You make your own WHAT?

A few years ago I set out determined to find a deodorant that was more natural and without all of those alarming chemicals you see article after article about. Ok, first up, dump the kind I was using. Yeah, cancer in a roll up tube. Look through all the shelves at the local store to find 2 brands of "natural deodorant" on the bottom shelf all the way at the end. I bought the cheapest one. 

The next morning I hop out of the shower and happily apply my new- good for me- natural deodorant. Smells ok. Go throughout my morning cleaning the house, carrying around children and all of that other housewife stuff. A couple hours later I did the sniff test. Wow! Could've knocked me over! Go back to bathroom to freshen up and reapply new deodorant. Couple hours later- yuck-o! Hmm... maybe I'm doing something wrong. Read label. Says it may take a few days to start working effectively. Ok. I can deal with stick for a few days. I guess. Well, a week later it is not any better and I'm quickly losing friends. Throw new deodorant away and buy the other natural one. Same thing again. Sigh. Of course this can't be easy. 

Ok, should I just go back to my cancer deo? What do they expect me to do if the only alternative is to stink? I can do that without any deo at all :)

Around the same time that this experiment was going on I saw a coop for Relax Naturals http://hyenacart.com/stores/relax/ (changing owners, so hang tight if there's nothing instock) and heard rave after rave about the deodorant. Hmm... it's expensive and wiping it on my pits with my fingers is kinda gross, but I'll give it a go. Got my first tub and smeared it on. So far, so good. A few hours later I do a quick sniff test and it's still going strong. All day long I would test if it was still working and to my amazement it was! Yay! My solution!

Well, after a few months my underarms started to itch. Kinda weird, but that's me anyway. I tried itchy creams, changing soaps, etc and unfortunately nothing helped :( After a bit of research I began to assume that I was having a reaction to the baking soda in the deodorant. It doesn't happen to most people, but I'm one of the lucky few. awesome. Back to square one.

As I researched about other natural deo's out there I realized that most of them use baking soda in their recipes. It works and that's why they use it. That wasn't going to work for me though. I set out to find a deodorant recipe that it could make for myself that didn't have baking soda, but still worked. After many attempts and several recipes I think I've finally got it. Yay! I'm on my second month using this recipe and still have fresh pits and no itch. Success! So, without further ado here it is.

2 TB coconut oil (found in most grocery stores by the cooking oils)

1 TB cornstarch (try to get GMO free) *note: you can use aluminum free baking soda instead. Same amount.

3 TB arrowroot powder (found in the baking aisle)

2 drops of tea tree EO

2 drops of peppermint EO

1 drop of rosemary EO

1 small tub to put it in (I found mine in the travel section of Meijer)

In a double boiler melt coconut oil. You can use the microwave too,but I prefer the db.

Take off heat and mix in cornstarch, arrowroot powder and EO's.

Mix it all together.

Spoon it into the tub.

Let it cool. It will become hard as it does. After it's cool scrape off dime sized amount with your finger and smear on clean, shaved armpit.. Voila! You will notice that you still sweat. There's no antiperspirant as there shouldn't be for health reasons. God made your body to sweat to cool you off and rid the toxins. Your body will adapt to this though as you continue use. Not to the point of not sweating, but to the point of not embarrassing you. Other essential oils can be used too. Try to get ones that fight odor and bacteria.

This tub lasts me around a month and only took 5-10 mins to make. 5 if it's nap time, 10 if I'm asked to get water for one child, hold another child so that they can watch me stir, all while helping third child spell valentines for the 80th time. Fast, easy and after the initial investment super cheap!

~Enjoy your chemical free, lovely smelling armpits!

Lotion bars

I'm taking a break for the trip and posting a quick post about lotion bars. It's extremely cold here on the 'homestead' so our heat has been running non-stop. It's great to be warm, but my skin starts to crack when the warmth makes the air so dry. Enter lotion bars :)

I used to slather every kind of body butter on my hands several times a day. It would work for a while and then they would be dry again. More body butter. More drying. It was a never ending until spring cycle. Then I was given a lotion bar as a gift. Where has this been my whole life? Seriously! Where? How did I miss this? Well, being the cheap, er, I mean, resourceful person I am I looked them up on Pinterest and found a boat load of recipes for making them myself. Yay! A new recipe to try out! I'll share mine with you, but please know that this was taken from the 10+ recipes I read through. Not one in particular, but I'm not the inventor of the lotion bar ;)

Ingredients:

*Coconut Oil (I buy organic, but you can use whatever floats you boat. It's easily found in the cooking oil of my grocery store or Amazon.)

*Bees Wax (Try to buy local. It can also be found at Michael but the quality isn't good or Amazon, but local is best.)

*Almond oil (Found in my specialty grocery store. I'm sure Whole foods has it too.)

*Shea Butter (I found this at my sisters Whole Foods. If you can't find it just add more Almond Oil.)

*Essential Oil (You can use wherever scent you like. These can be found at Whole Foods, some grocery stores and Amazon.) This isn't necessary, but it's nice to give it a smell. Plus, they're very beneficial :)

Things needed:

*Double boiler

*Spatula

*Muffin Tin

*Muffin Tin Cups

Now for the recipe!

Add water to the bottom pan of the double boiler. Turn it on Medium heat.

Put muffin tin cups in the muffin tins. This will make approximately 5 lotion bars.

Put 1/4 cup beeswax in the top pan. The Beeswax will start to melt. Add 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/8 cup almond oil and 1/8 cup Shea butter to the pan. All of them will turn to a liquid. Stir gently with your spatula. Remove from heat and add in 5 drops of essential oil. If you're combining more than one scent just try to keep the drops to 5. More will make it more potent and less will obviously make it less potent. Skip this step if you don't want a scent.

Working quickly pour liquid into muffin cups filling them half full.  Let them sit for a few hours so that they can become solid. Pop one out the the cup and rub onto your warm skin. After the shower is best. Vola! Lotion bars!

Notes: More beeswax makes it more solid, less makes it softer. If you aren't quick enough when filling your muffin cups (children are yelling about someone hanging from something, baby's on your hip because she woke up after a 15 minute nap, you hear your dog making puking noises, etc.) just reheat it to a liquid and then pour.

Now, if I missed something or need more instructions please leave me a comment. My sweet daughter was 'helping' me write this :)