Natural Deodorant

I stopped using antiperspirant a few years ago when I read about the health hazards of aluminum. I tried many different kinds of "natural" deodorants. They smelled nice and they were a good idea, but none of them worked well for me. The healthy deodorants were very expensive, and I eventually stopped buying them and started using the same brand of plain deodorant my husband was using. While it still had chemicals in it, I was just glad to be avoiding aluminum.

Recently, however, my cousin told me about a recipe for homemade deodorant she had seen that used coconut oil, arrowroot powder and baking soda. I had all those ingredients so decided to give it a try. It was fun and very easy to make. My coconut oil was in liquid form when I mixed everything together. I added a few drops of Fir Tree essential oil for a very faint scent (good for a man or a woman). I cleaned out an almost used up deodorant container and removed the labels. Then I poured the mixture into the container, put the lid on, and put it in the fridge to allow it to solidify. When I took it out of the fridge it was too hard for the container components to work, so I let it sit on the counter for just a few minutes until it was soft enough to turn the dial. It feels nice going on, all cool and smooth. I've used it for a couple of weeks now and it has worked great. My husband let me test it out for a week before he tried (he has to go to work, after all, and wanted to be sure it was effective!), and now he loves it too.

I'm especially happy about this because summer is arriving and I'll be wearing tank tops a lot. My baby is 6 months old. I hold her often and feed her often, so she is always in close proximity to my body (and my underarms). Those of you with babies know how they snuggle in and can end up getting their hands in the crevices of your arms, or wiggle their faces against your chest and shoulders. I feel a lot better about her being close to a natural product than to a chemical product.