Naturalla Beauty

My natural deodorant journey is a little different from most people's.  Aside from a single peach scented Secret exception in my teens (which I don't think I used more than a handful of times), I've used natural deodorant my entire life.  Today, choices are more than plentiful, so I’d never claim to have tried them all, but in 15+ years, you better believe that I’ve tried a fair few! It's been a few years since I've shared my favourites and, while I still stand by those picks, I'm long overdue for an update.  Some of the ones on that list are no longer available, and others I’ve moved away from in favour of formulas that better suit my preferences today.

These are my very top picks and happily, I think there are options to suit just about everyone: scented and unscented, baking soda and baking soda-free, and vegan and non-vegan.  Four of the six are from Canadian brands too, which always makes me happy.

I don't think I'm an overly smelly person, but I can build up some funk and I'm generally not willing to reapply my deodorant throughout the day either, so I need something that's both effective and long-lasting. All six of these have passed my 24-hour life wear test. 

Keep reading for all the details...

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*Press sample

*Press sample

Savon Du Bois is a Canadian company best known for their handmade goat's milk soaps.  They also make massage oils, bug spray, body powders, and various other body care products.  I'd been chatting with them on twitter for a couple months when they asked if I would be interested in reviewing their Completely Natural Deodorant.  Having never used a spray deodorant before, I was eager to give it a try!

The deodorant comes in a lovely blue glass spray bottle and is available in three scents.  I chose the scent-free one, but there are also fresh floral (rose-geranium, sweet orange, lavender and clary sage) and heavenly herbal (sage, lavender, lemon and clary sage) scents to choose from.

The scent-free one contains no essential oils or fragrance.  It smells like alcohol when you first spray it, but the smell dissipates very quickly.  As you might expect, the deodorant goes on pretty wet, so I recommend waiting a minute or two after you apply it, before getting dressed.  Another thing to keep in mind is that there's nothing absorptive in the deodorant, so if you sweat, you may feel wet.  

On me, I don't find the deodorant keeps smells at bay for more than a few hours, so I need to reapply several times throughout the day.  I'm fine with that for days when I'm at home, but it isn't the most practical when I'm working or out running around all day.  That said, I do think the efficacy of natural deodorants has a lot to do with how products interact with your individual body chemistry, so just because this doesn't last all day on me, doesn't mean it won't work better on someone else.  

Going by this experience and my numerous other deodorant experiments over the last couple years, I think I can say with some confidence that deodorants with baking soda work best for me.  But, I know many people react to baking soda in deodorants, so if that's you, Savon Du Bois' deodorant may end up being a good fit!  It's gentle on your skin, and even though it contains alcohol, I didn't get any dryness or irritation from using it.  

Cost-wise, it's also pretty affordable.  The 80ml bottle (pictured above) sells for $13 and it does last quite a while.  There are also 400ml refills available for $39. 

Ingredients:  Ethyl alcohol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Distillate, Glycerin, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil.

Disclosure: Product provided for my honest review.  I was under no obligation to write a positive review in return for free product, nor was I compensated for this post.  All opinions are my own.

  

I've been wanting to start concocting more things myself, so when my regular, purchased deodorant stopped working so well, I decided it was the perfect time to try my hand at making my own. 

I found a ton of different recipes, but I didn't really follow any of them, opting instead for just adding ingredients to a bowl until my mixture reached a decent consistency, then crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.  Surprisingly, it turned out pretty great!  (What didn't turn out so well are the photos of this adventure, so I hope you'll forgive that this post is a little lacking in that department.)

 

Here's the recipe I came up with:

2  1/4 tsp baking soda

3  1/2 tsp arrowroot powder, corn starch, kaolin clay, or other baking soda buffer

1 tbsp coconut oil

10 drops lime essential oil

4 drops orange essential oil

4 drops eucalyptus essential oil

4 drops spearmint essential oil

What's nice about this recipe is that it doesn't require any heat, so it's super quick to whip up.  I just stirred together the dry ingredients, then mixed in the coconut oil and essential oils until everything was well combined. When I first made it, in the winter, it was fine at room temperature, but since it's gotten warmer, the coconut oil stays liquid and I find it too messy to use that way.  Instead, I've been storing it in a small jar in the fridge, then just scooping out about a pea-sized amount to apply.  As long as you're planning to store it in the fridge, you could also put it in a deodorant tube, since it's stay solid enough to apply that way too.  Alternately, you could try adding in a little beeswax, which will help it stay more solid at room temperature.

One last thing that's worth mentioning is to always make sure you're using high quality essential oils.  I use Young Living, since a lot of the essential oils you find on shelves are diluted with other junk or extracted using chemicals.  

I'm not the smelliest person to begin with, but this has been keeping me totally stink-free throughout this hot, humid summer.  What's more, I'll even catch whiffs of the deodorant during the day, which is kind of nice, since I do like how it ended up smelling.  It's super simple to make and ends up being cheaper than a lot of natural, store bought deodorants.  Also, you can control exactly what goes into it and you play around with the recipe until it's exactly to your liking! 

 

Have you ever tried your hand at making your own deodorant?  If so, how did it go?