For the first post (yay!) I'm going to share the recipe I used for homemade spray deodorant. Making deodorant is something I've thought about for a while but I figured it didn't work. For every person who swears it works you can find just as many who swear it doesn't.. so I was leery. But I'm on this whole homemade/do-it-yourself kick so I figured what the hey.. it's worth a try and I'm only out a few bucks if it doesn't work. So I did some research online and found some recipes I wanted to try out. I like solid/stick deodorant but hubby uses a spray.. there really isn't much variety out there for what to use with a spray deodorant. Still I looked around until I found one I wanted to try. I ordered my supplies from Bramble Berry and was ready to go!
I have to say.. I was totally shocked. This actually seems to be working. My hubby is a sweater.. I really didn't think some little thing I whipped up was going to work for him but he's been using it for about a week now with no problems. I'm so excited!! I haven't delved too deeply into the homemade housegoods arena yet so this was my first big test. Here's hoping the recipe I found for stick deodorant works as well when I get to that.
The recipe I used is off of One Good Thing by Jillee. The only thing I changed is the oils I used. Hubby likes outdoorsy scents so I used cedarwood and citronella essential oils. I know it sounds weird to use citronella.. you're trying to stop sweat not mosquitoes.. but one of the things I saw in my research is one of the properties of citronella is it's an astringent and can help with excessive perspiration when applied topically. The same goes for the witch hazel.. it's also an astringent. The baking soda and the aloe are sort of self explanatory for their uses. It's a really basic recipe but I guess you don't need fancy if it gets the job done. So, without further ado....
Ingredients:
1/2 cup witch hazel
1/4 cup aloe vera
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
10 drops essential oil*
8 ounce spray bottle
* I ended up using 10 drops of cedarwood and 5 of citronella essential oil. I originally put in 5 and 5 but the citronella was so overpowering I added more cedarwood. I don't think it smells too strong with 15 drops and hubby says he can't smell it while wearing so I think there is leeway in how much you use.
Directions:
- Add witch hazel, aloe vera, baking soda, and essential oil to spray bottle
- Shake
- Use
It really is so completely simple and I'm amazed by the results so far. It is the end of summer and the temperature has started going down but hubby has been wearing this in 70-80 something degree weather with his uniform on with no problems. And like I said.. he's a sweater. Even he is surprised there hasn't been any issues with odor yet. Hopefully it keeps working ts well. Just make sure to give it a shake every time you use it so everything is nice and mixed together. And that is how to make spray deodorant that actually works.
