If you’re eliminating plastic packaging from your bathroom, you’ve likely discovered that plastic deodorant tubes are among the lowest hanging fruit. Making your own deodorant is a super easy and economical alternative. Now, you have your pick of a seemingly endless amount of DIY deodorant recipes on the internet. And while we can’t say we’ve tried them all, we’ve tried a whole lot! Let’s just say… they’re not all great. We will save you the trouble of enduring days or weeks of BO while conducting your own experiments - give this recipe a whirl.
Before you begin
This recipe calls for bentonite clay, which should not come into contact with metal. The clay reacting with metal will cause some of its beneficial properties to diminish (i.e., anti-smelly properties). So, make sure you have a non-metal mixing spoon and container handy. A reused disposable plastic spoon or a wooden chopstick and a glass jar work perfectly!
Ingredients
These measurements will yield about 7.5 ounces of deodorant
Oils & butters
4 Tbsp shea butter
2 Tbsp almond oil
Dry ingredients
5 Tbsp arrowroot powder
2 Tbsp bentonite clay
1 Tbsp baking soda
Essential oils
5 drops each lavender, tea tree, and pine essential oils
Don’t have all the ingredients? No worries!
Shea butter can be swapped out with another butter like mango or avocado.
Almond oil can be replaced by another liquid oil like jojoba or olive.
Arrowroot powder can be replaced with cornstarch.
Baking soda or bentonite clay can be replaced with extra arrowroot powder. However, for the best results, we recommend that you use all three of the dry ingredients!
The essential oils in the recipe can be replaced with any of your favorites that are safe for the skin.
Instructions
Melt the shea butter in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, put the shea butter in a mason jar in a pan of water. Heat on the stove until melted.
Mix in the remaining ingredients.
Once thoroughly mixed, let cool. You can begin using the deodorant within a couple of hours, but you will notice that it will continue to harden over the next week or so. It shouldn’t get too hard to use (we’ve tried a lot of iterations of this recipe, and we’re confident this one is gold), but if you’d like it to be softer, re-heat the deodorant using the mason-jar-in-water method and add more liquid oil.
Now we mentioned that making your own deodorant is an economical alternative - this recipe makes 7.5 ounces of deodorant, and based on the average costs of each of these ingredients online, the whole batch will run you about $6. Most deodorants are 2 ounces or 2.5 ounces. For 2 or 2.5 ounces of this recipe, you would pay $1.60 or $2. You’d be hard-pressed to find a natural deodorant at that price point. Another win for low wasting!
If you are, however, in the market for an effective non-toxic, plastic-free deodorant, we've got a selection for a variety of concerns and preferences. Read our Low Waste Deodorant Guide to determine which option is best for you!
Comment
Gorgeous thank you :)
I wanted to know if i can add pine tar to this recipe