Happy Armpits: Make Your Own Coconut-Oil Deodorant

By Ana Jadanec

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

I’ve always been picky about deodorants. Not because they didn’t do their “job”, but there was always something I wasn’t too happy with. Scent, consistency, usability, bottle shape, irritation, drying factor… Well, this whole pickyness escalated in 2003 when I read the ingredients printed on the packaging of my store bought deodorant.

Aluminium jumped right at me. Let me just explain what this most abundant metal in Earth’s crust does, and how it ended on our armpits.

Aluminium-based complexes react with the electrolytes in the sweat to form a gel plug in the duct of the sweat gland. What this means is that someone in some lab discovered that adding aluminium complexes into the already suspicious mix of ingredients in deodorants closes pores in the skin and prevents sweat production. Well, this new piece of information officially started my crusade for happy armpits, without metals from Earth’s crust.

The more I focused on finding a health-friendly deodorant, the more problems I’d create. Namely contact dermatitis, which is just a fancy way to say localized rash or irritation of the skin caused by contact with some foreign substance. It would get worse, then better, then worse again… an endless cycle that depended on seasonal changes, temperature changes, exposure to sunlight etc.

I allowed all this for years because my skin has always been very free-spirited and abundantly willing to express itself and its dislikes since childhood; so, I just took it as one of those things that the biggest bodily organ does on an equally strange human body.

But all this changed when I discovered Coconut Oil, a wonder of nature used in the Philippines for centuries.

Recipe for Homemade Deodorant with Coconut Oil

The recipe is simple….

Ingredients:

1/4 cup melted unrefined extra virgin coconut oil which corresponds to 4 tablespoons of solid coconut oil

1/4 cup baking soda

1/4 cup corn starch

10 drops of essential oils

Glass jar with lid

Steps:

Place all the dry ingredients into your favorite bowl
Add the melted coconut oil and essential oils and stir well.

You’ll end up with a fragrant paste which should be poured into a jar before it solidifies. Remember, coconut oil’s natural state is solid, and the end product should look something like this.

Leave it to cool naturally before placing it in the fridge for extra solidification. I like to keep it at room temperature for easier application, but you can also keep it in your fridge.

The Final Word

Oh, and in case you wondered how these ingredients have been proven to work… baking soda absorbs odors, cornstarch absorbs wetness and coconut oil is an anti-oxidant and a moisturizer with anti-fungal/anti-bacterial properties. The essential oils you added will add their own properties. In my case, I added lavender oil as an antiseptic and tea tree oil for its antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiseptic qualities.

And that’s how you can create happy armpits!