Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Homemade Natural Deodorant Stick

I love finding cheap recipes. Whether they're for food or for other household products, if the recipe contains natural, frugal ingredients, especially if I have them around the house already, I'm totally psyched.
And if its easy as pie to make on top of all that, then I do a little jig out of excitement. Not that I'm actually afraid of doing hard work, because I'm willing to put in a lot of physical effort to get things done (like my foraging, making food from scratch, canning, etc), but I also enjoy taking it easy in between my bursts of insane productivity.
This recipe is perfect for when I don't want to do hard work, because it takes less than 5 minutes total, involves no complicated steps.
Oh, so I'm talking so much about my love of recipes that I didn't even tell you what I was talking about.
Homemade deodorant. The stick kind.

Homemade Stick Deodorant

And yes, it actually works. Very well. Its not an antiperspirant; it won't stop you from sweating on the hottest days, but thats better, because your body releases toxins through sweating, and if you stop your body from releasing those toxins, you can very possibly increase your risk of getting breast cancer.
This deodorant stops you from stinking. Even doing lots of physical labor in the hottest of summers with no AC, when using this deodorant, I can easily go at least 2 or 3 days without showering, and no, I don't stink up the place- it just works that well!
In case you were wondering, it also works on men with hairy underarms. Just sayin.

This deodorant is totally edible if you should chose to eat it; not that it tastes good or anything, but since it is made with only natural real food ingredients, its safe to put on your skin. Your skin is one very absorbent organ, and ideally you should only be putting things on your skin things that are safe to put into your mouth, as things on your skin can get absorbed and go directly into your bloodstream, without even having the added safety feature of having gone through your digestive system to filter out toxins.

So, how do you make it?

1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup corn starch/potato starch/tapioca starch/arrowroot powder
8-10 tablespoons coconut oil

Plastic wrap or sandwich bag
Empty toilet paper roll tube (or if that makes you squeamish, a paper towel tube should do, so long as you cut it shorter- not that you'd have something as unfrugal and ungreen as paper towels in your home- you'd borrow from a neighbor, of course)
Mixing container
Food processor/blender if needed/desired

1. Make sure your baking soda isn't clumpy. If you buy it in bulk and store it for a while like I do, you may find that it clumps into large chunks. If this is the case, whiz it in a blender/food processor until it is broken up.

2. Mix baking soda with your corn starch, potato starch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot powder. Make sure its mixed well.

3. Add coconut oil, one tablespoon at a time, until you get a nice, thick paste (almost like playdough).

4. Spoon the paste into a cut piece of plastic wrap or into a sandwich bag.

5. Place the wrapped mixture inside your toilet paper tube. Push it down so that it reaches all the way to the bottom. You'll have enough so that there will be more of the mixture above the rim, making a mound, as in the picture above.

6. Wrap the excess plastic wrap or sandwich bag over the mound and place in the refrigerator until hard.

To use, remove from fridge, remove plastic wrap, and rub on your underarms as you would any other stick deodorant.
When the deodorant mound on top gets finished, push up what remains inside the tube so you have more sticking out.

How does it work? Baking soda stops things from stinking, and is an antibacterial. Corn starch or the like absorb moisture. And coconut oil, in addition to binding the mixture, is good for the skin, and is antibacterial and antifungal, and even stops things from smelling.

Note: If you can't afford coconut oil, or don't have access to it, you can make a deodorant powder just by mixing equal amounts of starch and baking soda, and apply it with a paintbrush designated for that purpose. It works well, but be prepared to get white powder all over your clothes and floor when applying it. The stick eliminates the mess involved.

P.S. I did not make up this idea, so I can't take the credit. Its a conglomeration of a few different posts I read over a few different years in various places.

What type of deodorant do you use on a regular basis? Natural or not? How much does your deodorant cost you? If you made this, how much would it cost you? Do you have these ingredients in your home?
Any chance you'd try this one out?
If you have already made something similar, how does it work for you?

Linking up to Simple Lives Thursday, Its a Keeper Thursday, DIY Thrifty Thursday, Fresh Bites FridayFrugal FridayMonday Mania Fat Tuesdays  Healthy 2day Wednesday


  1. Thanks for sharing-made it but had trouble getting it into the toliet paper tube- any tips? How much plastic wrap? Mine made a total mess getting it in there. :)

  2. I'm Ally A. in Lake Worth FL. I put my homemede deoderant in a small 4 oz glass mason jar. It does not need to be kept cold as it can be used like a softer paste deoderant that you just rub some on with your fingers and then wash your hands. So, I keep mine in my medicine cabinet. I added a little essencial oil when making it to give mine fragrance. I love this stuff because it is cheap and safe and smells good. I can't imagine ever buying deoderant again. For folks who dont want to spend the money for a pack of new mason jars just to make deoderant, you can use a glass baby food jar. If you dont know any babies who can spare you the empty jar, you can buy a jar of Gerber baby banannas for 50 cents. I add the bananna goo to a cup of vanilla ice-cream or frozen yogurt and eat that, then save the jar for makng deoderant.

    Learning this trick led me to look up homemade lip gloss too. It was noted that petroleum based products are unhealthy. You wouldn't eat them on purpose, yet we put that on our lips and then we eat a meal, thus eating the petrol based makeup. So, I decided that I could melt a little beeswax, add coconut or olive oil and a few drops of peppermint oil and make my own healthy lip gloss. it was cheaper than chapstick. You can add natural food coloring for a light tint, but healthy lips wont need it.
    Then I learned that TALC is not healthy either and can contribute to breast cancer or other cancers, so out went all my make-up and powders that contain TALC. You can add a tiny bit of coconut oil to a few opened capsules of activated charcoal and keep it in a tiny container. This little black paste became my new mascara (saved an empty mascara container, acetone the name off of it)and I can blend a little on as eye shaddow too. I had to give up on so many makeup items considering that looking healthy is more beautiful than a face full of poisonous expensive goop. I am very frugal and am always inspired by your spin on things and I am glad you share them. Please keep it up as everyone could use a few more ideas.

  3. I made this yesterday. Added a bit of lavender oil to give it a bit of a scent. when it came time to put it in the toilet paper tube, I ended up using 2 toilet paper tubes. I laid some plastic wrap out on the counter, blopped some of the mixture on it and rolled it into a "snake". Then I got an extra pair of hands to help me feed the snake into the tube. Once it was in the tube, a little bit of squishing got it packed in, then it went in the fridge. I repeated with the second half of the mixture. No mess, no fuss. So far, it's working great.

  4. Thank you! I've been making homemade deodorant for a while now, spooning it into an old deodorant container. I broke the container yesterday so that it won't dial up anymore. Now I don't have to beg another (chemical-laden) tube off of friends!

  5. If you want a more solid stick-like deodorant without refrigeration, use half coconut oil and half beeswax - then you can keep in the bathroom cabinet without melting.

  6. Doesn't it feel grainy from the baking soda, or powdery from the starch?

  7. Did anyone find it grainy or powdery?



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