Homemade Deodorant/Antiperspirant

Today, I'm going to show you how to make your own deodorant/antiperspirant with household items.

Cred to scoochmaroo for inspiring me to create my own recipe.

Step 1 Ingredients

Ingredients;

Baking Soda
Talcum/Baby Powder
Rubbing Alcohol
Vicks/Menthol Paste

Materials; 

A small air tight jar

Comments

[happy cat]

question does it sorta smell pleasant? alsowouldnt it be hard to mix the vick together with the other ingredients

[tqwerty]

it smells quite good (in my opinion)
and it isn't too hard to mix the Vicks in.

[SeMi_AuToMaTic]

Couldn't you also mix this with your favorite cologne/purfume for the desired scent?

[tqwerty]

Absolutely, I just personally don't wear perfume or cologne

[SeMi_AuToMaTic]

True, but other people might, since most commercial deoderant is scented.

[tqwerty]

Yeah

[StickStoneBone]

The only problem I forsee with mixing cologne with a deodorant... have you ever smelled that one hopeless human who uses NO deodorant but TONS of cologne? It's bad, Sooooo bad. I believe the commercial deodorants are chemically balanced with their 'smelly good' whereas this method is strictly home made. Might work with some types...

[hanzie]

I wish to hell it was only one human.

We could all chip in and send him to an island paradise somewhere downwind.

[kaypgirl]

Well hopefully this prevents smell. So you wouldn't need to add scent, just spray it on yourself like normal. Though the menthol smell may add an odd combo.

[tqwerty]

You don't need to use the menthol but I find it works better for smell masking and for a sweat barrier because it keeps the baby powder in for longer and makes it a better consistency especially if you wanted to put it into an old deodorant container.

[bigmark]

why Vicks/Menthol Paste??? can you sub something else instead? outher then that great idea!!!

[GDParduhn3]

You could use straight Pure Glycerin . .

that should bind everything together that and a little heat. .

if you do heat up the mix in deep dry pot on the stove be aware (as someone mentioned to me they did not know) heating baking soda too high will change it into oxygen stain fighting powder. ( would kinda burn the pits..)

one other alternative. . crushed kosher salt . . or no iodine salt, , maybe dissolve into a super saturated solution , , then add your Zinc based or lavender scented powder mint oil? vanilla , favorite cologne or whatever.

the salt will deter bacteria growth as with natural salt stone deodorants.

theres is also a foaming hand wash that many dollar stores have its alcohol free and marketed as ALCOHOL FREE HAND SANITIZER by many brands the main ingredient is Benzalkonium Chloride .. a great alternative..


one more. . another powerful anti bacterial inhibitor / destroyer that goes very very far, is Chlorhexidine Gluconate

if you ve been to a hospital or clinic lately most use this in their soap, dentist pack in your root canals and later it converts to calcium, a few drops can go a long way.

i only mention in case some has some extreme allergies and need alternatives good luck to all. .

maybe eventually there could be a " ible " brand of sundries and household items.

[tqwerty]

It would probably be just fine without the vicks in it, it just might be a little bit more watery. Though it would lack the cool soothing sensation of the Vicks and maybe it might not work as well??( I'm not sure about the not working part.) you could probably make a smaller amount and see if it works for you.

[tqwerty]

or you could use petroleum jelly as kaypgirl said

[kaypgirl]

I don't think the Vicks does anything to make it work better, except for the consistency (at least it would still work w/o using it).
The baking soda and the rubbing alcohol kill the smell. I've only heard about just using rubbing alcohol, but I just mix a thin paste of water and a little baking soda (you should be able to do this in your hand) and apply. It works great for me, lasts at least 24 hrs, though I'm not a sweaty person.
The baby powder is for the sweat, obviously since that is what it does in diapers (and the obviously is for myself, I've never given much thought to what it does).
I've been meaning to get some cornstarch and see how that works with the same method to control wetness, maybe I'll just see if I can find some baby powder.
Vicks has a similar consistency to plain petroleum jelly (or is a smelly version?) so petroleum jelly would probably be an okay substitute. But if you want to use less chemicals it seems rather unnecessary.

[tqwerty]

I find that the Vicks works well to keep the baby powder and the rest of it all on for longer and of course as you said it makes it a better consistency for using. I also find that by using just plain old rubbing alcohol it doesn't last as long because it wears off after a while. Some petroleum jelly seems to be very watery these days so i don't know if it would be the best sub but the Vaseline ( not in the tube) is thick and that works just fine but id rather smell like Vicks than like a baby's butt although we might have already achieved that with the baby powder. Essential oils work well added into this formula, such as tea tree oil, seeing as that is already used in many deodorants because of its antibacterial properties and smelly goodness.

[Johanna1476]

you can use palm kernel or coconut oil for an oil, beeswax if it gets too runny.. then instead of talc you can also use either corn starch or kaolin clay (equal parts to the baking soda). Also for fragrance, and germ killing you can use essential oils.. Maybe lavender or tea tree.

[tqwerty]

Great Idea... too bad I don't have any of those things, but if you do then try it out and post back your results!

[Johanna1476]

I've done something similar. Minus the oil, so it's just a powder.. works great!

[ERCCRE123]

I'm not sure if you can use decimals, so I would revise it to 3 parts baking soda, 1 part talcum powder, 2 parts alcohol, and 2 parts vicks. The ratio is the exact same and not as confusing.

[tqwerty]

Yeah, i guess that makes more sense. I probably wasn't thinking straight that day

[AdamDummar]

Is this parts by weight or by volume (ounces vs tablespoons)

[ERCCRE123]

You can use any measurement you want. The important part is that you use 3 times the baking soda as talcum powder, and 2 times the amount of vicks and alcohol as talcum powder. You can slightly change the amounts if you want.

[AdamDummar]

Maybe I didn't explain the question very well. Say we're making a big batch. One pound of Talcum powder would then require two ponds of vicks. A pound of Talcum powder would be a huge amount. On the other hand, if we use one cup of talcum powder to two cups of vicks, the weight of the talcum would be only a fraction of the weight of the vicks, even though the unit of measure would still be half. I guess the real question is: did you weigh the ingredients or just use "one scoop of this to two scoops of that"?

[tqwerty]

well actually, (I have a better explanation). Say I have a jar... we would fill 1.5/4 of the jar with baking soda, 0.5/4 with talcum powder, 1/4 with alcohol, and 1/4 with Vicks. (I would actually say to add a little bit more alcohol than Vicks though) Also remember that these are approximate ratios, you can experiment with it and add a little more of this or a little less of that.

[AdamDummar]

That is much clearer. Thank you.

[ERCCRE123]

oh I get it now, I read "ounces vs. tablespoons" as fluid ounces vs. tablespoons. It's by volume.

[tqwerty]

one scoop of this to two scoops of that

[tqwerty]

well it depends on how much you are making

[mainecoonmaniac]

I found this crystal deodorant while I was in the Philippines. It's a mineral stick that will last over a year and it cost $10. It doesn't have a scent but it works by killing bacteria under your arms. I haven't seen it in stores here in the US, but here's a link to the product. http://www.deonat.com/

[skaterqwertyuiop]

Yeah, I bought it in a spray form. It's like mineral salts and water, it works pretty well, even though i sweat a lot (Darn you puberty!!!)

[mainecoonmaniac]

Hey enjoy your raging hormones! When you get older, you wish you had them.

[arcrad]

Nice and simple, great instructable.

[tqwerty]

Thanks

[ninapratt]

Dab your pits with plain white vinegar--that works, too, and you don't have to mess about. But, then, I'm hopelessly lazy. And admittedly smell like a salad.

[tqwerty]

Alcohol works well just rubbed on but it only seems to last for about 1 hour or so

[tim_n]

fab stuff - love the reversed photos to hide the branding...

[tqwerty]

Actually, I didn't do it on purpose.. BUT, it seems to have worked out anyways. The reason is because I took the pictures with my MacBook using photo booth (my camera cord is broken) and it turns out that it reverses the photos by itself. Oh well

[kill1234]

I still can read it...

[eddy14777]

i never noticed that i tried to read it and i thought it was too blurry