Tuesday, July 23, 2013

DIY Spray Deodorant

When my husband did his detox last year the diet required you to use natural deodorant without aluminum (no antiperspirants). Their theory made sense to me, basically that sweating is your body's natural method to eliminate toxins as well as balancing your body temperature.

Finding a natural deodorant that worked was much more challenging/impossible. No offense, but it's usually pretty easy to pick out when people are using natural deodorant. To put it bluntly, they stink.

So when I came across Burt's Bees spray deodorant I was skeptical. It was too manly a scent for me, I thought, but it would work for my husband. To our amazement, it worked! Then I read the label and was floored: it only contained 5 simple ingredients.

"Hmm..." Thought I, "I can do that!!"

And so I did. And now I love it because I could choose my own, more feminine fragrance as well as making the "manly" scent for my husband.  I must be entirely honest with you, though.  This recipe seems to work for my husband perfectly, but I notice that I start to smell on really hot days within an hour or two.  I think there are two reasons for this 1) natural deodorants only go so far for naturally stinky people ;), and 2) I drink coffee.  Coffee is full of toxins and makes you sweat, even if you drink it cold.  It affects more people than others.  And, when my husband is on his detox he doesn't drink coffee, thus after a day or two the body doesn't need to express the toxins and sweat, and thus you don't stink so bad.  Unfortunately for me, I am not interested in giving up coffee at this precise moment (I have spurts... when I'm pregnant I don't drink it), so I must resort to unnatural deodorants on triple-digit temperature days (which have been far too often this summer!!).

So, back to the recipe...

Essential oils can be $$$ but if you do like me, just buy a few and use them for everything. You only need a few drops so it will last a long time.

In doing some research I found that some recipes called for pure water and others 100% alcohol (not sure about you, but alcohol is not my favorite scent).  Alcohol is nice because of it's sanitary and quick-drying nature, but it not necessary to use 100% in your deodorant.  I've heard (but couldn't find a source or study) that it is not safe to use pure rubbing alcohol over long periods of time, but 1) we are diluting  the solution and 2) if you want you can buy ethyl alcohol (you can use Everclear or a cheap vodka as well) to use in it's place.

Here are the recipes:

Men's Deodorant (comparable to Burt's Bees)
1oz alcohol
.75 oz. water
10 drops sage essential oil
5 drops lavendin essential oil (lavender is different, but I couldn't find lavendin at the store so I substituted and it still smells great)
5 drops lemon essential oil


Women's Deodorant
1oz alcohol
.75 oz. water
15 drops lavender essential oil
5 drops lemon essential oil




2014/05/21 UPDATE:  Since writing this post, I've eliminated coffee from my diet and it has GREATLY improved my ability to get by using a natural deodorant.  Even on hot days, I only need to reapply maybe once (which was about the same as the aluminum antiperspirant I used to use).  Also, I have started using Vodka for the base of the deodorant and LOVE it, because all you smell is the essential oils and not the overwhelming stench of the rubbing alcohol.  Hope that helps!!!  :)

19 comments:

  1. There are deo's without alcohol. Here's a site (But it's in German...):

    http://www.experto.de/b2c/koerper-seele/schoenheit/wie-kann-man-deospray-selbst-herstellen.html

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  2. If I'm making this with Everclear, do I need to adjust the water-to-alcohol ratio at all? Also, from your experience is there any problem spraying something so concentrated on your skin every day? I've used Burt's Bees herbal deodorant for about a decade, but it looks like they may have discontinued it for some reason. I'm hoping this will be a way I can make my own.
    Thanks so much,,
    Ryan

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ryan,
      Thanks for your question! If you are using Everclear, you may want to use more water to alcohol (maybe use 1 oz water and .75oz or .50oz Everclear). I've been using Vodka, which is about 40% alcohol; Everclear is 75-95% alcohol. The vodka has not irritated my skin even once, and I've been using it for almost a year. I hope this helps!
      Amy

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  3. Amy, thanks for all of your help.

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  4. Amy,

    Thanks for this web site. I too am wanting to try another DIY deodorant similar to the Burt's recipe.
    I'm guessing any neutral vodka will suffice?

    Thanks,

    Tom

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  5. I know I am about a year late to this party, but I was wondering if you knew how to adjust this to fill a 4oz. spray bottle. Every time I try, it just ends up smelling like paint stripper.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry for the late reply - I don't check this very often anymore! Are you using rubbing alcohol? If you use something like vodka, there shouldn't be that strong of a smell. Mine just smells like the essential oils I use. The other thing to do is check if your essential oils have expired. As for your 4oz. bottle - I'd just double the recipe because I was using a 2oz bottle.

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  6. Characteristic Body Detox Method #1:Juice Fasting: this technique obliges you to drink just glasses of juice for up to three days. The juices of new products of the soil of various types aside from citrus natural products like oranges and lemon. visit here

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  7. Thanks for this post! I LOVE the Burt's Bee's deodorant but it seems they've STOPPED MAKING IT! Horrors! I have been looking all over for it and can't find it. So glad I can make my own.

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  8. Just realized they stop making it...I always keep a few around, the only product I ever liked. Grateful to find this recipe. Thanks.

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  9. Only deodorant I have ever liked, so glad to have found this site. I decided if they can't make the one product I really liked, they must not need me to buy anything else they make.

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  10. Do you use white sage or clary sage oil? Thanks!

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  11. Thank you for sharing these recipes. My husband and I have used Burt's Bees for years. I made your recipes and they are wonderful! God bless you and your family.

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  12. My husband and I are so excited to try your recipes. Thank you for sharing them. God bless you!

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  13. Some find that natural deodorants in fact work better then conventional deodorants, you can also customize the deodorant to your liking as well.PrimitiveOutpost

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  14. what alcohol do you use for the deoderant?

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  15. Thank you as well! I had a stock pile and just found out. I’ll try this.

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  17. Thank you for this! And for clarifying the alcohol question. My husband has liked Burts bees deodorant, but now unavailable. Interesting that the last couple bottles we were able to find got gummy. Could that be why they stopped making it??

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