Making deodorant is not only cheap & surprisingly easy, natural ingredients can be used that will cut back on harsh chemicals coming in contact with your skin.
To store the cream versions, small glass or plastic jars work well. If solid/stick versions are preferred, find them online (even eBay) by searching for “empty deodorant tubes” (or containers). Containers can also be salvaged from purchased products by cleaning them out really well.
Here are a couple different recipes to get started with.
I have also listed several more homemade options that I’ve handpicked from around the net (both creams and sticks) that include items such as cocoa and shea butter, bentonite clay, a variety of essential oils (lavender, lime, etc.) and more.
Powder Version:
1 part baking soda
1 part cornstarch
tea tree
Directions:
- Combine well.
- Put into a shake box with a puff.
- Apply daily or as needed.
Updated notes: The general tea tree/ratio is about 10 drops per 1 cup of total mix. Adjust to preference, there are no hard and fast rules here.
If skin is very sensitive and commercial products are irritating, give this a try. Tea tree is antifungal, a disinfectant, powerful antiseptic, this fights odor unbelievably well.
Petroleum Jelly:
This one’s easy!
- Combine equal parts of baking soda, petroleum jelly and talcum powder. Melt over low heat until it’s completely smooth and well mixed. Stir constantly while heating.
- Pour into a jar and seal. Cool at room temperature then use as needed.
- For the first batch try 2 or 3 TBS per ingredient to start with. If you like it, increase the amounts for a larger batch.
Coconut Lime: Coconut oil, bicarb, arrowroot powder and lime EO.
Lavender: Will last about 2 to 3 months depending on usage. Has a solid gel-like consistency and can be stored in a jar or twist-up container.
Stick: Grated or beeswax beads, coconut oil, shea, clay (bentonite or other), EO blend (of choice).
With Celtic Sea Salt: The salt is full of minerals that help kill bacteria, bentonite clay helps with the consistency and absorbs toxins.
my husband and i now both use this deodorant–so cheap and easy and no waste! i recommend sifting the ingredients with a flour sifter two to three times to mix well.
Hi! Just found this today. I like this idea! But I’m a bit confused. What would you call a “part,” approximately? A cup of each? Because I would think that you’d need a different number of tee tree drops if a part was 1 TBL vs. a cup.
Thanks!
A “part” is like if you were cooking rice: it would be 2 to 1. Or 2 cups water to 1 cup rice. Or 4 cups water to 2 cups rice, 6 cups water to 3 cups rice, etc.
Thanks, Susan! I always wondered about that, too. 🙂
A part is whatever you decide you want it to be. You would then add the tea tree oil depending on your preference.
Hi Sheri, you’re right! :slaps forehead:, it is about a cup-ish per part for the baking soda/cornstarch. I’ll fix the recipe, thanks for pointing that out :).
Hello
I was just wondering how you would put the deodorant on? with a cloth and just dab the powder on or would it be sprayed?
Thank you,
Hi Isobel, you would pat some on with a powder puff or shake the powder onto the skin.
love the site – makes for a better read than any beauty mag. maybe for convenient application a puffy makeup brush can be used, and a tall/ish container depending on length of the brush.
Hello again
I am just asking what would you put the substance in when it is compleated?
I keep my homemade dusting powder in a ceramic decorative lidded container and use a powder puff that I found in a dollar store that had glitter powder with it. Dumped the glitter powder and used the powder puff. Compact powder puffs just don’t work as well. Powder puffs for dusting powder are hard to find anymore. At one time, perfumed dusting power in a container was quite common and came with a huge puff: like over 20 yrs ago. 🙂 Oops! showing my age!
You can put it in any type of jar or container. If you want to shake it on, choose a jar with large holes in the shaker lid, otherwise a container that has a wide enough opening to pat a puff in or cloth. Keep it covered when not in use.
Hey
2 things 1st: Can you use anything different from baking soda? and 2nd: If you use this deodorant as underarm deodorant wouldn’t you have white spoches on your clothes?
Thank you,
Hi Isobel, yeah there could be some white residue from the baking soda. I haven’t tried it with anything else, what were you thinking of using?
I have been on a mega DIY kick lately and I made this deodorant last week and my husband and I LOVE it!!!!! I used to always complain to him that I didn’t think my deodorant lasted all day and that I felt stinky around 6 or 7 at night. NOT with this deodorant! I feel fresh all day long and smell fresh too. I added orange essential oils to mine instead of tea tree oil and it works just as well. Thanks so much for this recipe!
The recipe for homemade deodorant using the tea tree oil is EXCELLENT!! Thank you so much for this healthy tip.
hi, i’d just like to know how long does this deodorant last during the day? because i’ve tried Secret, Sure, Degree and none of them seem to give me that long lasting freshness the commercials advertise. When i leave the gym after a 2-3 hrs workout i smell of sweaty deodorant fragrance which makes me self concious and nervous.Nervousness by the way makes me sweat more. I’d like to go out with my bf n not have to worry about smelling sweaty around him.
Shaving helps a lot. I don’t have to worry about odor when I use my home made dusting powder and deodorant, even in the summertime and I live in the American Southwest. I’ve read somewhere that underarm hair harbors bacteria from the sweat and hairy armpit hair are “rain-forests of bacteria”. Good description.
I use the antibacterial hand cleaners. They sell good size bottles at my local (non-franchise) discount dollar store, in the pump bottles. Sometimes they have name brands, sometimes lesser known brands. I just pump out about a quarter size glob and smear it around under each arm pit. Works better than any deodorant I’ve ever tried. At times I have to re apply in the late afternoon, but I plan to make this recipe, and use it AFTER I use the antibacterial handcleaner! It’ll be a double whammy! I love tea tree oil and have used it for many years for many things!
This works great and so easy to make and keep.
Thank you
This is the best deodorant, I used lavender EO. Thanks so much.
Does the tea tree oil cause stains on clothing?
I have to use the clinical strength versions of deodorant, so would this still be strong enough to use?
My boyfriend buys clinical strength expensive deodorant and he would STILL sweat and get pit stains very easily. I mixed up a jar of half cornstarch and half baking soda for him to try and for about 2 weeks now he has been using just that and NO sweat stains!! So I would definitely give it a try!
I have a question about the stick deodorant recipe at the bottom…. I am allergic to coconut… Is there anything I can use in place of the coconut oil so that I can have a stick instead of powder?
Stephanie, you might try using a combo of another oil and beeswax. Like in diy lip creme. Just a thought. In my experience, coconut oil doesn’t actually stay solid for long (but then again, I live in Hawaii).
These deotorants sound WONDERFUL!!!!!!! Can’t wait to gather ingredients & give this a try!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!! 🙂
Thank you i must try these homemade deodorant.
I make it with coconut oil, cornstarch, baking soda, thieves oil. Excellent. even if you skip a day of use, still no odor!
I’ve had my family using dollar store foot or body powder(to avoid alumminum)but they contain talc,so I added corn starch to it and we just poured from the bottle to our hands.The corn starch bs along with tea tree or other EO sounds perfect and super cheap!I’ve spent countless time searching for non antipersperant(aluminum free) deoderant for my fussy daughter and it is either “natural”and 5 or 6 dollars or salt.Men’s deoderant is widely aluminum free while women’s is not yet women should definitely not be using aluminum deoderant due to it entering the lymph nodes close to breast tissue so these homemade ones are such a great altrnative,not to mention cost saver!
For the petroleum jelly recipe, this is toxic bc petroleum jelly is made from petroleum or petrol. Not removing toxic chemicals by using it.
its not petrol until octane is added, kind of like a lead pencil is not made of lead, but graphite. It is a base type oil. you can make fuel from french fry grease also, but besides maybe weight gain, you are safe.
I have made this deordorant many times and add my favorite fragrance to it such as old spice, etc. This formula eliminates any odor what so ever and keeps me dry. This is the best deordrant I’ve tried commercially or otherwise!!!
For the Petroleum Jelly recipe: what should I store it in? will it be solid enough to store in an old deo tube?
it turns to a solid just like store bought. I usually put it back in the petroleum jelly container, and anything else I can find for the remaining.
I made the petroleum jelly recipe. workd really well, I purchased the baby powder scented petroleum jelly, $1.00, baking soda $0.79, and generic baby powder $1.00. It makes so much, I used about 1 tablespoon of babypowder to it. It really keeps me smelling fresh all day.
If you have sensitive skin I would caution the use of baking soda in deoderant…..it blistered the skin and made my arm pits raw for weeks! I adapted the recipe to substitute baby powder for the baking soda with much more comfortable results!
hi I just wanted to say Vaseline or petroleum jelly is made from crude oil byproducts and if you’re trying to stay away from chemicals then choose one of the other recipes.