I have for years been looking for the perfect home-made deodorant spray recipe. Home-made deodorants are really popular nowadays. Now I will introduce to you my favourite deodorant and an effective variant of it. A deodorant preventing sweating contains usually aluminium. It is very difficult to make a natural deodorant that prevents sweating. Here is one for you to try out.
Baking soda is not suitable for long-term use
Many recipes contain baking soda. Baking soda is suitable for everyone at first. It effectively neutralizes the smell of sweat and also soothes sweating a bit. However, almost everyone will face problems within few weeks. Regular use of baking soda is not good for the skin.
Baking soda combined with sweat turns into a very alkaline solution on the skin. The skin is easily irritated by constant alkalinity.
Baking soda neutralizes the smell of sweat. The phenomenon is based on the alkalinity of baking soda. The pH of the skin becomes alkaline. Bacteria living in an acidic environment do not thrive on alkaline skin. The problem is that both good and harmful bacteria are disappearing from the skin at the same time. The skin needs bacteria to thrive. Without a protective bacterial layer, the skin becomes inflamed and ill. Deodorants containing baking soda should therefore be washed particularly carefully off the skin.
Baking soda combined with coconut oil is especially difficult to cleanse from the skin
Coconut oil-based deodorant recipes are also popular. Coconut oil works well as a deodorant as such as it eliminates bacterial growth on the skin. Often, baking soda is also combined with coconut oil. The baking soda-coconut oil mixture is especially difficult to remove from the skin. Therefore, such a deodorant irritates the skin very easily. Baking soda-coconut oil deodorants are indeed effective. they prevent both the smell of sweat and also some sweating. However, special attention must be paid to the cleaning of the skin after use.
Coconut oil is effective as a deodorant as such
I’ve tested the coconut oil as a deodorant in the heat of the tropics. There it seems to work particularly well. Coconut is a cooling oil and is effective in curbing excessive bacterial growth. However, the disadvantage of coconut oil is its greasy content. I don’t like greasy deodorants because they are easily absorbed into the fibres of the clothes. It is quite impossible to get the grease cleaned away from the armpits of the blouse when it has been thoroughly absorbed. I had to throw away a few good blouses because of this very reason.
Coconut-free, soda-free homemade deodorant
I have used a homemade deodorant that does not contain any soda and oils for a long time now. This deodorant is made from only two ingredients.
- 20 ml of clear vodka
- 80 ml of white vinegar
The ingredients are mixed in a spray bottle and used as a deodorant.
This is the easiest deodorant to make and very effective. Even distilled vinegar acts as a deodorant but no-one wants to smell like vinegar. Even essential oils do not hide the smell of vinegar.
Even less anyone wants to smell like vodka. Vodka alone effectively destroys all harmful bacteria. It also does not irritate the skin unless sprayed on an area of skin exposed to the sun. However, the vodka smells nasty.
The wonderful thing about this deodorant is that vodka combined with vinegar does not smell at all. Definitely worth testing.
The odourless distilled vinegar-vodka deodorant has been my favourite so far. Next, I will tell you about the new version of my deodorant. It also curbs sweating.
Meadowsweet deodorant contains salicylates
Vinegar-vodka deodorant kills the odour effectively but does not prevent sweating. That’s why I got excited to test the new version of the product.
Salicylates and sweating
It all started a couple of months ago when I got, as a gift, the Housekeepers Manual. It is a 4-edition series of books, printed in 1936. These books contain quite a lot of information about everything possible. I was surprised when I took a look of the beauty section. There were a few how-to make deodorant instructions. In them, the ingredients were pretty wild like ammonia. However, one recipe says that salicylates control sweating if used externally. I wanted to try to see if the claim is true.
Meadowsweet contain salicylates
To get natural salicylates, I extracted meadowsweet buds in 40% alcohol for 2 weeks. Such an extract is already quite strong and comparable to regular aspirin.
I prepared the deodorant from the extract according to the instructions above. I replaced the vodka with meadowsweet extract.
- 20 ml of meadowsweet extract
- 80 ml of white vinegar
Mix the ingredients in a spray bottle and use as a deodorant.
An effective Meadowsweet deodorant spray also curbs sweating
Meadowsweet deodorant effectively curbs odour. The mild, herbal scent of Meadowsweet is absolutely wonderful in a deodorant. It’s not too strong and distracting at all. The fragrance is also particularly suitable for more masculine taste. After all, meadowsweet is not really a floral scent, even though it is a flower.
I got a test-user for this antiperspirant deodorant. According to his view, the deodorant curbed sweating, at least some of it. However, it is difficult to prove this without accurate scientific evidence. This is a thing a diy-cosmetics maker cannot ever get. However, I definitely recommend trying this deodorant as one option.
Meadowsweet is not for everyone
Meadowsweet deodorant is really simple to prepare. It effectively prevents sweat odour and to some extent also sweating. As a disadvantage of the Meadowsweet deodorant, it contains salicylate. Salicylate sensitivity is a fairly common ailment. Then it is not advisable to use Meadowsweet or willow in cosmetics or anywhere. They are particularly rich in natural salicylates, which can cause sensitization.
Read also:
Powder Cosmetics and Powder Deodorant
Have you made deodorants yourself? Tell us about your experiences!
Mesiangervodeodorantti on äärettömän yksinkertainen valmistaa. Se estää tehokkaasti hienhajua ja jonkin verran myös hikoilua. Mesiangervodeodorantin miinuksena voin mainita sen sisältämän salisylaatin. salisylaattiherkkyys on melko yleinen vaiva. Silloin ei kannata käyttää mesiangervoa eikä pajua kosmetiikassa eikä muutenkaan. Ne sisältävät erityisen paljon luonnon salisylaatteja, jotka voivat aiheuttaa herkistymistä.
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Oletko valmistanut itse deodorantteja? Kerro kokemuksistai!