Au Natural

Do you smell that?  What is it?  Well, it's not me, that's for darn sure.  Yes!  This is the post I've been promising about homemade deodorant!

I am by no means a pioneer in the field of homemade products.  All of my recipes have been taken from others who are smart enough to know how to make all this stuff. 

My first foray into homemade products was laundry soap!  I actually got the idea from seeing a snippet of that TLC show "19 Kids and Counting".  You better believe with that many folks in one house, they are making buckets of this stuff!  When I saw it, I thought it would be a cool experiment to try with the kids and then give it away as Christmas gifts to our family.  That was several years ago and I stuck with it.  Admittedly, I haven't made a batch recently.  But, when I do I want to try a powdered version simply to save space.

I have also recently started making dishwasher soap!!!  And it really works!!  Here's the recipe:
 mix 1 CUP Borax
        1 CUP Washing Soda
        1/2 CUP Citric Acid
        1/2 CUP Kosher Salt
   *use white vinegar as a rinse agent*
   *use one Tablespoon per load
   *keep it in the fridge (clearly labeled!!!) to prevent clumping.  It will seriously turn into a brick if you leave it on the counter.  I tried adding rice to the mix to absorb moisture, but just ended up with cooked rice in the dishwasher.

*Bonus!!!  If you're making the laundry soap, then you already have most of the ingredients!!!

Okay, so the deodorant!  Here's the recipe:
6 TBS of softened coconut oil
1/4 CUP Baking Soda
1/4 CUP Arrowroot or corn starch
Mix it together in a glass jar.

That's it!!!  How can it be this easy???  Look at the list of ingredients on your deodorant...go ahead, I'll wait.  It's super long, isn't it?  With a bunch of "stuff" in it.  Bet you wouldn't eat it.  With the homemade kind, you absolutely could brush your teeth with it, too.  I added a few drops of essential oil, but you can't really tell.  That's fine with me, though....when I can smell my own deodorant, I always feel like someone is sneaking up on me.  You probably already have the Baking Soda and corn starch in your kitchen.  And, Coconut oil can be used for about 1,000 other things.

Here's my review of the deodorant after using it for a couple of months.  It will separate in the jar.  (Unless you keep it in the fridge, which I don't.  I don't want to ever say "Do not eat Mommy's deodorant, you rotten kids!!!)  All the oil will come to the top leaving a big clump of goo at the bottom.  I can get past that.  I either mix it using a Q-tip, or just get to the bottom of the jar.  I'm always worried about the oil getting on my clothes the same way the white stuff from regular deodorant does, so I've started putting it on right after the shower and giving it time to soak in.  No problems with staining so far!  Since it's not an anti-antiperspirant, I can totally feel the heat rising under my arms and worry about pit stains...but, again, it hasn't happened yet.  I smell pretty good, too.  No one has yet to wrinkle their nose at me. 

I will say that once I wore the same shirt 2 days in a row (don't judge!) and the second day was a mistake.  I didn't smell, but the shirt did!!!  Weird, right?  Plus, I  have a couple of shirts made of unidentifiable fabrics, that seem to smell after a while. 

Overall, I'm going to keep using it.  Please tell me if you can smell me, I won't be offended.  Plus, I use such a small amount, this jar is going to last for.ev.er. 

Any thoughts on what I should make next????  Do YOU have any good homemade recipes??