Most antiperspirants contain some iteration of aluminum in them. Clogging your pores with aluminum is not the best idea for your health, and as my mom constantly reminds me – it has been linked to Alzheimer’s.
I mixed and matched a few recipes I found online for a homemade stick deodorant. So…we’ll have to see how it works.
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
5-6 Tbsp coconut oil
2 Vitamin E gelcaps
some drops of a nice-smelling oil (I just nabbed some hand sanitizer that smells really strongly, so I’m not sure if it’ll work or not)
My collection of ingredients
Mix together the baking soda and the arrowroot powder. Arrowroot powder functions similarly to cornstarch. If you can’t find arrowroot powder, you can use cornstarch. However, I’d heard…things can grow in cornstarch, so I played it safe and stuck to arrowroot powder. Fun fact though – coconut oil has antimicrobrial properties, so perhaps it balances out with the cornstarch.
I like to use a fork to mix things up. I find it gets lumps out better.
Take the two Vitamin E gelcaps, poke ’em with a knife, and squeeze the contents out into the bowl.
Yum, Vitamin E!
I microwaved the coconut oil for about 30 seconds so it would turn liquid, and then mixed it in with everything else. Add your nice-smelling essential oils (I hear lavender works well). Mix it together well.
Then spoon (or fork) it into an empty deodorant container.
It smells kind of like I want to eat it...maybe I'll use lavender oil next time.
Try to level it off and then cap it.
Hmmm...Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorahydrex GLY makes up 14.8% of my old anti-perspirant.
I hear it takes a day or two to set, but since oil has a low melting temperature, I thought throwing it in the refrigerator might speed the process along.
What you've all been waiting for...the inside of my refrigerator!
TIME INVESTMENT: 10-15 minutes.
I’ll keep you posted on how it works. I may also try a recipe for a cream deodorant later, and I’ll let you know which one works better.
Suburban Sustainability 