Home-made Spray Deodorant

(image from deodorantpeople.tumblr.com)

A while back, I convinced my partner to dump the chemical-ridden Axe-brand deodorant for a more natural (and way healthier) alternative. I bought two bottles of Chrystal-brand deodorant, one without scent and one scented with chamomile.

Trying a deodorant out on this particular man was great to test the reliability of the deodorant for several reasons.
1. He is an unbiased party. He does not care particularly for "green" items, yet does not avoid them.
2. He is highly concerned about hygiene. Ha. Definitely more than little ol' me. (Gender rules: broken.)
3. He is active throughout the day. Lifting, moving, running, and sometimes cooking in a hot kitchen means lots of opportunity for sweat. Ah, the glamourous life of a restaurant owner.

(image from theeifflers)

And after many months of trial, the results are firm: it works! Yay!

The only downside is the price. Almost $4 for a tiny 4 oz bottle that disappeared in a about a month. Blah.

I had been reading all these great recipes on how to make your own deodorant, but they were all solid, which doesn't suit my lovely partner. Woe, woe, woe, that I cannot join in on making deodorant and saving all that money.

I went down to the local health food Co-op and grabbed a bottle of deodorant to buy. Wondering if antimicrobial essential oils were used in the sprays, and particularly what essential oil is used in the scent-free bottle, I check out the ingredients list.

Ingredients: WATER, SALT (potassium alum)


What the what now? 


How is this possible?! How is the deodorant that has already been proven (thanks honey) to be effective be nothing but expensive SALT WATER.


A little google-fu led me to find out that two kinds of salt are commonly used in natural deodorants. These are potassium alum (which contains naturally-occuring aluminum), and Dead Sea salt.

Potassium alum is an astringent, which means it contracts the tissue and reduces secretion and discharge, and an antiseptic, which is an antimicrobial applied topically to kill bacteria (which is what makes that nasty B.O. scent).

Dead Sea salt has much less information about it, and is sold less frequently in the form of deodorant, but also has naturally-occuring aluminum (as well as quite a few other minerals).

So I knew what I had to do: MAKE ME SOME DEODORANT!  I could not find any recipes for liquid deodorant on the internet, but if it really is just salt-water.....well...I can do THAT.

Ingredients needed: 

Dead Sea Salt   OR   Potassium Alum in small crystal form

Water you don't mind putting on your body (I used Kangen Water)

Antimicrobial Essential Oil of your choice (optional)

Step 1: Measure out your water.  Measure out however much water you wish to have deodorant. Keep your water at room temperature, since warmer water will dissolve more salt, which will crystalize at the bottom of the container when cooled.

Step 2: Add salt. Stir.  Salt should dissolve fairly quickly.

Step 3: Keep adding salt.  The salt will continue to dissolve for a surprisingly long time. I can't tell you the ratio for salt to water. The trick is to add salt until the salt no longer dissolves into the water. The ratio for salt to water will change depending on the water you use, the salt you use, and the temperature of the water.

Step 4: Add essential oil. Stir.  Essential oil should never be more than 5% of a liquid because it can be caustic to the skin. A few drops per cup of water should suffice for our purposes.

And you are done! How easy is that?

LESSON LEARNED: Things Not To Do
I looked up how to effectively make salt water online. A handy and simple instructional guideline was on a cooking site. These instructions told me to heat the water to near-boiling, as this would allow more salt to be dissolved. Yeeeeah. Didn't think that one through. The salt that was dissolved because the water was warmer... that just came right back out again.

So one little mishap. I can use this salt again, so it can't be counted as a loss. All in all, I'd call it a win.

Time for my Professional Deodorant Tester to sample! I'll edit this in a few weeks with his weigh in!