OK, so I’ve linked to this recipe for probiotic deodorant elsewhere on my blog, but I thought I’d post about it since I have found a few things make it easier for me to make. I seriously tried every single “natural” deodorant at the health food store and NOT ONE worked! What is the point of going green if you are stinky? Well, this works really, really well. Sometimes I don’t shower in the morning if I am going to the gym, which means that I might go 36 hours without a shower and then get really sweaty – and really, truly, I don’t stink with this stuff! Underarm stink is the result of pathogenic bacteria, which is why some deodorant has triclosan in it – YUK! A better method is to use probiotics!

I want to acknowledge that this recipe came from Andrea at Frugally Sustainable and she had an etsy store where she sold it already made. I first ordered one from her to see if I liked it before I purchased all the ingredients. Well, it worked amazing!!! And then I used her recipe to start making it for myself. Unfortunately, it looks like her blog and etsy shop are closed, so I will repost the recipe here. Actually, I will try to remember the steps – I never wrote them down!

Andrea posted the recipe in tablespoons instead of grams, which just didn’t work for me since the oils are hard at room temperature. So, I converted them for you! Now, I just get my glass jar that I save for this purpose (or any cosmetic or lotion recipe) and put it on my kitchen scale and zero it out. Then I add the hard oils one by one, zeroing the scale after each one. Then I put the jar in a shallow water bath to melt. Then, when I scrape out the mixture into the deodorant container, I just put the jar in the cupboard until next time (I don’t bother with washing out all of the oils, ‘cuz beeswax ain’t no joke).

And, bonus, you can use this concoction as a probiotic lotion. There is so much that modern medicine is learning about the beneficial bacteria in and on our bodies. The bottom line is that we don’t want to use “sanitizers” or antibiotics because they kill the good bacteria with the bad (except that they don’t kill ALL of the bad – the worst ones stick around and then have an empty host which they can inhabit very easily). The best thing is to keep the bad bacteria at bay with GOOD bacteria. So, try this deodorant and then tell me how it works out for you.

Lastly, I bought most of my ingredients from Mountain Rose Herbs (I get no perks from them or anyone else for mentioning this). I also buy almost all of my spices there too – they are awesome.

Probiotic Deodorant

1 Tablespoon cocoa butter (13.5 g)
1 Tablespoon coconut oil (13.5 g)
1 Tablespoon shea butter (13.5 g)
1 Tablespoon beeswax (14.2 g)
2.5 Tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 Tablespoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon vitamin E oil (from Trader Joe’s)
15 drops essential oil of your choice (I use jasmine and it’s AMAAAAZING)
2 capsules shelf-stable therapeutic-grade WHITE probiotic like Bio-Kult (DO NOT use a soil-based probiotic if it is black – otherwise your underarms will look like explosions of poop when you sweat. Ask me how I know that.)

First, melt the oils either in a double boiler or very carefully in a heavy-bottomed pan over the lowest possible heat. Then, add the arrowroot powder, baking soda, and vitamin E oil, stirring until it is cool enough to touch. Once it is cool, you can add the essential oil and probiotic. Last batch, I doubled the probiotic and it worked really well. This time, I am going to skip the beeswax and add extra coconut oil – this will make a much softer end product, but that’s ok, since it’s going into winter.