The reasons why you want to make your own deodorant are many. Saving money seems to be almost trivial compared to the many health implications regular use of main stream brand deodorants has.
The aluminum chloride omni present in all the big brand deodorants has been linked to Alzheimer's and breast cancer and even though the industry spends billions of dollars trying to disprove any connection of their products with any bad effects on health - I remain skeptical. After all how thorough and truly truth finding can an industry sponsored study be?
Our friends at the Environmental Working Group point out a staggering array of chemicals in deodorants that promote endocrine disruption, allergies, mutation and growth of cancerous cells in the lab.
So, the answer would be to switch to the natural brands of deodorants proudly promoting their Aluminum hydrochloride free bliss - only two problems - first they are not all as wholesome as they seem - I was shocked to find Jason’s deodorants as one of the worst offenders in the EWG’s cosmetic database and of course even the good ones come with a staggering price tag.
Shopping for my son’s favorite deodorant at Whole Foods the other day - I simply could not stomach the $18.95 !!!! price tag and I had had enough. What are these magical ingredients that make up this 1.7 oz of elixir - is liquid gold part of the concoction?
Of course reading labels is always enlightening, amusing and infuriating all at the same time!
So, comparing three different brands Weleda, Dr.Hauschka, and Crystal,
the most common ingredients seem to be - not surprisingly - some form of alcohol, mineral salts - can you say table salt?, fragrance = a couple of drops of essential oils and lots of water.
So, here is my recipe for homemade deodorant - as always - experiment wildly and have fun creating your own!
Deodorant recipe - you will need:
Some form of alcohol
Fragrance
Water
a spray bottle or reuse and old roll-on deodorant bottle
1. Some form of alcohol - just like for making perfume - vodka works well - you could even try flavored - I am sure citrus would give it a nice base tone. You don’t need a whole lot since you are going to cut at least two parts water to one part alcohol.
2. Salt - add a tiny bit of regular table salt - should neutralize the bacteria a bit, but salt is a very optional ingredient.
3. Fragrance - a couple of drops of essential oil - whatever you have at hand. You could produce you own - by squeezing citrus peel or infusing flowers or bits of spice in your deodorant - add a small dash of ground ginger or cinnamon - costs cents.
4. Add water - just enough so it will flow but not too much to make it runny - you will have to play around with it.
5. A nice addition which I use instead of alcohol is Thayer’s Orginal Witch Hazel Formula which has alcohol in it and works really well as a base. The Aloe Vera formula is very nice for sensitive skin.
6. All you need now is a bottle - The insanely expensive Dr.Hauschka deodorant at least buys you a reusable glass bottle that looks very nice and can easily be refilled. Most plastic bottles cannot be reused. In that case a little spray bottle should do.
Please check out the list of harmful ingredients in deodorants here. may be that will give you the inspiration you need to make your own.
5 comments:
I found that database about a month ago. Sheesh. One thing to keep in mind when using it though is that companies reformulate their products a lot and even if they don't, the database can still be out of date. Your best bet is to get an account and enter the ingredients as you see it on the label or cut and paste from the product's website. If you can't find ingredience just say no to that product.
After reading that the supposed hypoallergenic noncommedogenic Almay products not only have chemicals that induce allergic reactions in them but that they still use several varieties of parabens (environmental estrogens) to preserve their products I stopped using what I had. And lo and behold, my daily allergies that usually started when I arrived at work, didn't happen as severely as they did before or not at all (depending on the allergy count in the environment that day.)
I'm going to try cosmetics from bareFaced Minerals if they ever arrive. I won't order from them again even if their make up works. I emailed them three days ago asking where my stuff is and I have yet to hear back. I ordered my stuff the first week in February.
I have however ordered a sample pack from Coastal Classic Creations and will probably use them from now on if their product works for me. They also produce moisturizers and the like. What I like about them most is that they get back to me within less than 12 hours via email AND they are willing to make any of their products without fragrance; which is one of the major killers for me.
I'll see what I can find on line about making your own make up.... sounds like a fun hour on line to me :D
Well here's what I found so far. I don't think I'll look much further. This is a great collection:
http://www.makeyourcosmetics.com/
http://www.tkbtrading.com/
http://cranberrylane.stores.yahoo.net/
http://www.cranberrylane.com/recipes-makeup.htm
http://www.brambleberry.com/MineralMakeup.aspx
http://www.pvsoap.com/shop_now.htm
Cool Rose!
Way to go!
I have to check these out. I have no experience with either bareFaced Minerals or Coastal Classic Creations.
You are quite lucky that the link between the Almay and your allergies was so obvious - it took me and my husband months to figure out what triggers his allergies - propylene glycol, parabens and about 10 other more obscure ingredients.
The biggest concern for me was finding all these supposedly all natural brands - like Jason - with absolutely horrible ratings on the database. I was really upset since I usually let my guard down a bit in the health food store and also don't even blink when these brands are three times the price than any regular old deodorant would be.
Anyway thanks for the info - Rose
I know your feelings on that. Once I realized that Natures Gate used parabens up until about a year or so ago I started wondering. But I still trusted these people to clean up their act. No dice.
Gotta go play with the kiddae cat.
Rose
Lately I have been using DO2, it consists purely of alum and water. At first I bought a new container every half a year or so, but now I discovered that in most eco shops you can buy alum (I get it from the Turkish shops that sell it for €1.25 for 400 grams). Mixing the minerals with water creates a odorous and well working deodorant. The link below contains a little more information on alum and the use of it over the past centuries.
(http://www.deodorantstones.com/potassiumalum.ivnu)
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