Making Natural Deodorant

I have entered into the land of homemade deodorant. There's no milk & honey here. But the contents did come straight out of the kitchen. Just plain 'ol coconut oil (health store/I've been told Walmart carries this), baking soda, and cornstarch. (So, you know you could eat it if you wanted to.)

Truly, I'm not a huge fan of trying new things. Going to the store. Cruising the deodorant aisle. Dropping one into my cart will always sound very appealing.

But, seriously there are like 50 to choose from! How do I know which one is better for my body? Also, 'Organic' ones cost more than I would like to pay something to stop my stink. And even then they will still contain questionable ingredients.

This one has three, four if you use essential oils. Costs are minimal and will last a long time.

I figured it was worth a shot.

Man, what a messy shot it was! :)

I'm sure that I went about this in the hardest way possible. But I had to mix it all together with my hands, because my coconut oil was still very much in solid form. Which I must say made for quite the clean up!

The process however is a simple one to follow. I used the recipe found here.

1/4 Cup Baking Soda ( I use this to stop my diaper pail from smelling. I think it's qualified for armpits. )

1/4 Cup Cornstarch (thickening agent to hold it all together)

8 Tbs of Coconut Oil (very good for skin- lotion too)

Tea Tree Essential Oil-opt. ( a natural anti-bacterial agent)

I used an empty bottle and went to town. Packing it all the way into the bottom and then smoothing over the top. Because I had touched the ingredients so much at this point it needed to solidify again.

I put it into the fridge and have been letting it cool.

I even had some leftovers. (On top of my delivery of mangoes?!?)

My main concerns are:

• Will I always have to keep it in my fridge? Is my bathroom too warm and it will melt?
• It might not work.
• It could get on my clothes and make stains.

Whether this works or not I'm glad I took the time to ask "why".

Have more questions? Check out this article.

Juicy Vitamins

Here's the starting health line up- Orange, Apple, Carrot, Cranberries, and Spinach Juice. My helper and I took the afternoon and sliced and diced.

It was the first time I had used a juicer. Here are my Pros and Cons of the process:

Pros

-Takes a minute to pour out a healthy drink from our pre-made selection of juices.

-The kids favorite is fresh apple juice. Orange, carrot, and spinach combination is mine.

-I know that my body is absorbing the highest nutrient content it can get through these juices. The fiber in the pulp (or skin of the fruit) is taken out by the juicing machine. So, my body is more readily able to absorb these nutrients rather than expel them with the skin/fiber portion of food.

-I saved the skins of the cranberries and carrots. I added them to the meatloaf and muffins for breakfast and dinner the next day!

Cons

-It is a pain to have to clean out the blade out every so often, because the excess "skin" clogged the machine.

-We had a bag full of cranberries and spinach and only got a slim selection of juice.

- I threw away the apple, spinach, and orange skins.

Overall, I would say that I would do it again. But would not use a juicier as an everyday source of vitamins.