I have been looking for a homemade deodorant formula for awhile. I have had a lot of hesitation when thinking about making my own. Why? For one, I use a natural deodorant from the health food store that smells and works great. Another reason, I live in Florida and it is very hot most of the year. I am a “crunchy” gal, but stinky pits is not something I will compromise on… so the natural deodorant REALLY has to work. Maybe the thing that recently pushed me to trying my own was the cost of natural deodorant. I was at a farmer’s market a few weeks ago and bought some homemade deodorant that was a little expensive ($12.00). I was very excited about the smell and supporting a local lady, but to my disappointment the deodorant did not work. Over the next few days I had sweaty, stinky pits. I know, gross… but I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke, so I kept using it.
After a little research, I developed a formula of my own. It consists of 3 ingredients. I made the deodorant yesterday and tried it for 2 days. For today, I applied it at 7 am this morning (when we left for the day), spent the whole day a Disney in 90 degree heat, and did not start to sweat until about 6pm (when I probably needed to reapply anyway…. it is natural deodorant not miracle deodorant 
. The great thing is that even when I did begin to sweat (after 12 hours and about 5 miles of walking) I did NOT stink! No sign of gross body odor. Wow. I am impressed.
You may want to give this one a try even if you have deodorant that you love.
Ingredients
1/8 cup baking soda (for anti-stink and dry)
1/4 cup corn starch/arrowroot powder (for smooth and dry)~ I used organic.
3-4 tablespoons coconut oil~ I like my paste more thick
4-5 drops essential oil (optional for scent). I used peppermint~ a fun scent.
Combine the powders and add the coconut oil as needed. Mix until desired consistency is achieved.
Remember this is not a bar deodorant, it is a paste and you use your fingers to apply it. Just so there are no surprises.
I love the idea of natural deodorant as the ingredients in commercially made deodorants are not good for you…it has been said that one of the ingredients, aluminum, show up in the breast tissue of women and that can’t be good. Well I have been using coconut oil, shea butter and melaleuca oil mixed together as a deodorant and it works pretty well. But I am going to try your recipe with melaleuca oil added. It kills bacteria and viruses, so it would help the recipe to be even more effective, in my opinion. I will try it and see. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I’ve been using melaleuca oil blended with shea butter and coconut oil under my arms, and it really helps as a deodorant. I am thinking of using your recipe but adding some melaleuca oil as well, it kills germs and thus, helps eliminate odor.
You are so right. That is a great way to change it up!
I make my own and I found I had a week detox from store brand, now I would never use it again
I totally agree. I feel so much better now that I use my own. I still love it and it works great!
Like you, my wife and I are from FL as well…and we also have been looking for a natural deodorant that ACTUALLY works.
We tried a few brands from the health food store and we always had bad BO at the about mid day…and i was like…ok, this isn’t gonna work. We’ll try this and let you know.
Great. Let me know. I still am very surprised at how well this hold up! I think you will be very happy and smell good