Curio (Potions for Skeptics): Deodorant A

I've been a proponent of "natural deodorant" for many years. My latest foray has been with an "award-winning" Swiss product (Dr. Mist), which most definitely would have worked if the power of my will had anything to do with it. Alas, I was disappointed, bottle after bottle. The time was nigh to try a new brand, whereupon my mother just happened to call me up and say: Since you're doing skin care, would you make me some deodorant please? 

Part of me want to respond, exasperatedly, that one doesn't just make deodorant. Like, it's serious stuff. And then I thought about how much money I'd save (you know, over the course of the rest of my life), if I could produce it for myself. How I'd never have to recycle another container. And how utterly impressive I'd be at dinner parties. As you can imagine, that sealed the deal.

Enter Deodorant A:

What ensued was weeks of reading everything that's ever been written on the internet about making one's own deodorant. You'd be amazed by how popular an undertaking this happens to be. You'd also be amazed by how suboptimal most of the handmade recipes are (at least from my perspective). I don't want to be sticking my hands into a jar and rubbing oily stuff on my armpits, even if it is good for the world. I don't want a roll-on product that requires refrigeration lest it melt. I don't want something that's 90 per cent baking soda (not that I have any sensitivity to it, but some people do). I don't want a roll on that's so much like a candle that it tugs mercilessly at the skin when applied.

Handmade deodorant is not a quick win. It's a delicious alchemy of ingredients which one must truly understand in order to corral. The ingredients are not inexpensive. It takes time. Seriously, this is mad science. Y'all know I happily suggest that everyone make everything - that's how I roll. I'll even provide links. But take it from me, deodorant is a labour of love.

Deodorant A ingredients:

Organic Beeswax, Organic Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Organic / Social Enterprise Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Zea Mays (Corn) Starch, Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Cetyl Alcohol (a fatty alcohol to improve glide), Olibanum (Frankincense) Essential Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Essential Oil

I use only the highest quality, unrefined shea butter, which is produced by a small collective in Ghana. Frankincense, a tree resin, is often lauded for its beautiful, clean scent (which isn't overly feminine) and lavender is an excellent anti-bacterial and anti-fungal. The corn starch and baking soda do some heavy-lifting in this formula and I'm amazed to say they are very effective.

So while we're on the topic, let's have a moment to discuss effectiveness. We are all different people with different biochemistries. A propos of this, I have to assume that Dr. Mist is working well for many or it wouldn't have won an award (and cost so much freakin' money in the health food store). My version has been tested on, let's say, 25 people so far (a teensy weensy sample size) and I'm frankly surprised that every single user has proactively commented that it works excellently for him or her. Could they be telling me things I want to hear? I doubt it. I mean, I've given every tester carte blanche to be frank and I've received some good constructive criticism on a variety of  other products. (Interestingly, all the Deo testers have come back asking for more.) Is it possible that I chose the perfect test group to meet my ends? It is. But they're all different peeps with unique jobs and lifestyles. They're not all spending the day doing the same thing.

Sure, I didn't just pop stuff into a pot and cast a spell. I've done lots of research on which components yield the best results, but I'm still surprised because it sure as hell works better than any other natural deodorant I've tried - and I've bought those!

Do I recommend it for someone who's going to sweat at the gym, who won't reapply it after the fact (and better still, after having showered)? Not so much. My husband has tested it on this account and he doesn't think it's up to mega-sweating without reapplication. He does think it's up to all kinds of regular sweating, however - like biking twenty minutes to buy dinner. I walk miles a day - during which I often sweat - but I smell fresh when I get where I'm going.

For want of access to affordable push-up, cardboard containers, Deodorant A is presented in clear plastic - an elegant, simple container that allows one to observe the utter prettiness of this potion. There's a useful, up-and-down twist mechanism which releases the deodorant in two directions. (It's reusable, fyi.)

If you'd like to know more, please check out my Etsy shop.

PS: If you're wondering why every product is named "____ A", it's because these are my first viable prototypes. When I make another Serum, for example, presumably it will be called Serum B - unless I decide to get vaguely creative, which wouldn't be a bad idea!

PPS: While I feel that Deo A is entirely unisex, my dad's getting in on the request action - he wants a "distinctly manly" version for his birthday. As such, my intention is to produce this product with cedarwood essential oil, for the guys. So please stay tuned for that.

Well Ain't This Sweet?

I used this recipe, which is well-promoted. I made half the recipe and I still could have assembled another of the large deodorant sticks given the amount I threw away.

I don't know if this is going to work, but I will say that the clean up is nasty. If I do this again, I'm buying a throw-away pot (that I can clean in a half-assed way and use only for deodorant-making).

The finished product is very firm, just like the store bought stuff, given that I used 2 oz of beeswax. I mean, this shit is basically a candle. I'm not going to lie - I'm skeptical about how it's going to wear because it has half a cup of oil in it! Furthermore, I realized after making the batch, that I used cornstarch in place of arrowroot. I don't own any arrowroot after having lived through a sink-clogging incident of massive proportions many years ago. For some reason, I blame this on the substance rather than the actual cause (that would be me, putting arrowroot down the drain). Note: I sense that this won't be an issue. In cooking, arrowroot and cornstarch are often used interchangeably.

At any rate, if it does work, this is yet another product I will NEVER buy in the store again. I currently use an all-natural spray that costs 10 bucks every 3 weeks (the way my kid douses herself in it). BTW, I don't feel it works well enough to warrant that price but I don't want to use drug-store stuff, given the evil shit it's made with. This handmade version costs 2 bucks and takes 15 minutes.

I urge everyone to consider making skin and body care - at least to give it a try. We spend an absolute fortune on this stuff - well, I do - especially for quality product. And, seriously peeps, you can make pretty well everything in your kitchen for a fraction of the cost. And it looks just as good. Actually, it can look better if you put some effort in. Not to mention that it isn't carcinogenic. I realize that we all have busy lives and we don't have time to pee, much less make artisanal body oil, but if you find this sort of thing enjoyable (and I really do!), then it's a perfect melding of need and output.

At this point, I've bought a bunch of silicones to reproduce my hair product (Moroccan Oil) and, once I figure that one out, I'm going to be saving ALL the bucks. Ahem, spending them on new bras.

Update: So, this morning I realized why the deodorant was impossible to clean up - and why it's rather challenging to apply: I halved everything in the recipe EXCEPT for the beeswax. So yeah, effectively this deodorant is a candle. Oh well, rookies be makin' rookie mistakes. Happily I was able to salvage the containers (pretty easy to pop candles out of plastic pieces) and I'll give it another go.

Other Update: So I put some of this on this morning (before removing it from the containers) as did my husband and we are shocked by how awesomely it works. Seriously shocked. He's actually going to keep the now stick-free deodorant in ziploc bag because he likes it so much. So natural for the win, I guess.