You won’t believe this works, because it’s all natural and cheap. But trust me it works better than any commercial all natural deodorant that I’ve tried. I’ve used the basic recipe of just Coconut oil, baking soda, cornstarch and essential oils for about 8 years now. So you may be wondering why there are a few more ingredients in this recipe. Well, the above does work for deodorant, however it melts in warm temperatures. I live in Colorado and it melted every summer, so I kept it in the fridge. That’s not so bad, the cold deodorant feels great on hot summer mornings. The problem was if we went on any trips. How do you keep your deodorant cold during travel and what about mission trips where you may not have access to a fridge? So I set out to make a temperature stable version of the recipe that works. This is what I came up with.
About deodorant containers:
For years we used the empty store bought tubes and just scooped out the residue of the old stuff and filled with our deodorant. Then they started breaking so I purchased some empty ones from Amazon. The problem is that the bottom of the tube isn’t solid, it has plastic crossing the bottom.
That is one of the reasons you have to let the deodorant cool to around 125 deg, so that it’s thick enough to spoon into the tube and not flow out the bottom. The other reason is that Essential oils have fairly low flash points, so the cooler you get it, the more EO will be in your finished product.
Makes 1 Deodorant tube 3 1/2 Tbl Corn starch or Arrow root 2 Tbl Baking soda 1 1/2 Tbl Candelilla wax 1/2 oz by weight Shae butter 2 Tbl Coconut oil 1 tea Castor oil 20 drops essential oils, I use 10 drops peppermint and 10 drops Eucalyptus oil. Use something that has anti-bacterial properties. It really is a key component to keeping you from stinking. My daughter with seasonal allergies likes to use Peppermint, Lavender, and Lemon. It keeps her from stinking and helps fight the allergies. Measure the baking soda nd corn starch into a prep bowl. Put the wax, shae butter, coconut oil and castor oil in a pot to warm up on the stove until everything is melted. Wisk in the dry ingredients Let cool till mixture is about 125 deg. Add the Essential oils and use the spoon to scoop into the tube. Bang the tube on the counter to make the paste go to the bottom. Repeat until the tube is filled. Refrigerate to harden quicker. DIY Deodorant
Here is the process with photos
The dry ingredients
Lest you think that I’m perfect because I’m a blogger, take a look at these photos.
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The first time I measured out the dry ingredients, I was putting them back in the cabinet and something else fell out knocking the prep bowl on the floor. Well at least corn starch and baking soda are cheap, so I didn’t cry as I vacuumed it up.
Weigh out the shae butter and add other oils to the pot
Here it is all melted.
Add the dry ingredients and whisk them in
Check the temperature with a laser thermometer and stir every so often as the temp drops. This happens rather quickly, so don’t just walk away and leave it, unless you like to use your deodorant out of a pot. If you don’t have a laser thermometer just watch for it to start setting up to a paste.
Add the essential oils
Scoop into the tube. I like to put a hot pad under it so that it doesn’t make so much noise when I bang the tube on the counter to get the paste to move to the bottom.
All done!
Refrigerate for a little while to get it to harden faster. Enjoy your all natural non-stinky deodorant.
Go ahead get out there and sweat without stinking!
Obsessive Kara 