Essential Oil Deodorant Creme

Throughout the course of my childhood, my mom went on a few different “health” kicks that dramatically affected what was served for dinner and what kind of shampoo (or lack of) you could find in our bathroom.  I didn’t always appreciate her efforts though.  As a young teen I didn’t really care if they were full of hormone disrupting carcinogens, I just wanted pretty smelling lotion and shower gel.  And peanut butter with added sugar.

I particularly remember when my Mom read somewhere that antiperspirant was full of aluminum and possibly linked to breast cancer.   I now fully agree with her decision to switch to natural deodorant,
but at the time I was ready to run away over it.  In fact, I distinctly remember having a conversation with a friend whose mother was also “crunchy” and both of us adamantly declared that we would rather get cancer than stink.  Not one of my prouder moments looking back, but I was 15 and a little bit short-sighted.  

At any rate, the fact that they did not work, combined with my belief in my own invincibility, caused me to launch a secret rebellion against natural deodorant products.  I maintained my own stash of contraband antiperspirant for when I had to go out in public so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed by body odor.  In hindsight, given that I grew up in the 90’s, there were probably a lot of other things that I did that were more embarrassing than using natural deodorant, but at the time Doc Martin’s and Lee Storm Rider jackets seemed soooo cool….

The point I am trying to get to is this – I have always had issues regarding deodorant and body odor (if only in my own mind).  Even when I started switching all of our other personal care products to more natural versions, “real” deodorant was the one thing I couldn’t give up, even though every time I applied it I envisioned that I was rolling on cancer. 

Finally last year, in an effort to be consistent with all the stuff I was telling everyone else to do, I switched to a natural, baking soda based crème deodorant that I discovered online, and to my surprise, it actually worked better than the “real” stuff I had been using previously.  I felt a bit stupid, to say the least. 

I’ve now completely weaned myself off of buying any kind of deodorant.  It’s taken a bit of trial and error but I have finally concocted a recipe for crème deodorant that works well.  To apply, simply rub a pea- sized amount under your armpit.  I am also working on a stick version and will post that recipe when (if) I am successful.  

One quick note – this mixture has a bit of a tendency to separate in warm weather.  I believe that adding a small amount of melted beeswax would probably solve this problem but I haven’t done so yet as it really doesn’t bother me to have to stir the deodorant occasionally.