Forgot Password?
Home arrow GreeniacsGuides arrow Home arrow Natural Deodorants
Written by Joanna Hoang   
Share |
Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Natural Deodorants

Have you heard that antiperspirant deodorant is bad for you? This is certainly news to me! The bad components in antiperspirants are the aluminum compounds. There have been links to Alzheimer’s Disease and cancer from these aluminum compounds, which get into your body through the pores in your armpits.1 So what should we do about it? The best thing to do is to stop using all types of deodorants but in today’s society that is unacceptable. Some alternatives are to use lemon juice, baking soda, make your own natural deodorant, or buy natural deodorant that is aluminum-free. By using natural or homemade deodorants you are keeping your own body healthy and our planet healthy too! Here is a guide to making your own natural deodorant bar based on a ‘Girl on bikes’ recipe!2

BENEFITS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT: Less synthetic chemicals being produced in our system and deodorant packaging!

BENEFITS FOR YOUR HEALTH: Less aluminum going into your body, reducing your risks of developing diseases down the road.

COST: Low

TIME AND EFFORT: Minimal

Deodorant Bar Recipe:3

Ingredients:
  • - 1/4 cup baking soda
  • - 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • - 10 drops or 1/2 tsp tea tree oil
  • - 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • - Optional: ¼ tsp of your favorite scented oil added in
Making Deodorant 4
Instructions:
  1. Mix together in a bowl the baking soda, cornstarch, tea tree oil, and any optional scented oil you choose.
  2. Once your mixture has an even consistency, add in the coconut oil.
  3. Try adding food coloring to the mix for a fun color!
  4. Shape your mixture into a disk shape or any shape you like. Then either place your deodorant bar into the oven at 145 degrees for 15 minutes or you can microwave it for 2 minutes. Alternatively, you can use an empty deodorant container to put your mixture into and then heat that in the microwave.
  5. Once the bar cools it should be firm and ready to use!
Deodorant Bar 5


Here are some additional ways to make deodorant!

Deodorant Powder:6

Ingredients:
  • - 1/2 cup baking soda
  • - 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • - Optional: a few drops of your favorite scented oil, such as lavender or cinnamon.
Instructions:
  1. Place the ingredients in a glass jar and shake it to mix the ingredients.
  2. Sprinkle a light covering of the powder on a damp washcloth. Then pat the washcloth onto your underarm area.
Liquid Deodorant:7

Ingredients:
  • - 1/4 cup each of: witch hazel extract; aloe vera gel; and mineral water
  • - 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
  • - Optional: a few drops of antibacterial tea tree oil or scented oil of your choosing such as lavender or cinnamon
Instructions: Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle, then shake the bottle well and spray onto your underarm area.

Alternatively, you can buy natural deodorant at a store instead of making it yourself.
Here are some recommended brands to try:
  1. Tom’s of Maine8
  2. Herbal Clear9
  3. Burt’s Bees Herbal Deodorant10
Browse all Greeniacs Guides Browse all Greeniacs Guides        Browse all Greeniacs Articles
_______________________________________________________________________________

1 http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/aluminum-and-breast-cancer/
2 http://girlonbikewrites.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-deodorant.html
3 Id.
4 Id.
5 Id.
6 http://www.care2.com/greenliving/deodorant-or-antiperspirants.html
7 Id.
8 http://www.tomsofmaine.com/products
9 http://www.herbalclearnaturally.com/home.asp
10 http://www.burtsbees.com/natural-products/outdoor-protection/herbal-deodorant.html




Add your comment
RSS comments

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Click here to Register.  Click here to login.

Last Updated ( Monday, 25 April 2011 )

SEARCH GREENIACS.COM

Green Facts

  • Recycling 100 million cell phones can save enough energy to power 18,500 homes in the U.S. for a year.

  • Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every 3 months

  • Americans throw away more than 120 million cell phones each year, which contribute 60,000 tons of waste to landfills annually.

  • Recycling for one year at Stanford University saved the equivalent of 33,913 trees and the need for 636 tons of iron ore, coal, and limestone.

  • Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy used to make the material from scratch.

  • A steel mill using recycled scrap reduces related water pollution, air pollution, and mining wastes by about 70%.

  • Less than 1% of electricity in the United States is generated from solar power.

  • In the United States, automobiles produce over 20 percent of total carbon emissions. Walk or bike and you'll save one pound of carbon for every mile you travel.

  • Turning off the tap when brushing your teeth can save as much as 10 gallons a day per person.

  • A laptop consumes five times less electricity than a desktop computer.

  • An aluminum can that is thrown away instead of recycled will still be a can 500 years from now!

  • Every week about 20 species of plants and animals become extinct.

  • Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.

  • You will save 300 pounds of carbon dioxide for every 10,000 miles you drive if you always keep your car’s tires fully inflated.

  • Washing your clothes in cold or warm instead of hot water saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, and drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds.

  • Recycling 1 million laptop computers can save the amount of energy used by 3,657 homes in the U.S. over the course of a year.

  • A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.

  • American workers spend an average of 47 hours per year commuting through rush hour traffic. This adds up to 23 billion gallons of gas wasted in traffic each year.

  • Refrigerators built in 1975 used 4 times more energy than current models.

  • States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.

  • Americans use 100 million tin and steel cans every day.

  • Current sea ice levels are at least 47% lower than they were in 1979.

  • 82 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from burning fossil fuels.

  • One recycled aluminum can will save enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours.

  • If every U.S. household turned the thermostat down by 10 degrees for seven hours each night during the cold months, and seven hours each weekday, it would prevent nearly gas emissions.

  • Glass can be recycled over and over again without ever wearing down.

  • In California homes, about 10% of energy usage is related to TVs, DVRs, cable and satellite boxes, and DVD players.

  • A tree that provides a home with shade from the sun can reduce the energy required to run the air conditioner and save an additional 200 to 2,000 pounds of carbon over its lifetime.

  • For every 38,000 bills consumers pay online instead of by mail, 5,058 pounds of greenhouse gases are avoided and two tons of trees are preserved.

  • You’ll save two pounds of carbon for every 20 glass bottles that you recycle.

  • Nudge your thermostat up two degrees in the summer and down two degrees in the winter to prevent 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

  • 77% of people who commute to work by car drive alone.

  • The World Health Organization estimates that 2 million people die prematurely worldwide every year due to air pollution.

  • You will save 100 pounds of carbon for each incandescent bulb that you replace with a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL), over the life of the bulb.

  • Shaving 10 miles off of your weekly driving pattern can eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year.

  • Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year.

  • It takes 6,000,000 trees to make 1 year's worth of tissues for the world.

  • Due to tiger poaching, habitat destruction, and other human-tiger conflicts, tigers now number around 3,200—a decrease in population by about 70% from 100 years ago.

  • Bamboo absorbs 35% more carbon dioxide than equivalent stands of trees.