December 10th 2018

I’ve been looking at a few different recipes online, and have also looked at the ingredient list of one of my favourite natural deodorant pastes.

This first batch that I have made I have used the following ingredients:

1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/4 cup bicarb soda
2 teaspoons of yellow bees wax beads
10 drops of rose geranium essential oil
8 drops of lavender essential oil and
5 drops of rosewood essential oil

I melted the beeswax in a glass container over a pot of water, and brought the water to a simmer as I stirred the wax.

Once that was melted I added the 1/2 cup of coconut oil, and continued stirring until that was fully dissolved and clear in colour.

Once complete I took the glass jar off the heat and sat it on my bench. I sifted the arrowroot powder in and continued to stir to prevent lumps - although the residual heat seemed to help with that too.

Once combined I added in the bicarb by also sifting it in while stirring.

Lastly, I added the drops of all three oils I had chosen and then poured the final mixture into some old tins that I had lying around. The amount of mixture that I made was enough to fill three tins and half a small glass cup - I had run out of tins.

Verdict:

Consistency wise, I think it needs more beeswax and maybe less coconut oil. I will try the next batch with just more wax - perhaps double the amount, and see how that goes first.

Smell wise, definitely more essential oils are needed. I chose three, but it could probably do with a few more - the smell of the coconut oil is very apparent, and I am not a HUGE fan of that smell on the skin. It’s not the same as the ‘fake’ coconut smell that we all love, it can smell a little funny on certain skin types.

Anti- smell and freshness throughout the day… wise… December 11th 2018 have had my first day using it. I had a shower in the morning and applied it to clean fresh skin with my finger tips - noticed that it was a bit grainy. So I don’t know if I should have mixed it over the heat for a bit to help dissolve the bicarb a bit better? Can try that in the next batch. Jez gave my pits a smell test at the end of the day, and he said that they smelt fresh - I didn’t notice any bad odour either, but sometimes we can get used to our own smells. Seems to be working!

Will keep you all posted on any changes, if I have any skin irritations or if it doesn’t seem to keep up with my sweating and if I start to ‘stink’ bad at any point.

Other than consistency, which I will work on in the next batch, I may have made a winner!

Love AJ xo