Jean Marie Bauhaus

Image credit: cheaplikemeblog.com

In my recent post on Frugal & Sustainable Beauty and Hygiene, I mentioned that I was on the lookout for a good alternative to store-bought deodorant. Shortly after that post went up, my new best friend Pinterest showed me a recipe for DIY deodorant made from coconut oil, arrow root and baking soda.  Sounds great! Except, arrow root is enough of a specialty item around here that I’d have to make a special trip to the health food store to get it, and it would also mean spending extra money on something that I wasn’t sure I’d use for anything else. So I kept digging, and found a similar deodorant recipe that calls for corn starch instead of arrow root. Bingo! Corn starch has plenty of other uses, and we already have some on hand. We didn’t already have coconut oil on hand, but it has enough cooking uses and health benefits that I felt good about picking up a jar on my last trip to Walmart.

And if you don’t have or want to use coconut oil, apparently the corn starch and baking soda are all you really need.

I haven’t yet had time to whip up a batch, so I haven’t had a chance to road test it. But a few days ago when I had run out of deodorant and didn’t yet know when I’d make it to the store again, I Googled other alternatives, and found this article that swears by simply spritzing your pits with rubbing alcohol. I didn’t have any alcohol, but I had some witch hazel, which contains alcohol, and instead of spraying it I swabbed it on with a cotton ball. But it worked — I remained non-stinky for a full twenty-four hours.

I hope to make a batch of the coconut oil and corn starch version in the next day or two. It takes a few days for the stuff to set up, so hopefully next week I’ll be able to report on how well it works. Meanwhile, do you have any natural or frugal tips for beating BO, preferably that would be possible to sustain in a survival situation? If so, please do share in the comments.