores!

Within a week, the flakes were practically gone.

In the two weeks since then, the itching has gone from I-want-to-tear-my-scalp-off-it-itches-so-much-bad to barely moderate!

I still have some residual issues, but it has only been such a short time and I am hopeful that over time, those issues may disappear too!

And my hair has acquired that certain shine and extra luster that I had been missing for a while!

However, having said all of the above, often there will be an adjustment period of two to four weeks when switching from commercial shampoos. Your hair may become frizzy or oily as it adjusts to the no-sulfate and other nasties routine, but eventually everything will level out and you will reap the benefits of the new hair routine!

Coconut Milk Shampoo

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of  Dr. Bronners Organic Castile Liquid Soap, Peppermint (or Tea Tree, Lavender or Unscented)
1/3 cup organic coconut milk
2 tsp. Burdock oil (or organic virgin Coconut Oil, or Hemp Seed Oil)
10 drops rosemary essential oil
8 drops lavender essential oil
6 drops sage essential oil (or chamomile essential oil)

Preparation:
Mix all the ingredients well and decant into a shower save bottle. If the coconut oil isn’t runny by itself, warm it a little to get it to a liquid state before mixing.
I have not had an issue with the shampoo separating, but if it does, just shake it up before use!
Less is more with this shampoo. I have medium short hair, but it’s thick and I have a lot of it and I have never needed more than about 2 tsp.

This shampoo works best if you follow it up with a clarifying rinse.

Clarifying Hair Rinse

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of organic apple cider vinegar

3  cups or so of water

5-8  drops of essential oil (rosemary, peppermint, chamomile (will lighten blond hair), lavender, sage, lemon balm are all good options) - optional

You can also use fresh herbs in place of the essential oils, but steep them in water with a splash of the organic cider vinegar for a few days prior to use.

As you can see above, I currently have a bottle of  rosemary and mint  from my herb garden sitting on my shower shelf and I decant from that and refill right there in the shower. The herbs stay good in there for about a week, imparting their goodness!

To Use:

After you rinsed off all shampoo and/or conditioners, pour the vinegar rinse all over your hair. Cold water is best as it allows the cuticles to close, which will decrease frizz and add shine, but warm is ok too.

I use it cold straight out of the bottle, but it’s hot around here, so cold feels quite good!

Wring out your hair out as much as you can.

That’s it, you don’t rinse it out!

Then towel dry and proceed as normal.

There will be a faint odor of vinegar, don’t worry about that, it dissipates once your hair is dry! And your hair will be so soft and shiny!

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Natural, Homemade Goo Remover (that really works!)

I love bottles, and jars and all manners of appealing vessels for lotions and potions and food and, well sometimes just to look at.

I’ve been decanting stuff into pretty bottles ever since I can remember. I have also been known to choose one product over another because one was in a pretty re-usable jar/bottle/vessel. Yes, that’s me!

Somehow my bottle/jar/vessel love took a bit of a back seat while the twins were toddlers. Maybe for obvious reasons, like most of my pretty bottles/jars/vessels are quite fragile. Some more than others, but none of them are exactly toddler proof.

But in the last year or two, it has returned to me and many a plastic containers has once again made way for mason jars, glass bottles and pretty pottery.

Another thing that returned, is my love for “making it myself” all the way. Before I was married and had kids, I would make my soap, lotions, potions, toiletries, etc. myself too. Well, I am going back there!

Not only have I recently switched the family to natural and organic in almost all things food, I am also going organic and homemade on the toiletries and cleaning front again! The benefits, even though it has only been a few months, have been tremendous to me personally already. I can’t wait to see what health benefits we reap in the long term!

 

But I digress! Back to the jars and bottles and things! If you love containers as much as I do and love to reuse them and give them new life in so many different ways, you also know the pain that is the removal of  labels and sticky, won’t-ever-budge adhesive residue!

Be it on glass or plastic, the easier the label comes off, the more impossible it seems to remove the adhesive they use for labels these days!

I seem to remember that you could just soak something and the label would come clean off, or at most you had to give a couple of spots a quick scrub. But not anymore!

These days it seems that there are adhesives that don’t respond to anything much. Especially when you have a clear label. It peels off easy enough, but then your left with the almost invisible sticky residue that won’t respond to heat, soap, scrubbing or anything! And every time you think you got it and your vessel dries, there it is again, sticking to your hand and collecting every particle of dust, fluff or hair in sight! You know the one I mean, right?

 

Yes, that stuff! Ugh!

 

Turns out there is a way to get that stuff off. Easily even!

Which brings me to my recipe of a different kind today! So if you already tried soaking and scrubbing and dish soap and the stuff just won’t come off, try this!

 

 

The natural, and oh-so-effective “Goo-Be-Gone” you can whip up in your kitchen!

 

It only has two ingredients:

Baking Soda

Coconut oil

Yep, oh and you might want a jar, so you can make up a batch and have it handy.

Basically, all you do is to make a paste of some room temperature coconut oil and baking soda. Mix it all up in a jar and keep it handy for when you need it!

 

I can’t even believe how well this stuff works!

To use, you just scoop a little out of your jar, put in on the “goo” you want to remove and scrub it with a damp scouring pad or a magic eraser.

 

Now, back to that impossible-to-remove adhesive!

It takes a couple more steps, but nothing too wild. I did several bottles today and it didn’t take me long at all.

First fill the vessel that has the goo on with hot water. Close the lid, so the hot water stays in.

Spread your coconut oil/baking soda paste on the goo.

 

 

Let it sit there for a couple of minutes.

Then take a scrubbing sponge or scourer and lightly scrub it. I tend to use a Magic eraser on plastic so I don’t make any scratch marks.

Once your done, rinse with a little washing up liquid or pure castile soap (that’s what I use) and voila - you have no more sticky residue!

 

 

If you should have a particularly stubborn adhesive, just get a little more of the coconut goop on and repeat. In 10 something bottles I only encountered one spot that I had to do twice!

As an added bonus your hands smell yummy!

 

Try it sometime! It really works well!

Note: Before you use it on different kind of plastic, acrylics or wood (like removing a kid’s sticker from your wooden floor,) please test in an inconspicuous spot and make sure your scrubber isn’t too abrasive!

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