Deodorant

Step 4 Finis!

Clean up the container and make your own clever label for it (like you won't remember what it is. . . )

Let it set up for a day or two.

Use liberally, and encourage others to do so as well!

_

Some final notes based on early comments:

Odor is caused by bacteria, not by sweating. The essential oils I mentioned are great antimicrobials and should do a real number on all that nasty bacteria. But I do look forward to hearing about some of the more interesting scents you all try too!

This product will not keep you from sweating. Aluminum is the key ingredient in antiperspirant, and that's the bad guy in our story here. It took me a long time (and many Texas summers), but I was finally able to get over my discomfort of sweating.

Enjoy!

Comments

[Esmagamus]

I've been using blocks of alum. There are "good natural stuff" stores that sell big chunks of it as deodorant from the start. I hope I don't have to tell you how expensive that thing can be! Then, since I know a bit of chemistry, I just go to a hardware store and by a barber's stone, which is a rectangular block of "cast" alum. It doesn't have aluminium in it, so it's not irritant for my skin. The only downside is that I tend to drop my stones and curse at the small useless chunks on the floor!

[scoochmaroo]

Oh no! Look what I just found: Alum is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, but in large quantities — well, an ounce or more — it is toxic to humans. Alum is short for potassium aluminum sulfate. (Notice the aluminum in there?) Should have been obvious, but I guess that's what kept me looking.

[GDParduhn3]

you've done a great job staying neutral (ha) keep up the great work, , this for one is a bang up topic for ible and discussion and keeps people talking for who knows how long. . good choice..

i believe you did an ible on toothpaste as well. . ??
(fluoride)


i hear baby food is in debate now that a new baby food maker is one the market clouding late night tv with adds for overpriced equipment.

i did think you could run with the whole pvc tubing thing for homemade chap stick.

(cooked down aloe and beet juice for that one !!)

Good luck and again keep up the good work.

[kirnex]

True, true. Alum is used in the traditional process of pickling (which, really, is somewhat archaic, as technology has afforded other, less-harmful ways of pickling things) , but is definitely toxic if directly ingested. There was a case several years back of a woman who....well, used alum as an alternative to divorce. 'Nuff said.

[Esmagamus]

Potassium alum, ammonium alum, chrome alum, rubidium alum and caesium alum.

[Esmagamus]

I have never said all chemicals that contain aluminium are harmful. I know perfectly that, for example, biodiesel is made with highly poisonous and highly caustic chemicals such as methanol and sodium hydroxide and still the end product is perfectly safe. Water is toxic to humans: drink a lot of it at once and it will mess up your electrolyte balance.

[mje]

1. You don't eat it. You put it on your pits.

2. Aluminum does NOT cause Alzheimer's. The early finding of Aluminum in the neurofibril tangles of Alzheimer's patients was due to a problem in the tissue fixing process.

The notion that Aluminm caused Alzheimer's was disproved DECADES ago, yet continues on as a folk legend... in large part because people trust what someone emails them instead of looking up primary sources!

http://www.alzheimer.ca/english/disease/causes-alumi.htm

[maggiesbiz]

The skin is an ingesting organ. That is why some meds are given in cream forms like estrogen, vitamin D, etc.  Everything you put on your skin , eventually, ends up in your blood system and runs around your body.

[bigjeff5]

From what I understand, the vast majority of the aluminum absorbed by the body comes from food, not from deodorants or anti-persperants.

See, aluminum is the third most common element on earth and is the most common metal - as such it isn't surprising to learn that just about every organic creature contains some aluminum.

That's right, every time you eat a plant or an animal you are ingesting aluminum.

The kidneys happen to be very good at removing aluminum (again, not surprising, since aluminum bonds to ammonia, and ammonia is found in urea - the major constituent of urine).

So, like any other mineral, what aluminum is not required by the body is flushed.

Like just about every other medical topic, however, the issue is always up for debate. The human body is essentially an absurdly complex chemical reaction, and understanding each component's function and potential malfunction is never easy and rarely (if ever) completely understood. That said, after 40 years of study the link between aluminum and disease has only gotten weaker, not stronger - such that it lives on primarily as folk wisdom, not sound medical doctrine.

tl;dr:  Like a great many topics of folk wisdom, fears of aluminum in anything but very large quantities are almost certainly unfounded.

[junket2mars]

and cigarettes don't cause cancer either, right? after all, Philip Morris put a LOT of time, effort, lawyers and $$$ into that one... all i know for certain about the aluminum/Alzh connection (controversial as it remains) is that: my granddad died of Alzheimers, and -quite by coincidence, im sure- he just happened to have aluminum toxicity.

[Esmagamus]

So what? Are you going to say metalworkers who work on aluminium all day have a substantially higher chance of getting alzheimer? And they do touch it, smell it and might even get some swarf or dust in their food.

Could you say someone died of smoking too much just because you found tar in their lungs?

[Meuryn]

And you think that one case is enough to prove a whole link? Oh please, this is pseudoscience at its best.

[jackfaciale]

there was an hoax mail saying it causes breast cancer as well.. any way i learned a lot about baking soda ... thanks ! I like ton make my own wax for a haircut "surf style" which is matte not glossy, havent you any idea ?

[Esmagamus]

Try to heat some beeswax and dilute it with something like coconut oil. I'm not the best person to advise you on that but... try stuff! You might come up with something extraordinary!

[Esmagamus]

I never mentioned alzheimer's did I? The safety of anti prespiration chemicals such as aluminium chloride are still being studied. I'll prefer a simple, cheap, odorless deodorant made of a substance that is known to be safe.

[VRAndy]

"Known to be safe" is a tricky concept. Many substances that were known to be safe fifty years ago are now off the market for safety concerns. Many of them perfectly natural. I assume you've read studies on the safeness of underarm Alum, but, are you also confident that scientists have stopped studying it forever? Because you seem to distrust anything that is the subject of current research. In either case, you're far more likely to get smashed flat by an automobile or train than to be offed by anything you dab under your arm. But I'd be willing to bet you don't go around telling people to avoid those. (And car and train fatalities are "Still being studied"!)

[Esmagamus]

You must have the dedcutive skills of Hercule Poirot to know, from simple remarks what I do trust or not. Obviously "know to be safe" is never to be set in stone. The widespread use of asbestos in the past proved that. Still, from roman times, "a disease in the lungs" was noticed in asbestos workers. That is not the case with alum. As for the use of aluminium salts in deodorants, there were studies that found a corelation with cancer. As for alum, the molecule is far too large to be effectively absorved and it is even used internally. The fact I can be hurt by a car or a train is no argument not to be careful. I'd like to see a comrade of mine that works as a high voltage electrician juggle grenades just because he could get fried all the time before he joined the army.

[belsey]

An ounce of aspirin is toxic too, but that doesn't mean you should never use it -- quite the contrary! A small daily dose can help a bad heart. Alum is perfectly safe, as are the other types of aluminum used in antiperspirants.

[Esmagamus]

That is still being studied.

[belsey]

Hopefully everything will always continue to be studied... but the size of the molecules is known, and the molecules are too big to get through the skin. So whether or not all aluminum is eliminated quickly and harmlessly is irrelevant if it can't get into the bloodstream. And although you have not mentioned Alzheimer's, that particular urban myth seems to be the reason why aluminum is portrayed as the bad guy here. Quite unfairly, in my opinion.

[lisalynn]

AMEN !
as a side note.. Alzheimer's is callted the diabetes of the brain.. new research shows that Coconut oil improves ALZ in patients because it can be easily used by the brain. (( OUR brains only function on SUgar )) & could possibly prevent it.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2012/January/Coconut-Oil-Touted-as-Alzheimers-Remedy/

labelng something " FREE OF this or that " is sometimes just bogus.
I could label our eggs "Farm Fresh Eggs , SUGAR FREE '' & thus charge you a lot more !! LOL

[Esmagamus]

Some people even think that aluminium cooking pots are harmful. There is currently no evidence to prove that to be true but... anything worth studying is worth studying twice. As for urban myths, they just seem to be a new form of religion: whether proved or not, people believe it just the same.

[scoochmaroo]

I've been trying to find alum so I can grow my own chunks and make an I'ble about that. Take your small useless chunks, put them in a spray bottle, add water, and you've got spray-on deodorant!

[kirnex]

look in the spice/baking section of (most) any grocery store. might also be with canning supplies, if the store has that in a separate section.

[Esmagamus]

Not at all. People here in Portugal do very little canning. On the other side, you'd find plenty of spices.

[belsey]

I'm surprised you aren't aware that alum is an aluminum compound... that's why it works as an antiperspirant. Although generally I like avoiding chemicals with unproven safety records, aluminum in deodorant is not one of them. It's not the bad guy. Aluminum compounds are too large to be absorbed through the skin -- but even if somehow some managed to squeeze through into the bloodstream, it is quickly eliminated in the urine. Unless your kidneys aren't functioning, which explains why the warnings on antiperspirants pertain to people with kidney disorders. The evidence linking Alzheimer's with aluminum is purely circumstantial and has largely been dismissed, according to the Alzheimer's society website. If despite current research you still choose to avoid aluminum in deodorant (one legitimate reason would be to avoid yellow underarms) try using zinc. It will make your underarms white, but it works too -- in fact it was used in Mum's, the original antiperspirant.

[Esmagamus]

I've tried that and found that ammonium alum has very little solubility (that was the one I used to find). I've left a whole stone crushed to bits in a jug of water for weeks and it didn't change a bit. I think the industrial process to make barber's stones is a casting process. I'll try to melt some alum today and I'll report back to you. Some rivers have huge chunks there. A friend gave me a chunk that was as big as a soda can. Ask some old barber or drugist where to find some.

[mponceloz]

Do you think I can use mineral oil instead of coconut

[scoochmaroo]

Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, which makes it preferable for this project.

[Pastor Straw]

coconut oil is a far better alternative to mineral oil.  Available at www.thesecretsofeden.com

[Mtalus]

Aluminum sulfate is sometimes used as a clarifier in pools (as a flocking agent). It is also available in garden supply shops as a soil acidifier, though the purity might be different. Will it react with the soda (ph 8.3, I think)? Are you sure you smell "bad". I'm more of a Napolean type i.e. "Don't bathe I'm on my way home"....Hmmmm, perhaps an Instructable on pheremones.

[maggiesbiz]

Aluminum sulfate is a toxic. Check out the toxic factors in the link below.

ALUMINUM SULFATE

[Pastor Straw]

A place to get an Aluminum free deodorant is www.nobodeodorant.com

[Calorie]

Pheromones and body odour are two different things.

[Mtalus]

Yes, but I get confused easily as I have a near perfect life: Mild Pacific Northwest climate and an athletic girlfriend who showers often, i.e. always drenched in pheremones sans b.o. Given a chance to stew I imagine she would smell like...bacon?

[Calorie]

I've lived both in the near Arctic and the tropics. I was always surprised to how differently my body reacted. In Florida, you take at least 2 showers a day. In the near arctic, you hardly sweat, even in heavy exercise. It was amazing and I loved it. The only down side is that I am a cyclist, and spinning away at 20 mph definitely tends to cool you down. You have to wear a lot of specialized gear that I didn't own at the time (nor could afford.) It took a couple of months of my fellow tropical classmates to get use to showering less. And showering was actually painful! You'd jump in the shower and your skin would sort of crawl until you warmed up.

[Tinseltoy]

Is there a place where you could buy these containers or are you really stuck using your old container? Ans, also, where would you get things like shea butter and coconut oil?

[Pastor Straw]

you can purchase both of them at www.thesecretsofeden.com

[maggiesbiz]

Vitacost.com has all those ingredients and really cheap.

[blue_crane]

Essential sageoil is an antiperspirant. But do not use it if you are breastfeeding. It may stop the milk. If this has already happened don´t despair, just keep breastfeeding and the milk will come back in a few days.