I have to say when it comes to deodorant I am NOT adventurous at all. I’ve been using Sure stick since I started using deodorant in my teens (right after I worked out that Impulse sucked). I’ll be completely honest, as long as I didn’t stink, I was happy. But there was a little niggling voice at the back of my head who kept remining me that deodorants are full of nasties, like aluminium, which is good for wrapping your turkey, not so good to rub on your skin.

I read the recipe and realised that I had all the ingredients to hand – but I didn’t fancy smearing it on out of a pot.  I kept reading and realised that there was a ‘Quick Stick‘ version which sounded more appealing – especially since I had an almost finished stick deodorant ready to fill.

So I tried it – and guess what, it works! I waited until today to write the post because I wanted to test it out properly, on a night out and at the gym. Result – no smell! Seriously, I had a good old sniff and it was absolutely fine, no bad smell at all, just a faint tea tree lemon smell.

I tweaked the recipe as I didn’t have coconut oil to hand.  Cornflour is a natural moisture absorber, baking soda is a natural deodoriser (try it on mattresses wheich have been puked on…a lifesaver!) and tea tree lemon which stops any nasty niffs occurring.

Home-made Deodorant Recipe

Ingredients

• Chunk of cocoa butter (15g approx)
• Chunk of shea butter (15g approx)
• Bicarbonate of soda  (40g approx)
• Cornflour (40g approx)
• Essential Oil (I used Cheeky Wipes Tea Tree & Tea Tree Lemon Mucky Wipes Oil)

All my measurements are approximate because I didn’t weigh the cocoa or shea butter, I just used similarly sized chunks of butters and added the cornflour and bicarb in alternating spoonfuls until the consistency was right.

Method

• Melt your butters in the microwave in a glass bowl or similar
• Add a tablespoon each of bicarb of soda / cornflour at a time until your mixture is a stiff paste
• Add essential oil.  I used about 15 drops for my mixture and that seems fine.
• Pour into empty deodorant stick & leave to harden

 Use with a light hand – you don’t need loads.  And if you rub your arms into your side once after applying that seems to spread it nicely without needing to smear it with your fingers.

At the moment it’s winter so I’m not sweating much anyway (aside from the gym of course).  So we’ll see how it does in Summer – because of course it’s not an anti-perspirant, it’s just a deodorant.    But for the moment I’m really pleased.  Let me know what you think…

I’d also like to cut back on the amount of shower gel I use, from a packaging viewpoint. I’d heard that Goats Milk soap was good for Eczema, and thought I’d give it a go. I didn’t know at the time that it took 4 weeks for soap to ‘cure’ before use, so I waited until I’d actually tried and tested it before sharing.

If you haven’t made soap before, take a look online to see what equipment you need. Most of it you’ll already have in the house, as you need saucepans, glass jugs, a plastic stirring spoon and a mould for the soap (I use plastic take-away trays or a Mucky Wipes Container ). Things you’ll probably need to buy are a glass thermometer and plastic safety glasses. There’s only 5 ingredients in this soap:

• 255g coconut oil
• 595g olive oil
• 255g goats milk
• 116g lye (caustic soda)
• cheeky wipes fresh wipes oil (lavender & chamomile)

1. Freeze the (weighed) goats milk in ice cube trays
2. Melt together (in the largest saucepan you’ve got!) the coconut and olive oil, let it cool slightly until it reaches  between 80f and 130f
3. Put the frozen milk into a smaller saucepan and add the lye. ALWAYS ADD THE LYE TO THE FROZEN MILK AND NOT THE OTHER WAY ROUND! Stir well, until dissolved (if you’re unsure, do this for 4 or 5 minutes)
4. Add the milk and lye solution to the oil and blitz with a stick blender (very carefully!) until the mixture ‘traces’ i.e. when you dribble a line of the soap solution across the top of the mix, you can see the line. Add the essential oil
5. Pour into greased containers, cover and leave for 24 hours, then cut into bars. Store in an airy place to cure for 4 weeks before use

I’ve been using this soap for 2 – 3 weeks now and it’s great on my sensitive skin, rich and mild and smells great too.  The slight downside is that it’s a little on the soft side so doesn’t last that long.  I’ve already made a different recipe though and will share it with you once I’ve had a chance to test it.

Happy soap-making!