Instead of using the mag oil, has anyone tried incorporating the flakes into the recipe? Using the flakes would negate the need for a preservative I would think.
de-funk de pits
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Dahila
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my formula works perfect 
Just to be clear, magnesium "oil" is not being used for the basic deodorant recipe being discussed. The deodorant recipe is using magnesium hydroxide powder. Mag hydroxide is not the same magnesium compound that's in mag oil -- that's a variation that godschild is using. Also, can you imagine scraping flakes over one's armpits? I'll stick with the powder, methinks.
Very cool thread, and you know... I could use something like this. I'm an "apply deodorant multiple times a day" type guy (unfortunately), and have tried multiple products and "remedies" over the years without much change. I'll start with the bentonite clay detox and then utilize the deodorant after that. Will be buying the ingredients for this today or tomorrow likely and then giving this a shot. Will use 45% babassu, 45% magnesium hydroxide and 5% beeswax (year-round temps are usually 60-85F here and I'd prefer a deodorant in a stick form that can stand up to the summer temps as well) to start but will likely also give the neem and/or karanja oils (separately) a test as well, no EO's to start with. I'll report back after using for a week or so and try and provide some more detailed feedback from a sweaty man's perspective. Also, I suppose this gives whole new meaning to my username. 
BattleGnome, I used the neem oil right before I heard about the magnesium hydroxide. I think the neem worked really well, actually. I'd have to go back through the thread and read to see exactly what my weights were, but the neem was very small compared to the babassu and was still overpowering. I think it was something like 50 g to 5 g babassu to neem, not positive though. Once I put the deodorant on and it absorbed into my skin, I didn't notice the smell anymore. I don't know what EO goes well with neem (and is skin safe in fairly high amounts) to help mask or tone down the scent. Try a small batch of just the two oils for a week or so to test it out. It can't hurt anything, right?
Very cool thread, and you know... I could use something like this. I'm an "apply deodorant multiple times a day" type guy (unfortunately), and have tried multiple products and "remedies" over the years without much change. I'll start with the bentonite clay detox and then utilize the deodorant after that. Will be buying the ingredients for this today or tomorrow likely and then giving this a shot. Will use 45% babassu, 45% magnesium hydroxide and 5% beeswax (year-round temps are usually 60-85F here and I'd prefer a deodorant in a stick form that can stand up to the summer temps as well) to start but will likely also give the neem and/or karanja oils (separately) a test as well, no EO's to start with. I'll report back after using for a week or so and try and provide some more detailed feedback from a sweaty man's perspective. Also, I suppose this gives whole new meaning to my username.
Welcome!! I'm glad you're finding this to be helpful and interesting. For what it's worth, I live in hot, sticky, humid Chattanooga, TN, and don't have central air conditioning. I only have a unit in my bedroom for at night. My deo gets pretty soft and I sometimes put it in the fridge to harden back up, but it has never liquified (so far). It's actually nice having it in the fridge and applying the cold stick to my hot pits. It brings the body temp down a bit: instant cooling.
Another thing, as you know from reading the thread, I started it because I stink. Or, because I used to stink. Since I've been using this home made deodorant, my pit odor issues have been greatly reduced. In fact, this morning I was running late and didn't shower or put on deodorant (oh gross!) and I don't stink. Seriously, I kid you not. I'm wearing a sleeveless dress and I just stuck my face in my pits (now that's a lovely image!) and didn't detect any funk. I'm sure that by this afternoon I won't be able to say that, but this deodorant honestly does work. Babassu oil and magnesium hydroxide. That's all. I showered yesterday morning around 7:30 am and did some strenuous stuff in the yard after work. I was going to shower before I went to bed, but spent too much time knitting and it was 1 AM before I knew it. So, I figured I do it when I woke up, and totally overslept. That's really the story of my life! Thank heaven Max had to pee. His whinning woke me up at 8:03 AM. Three dogs outside, brushed teeth, return two dogs to crates, got dressed, drove third dog to daycare and was only 15 minutes late. I realized once I got to my desk that I never touched my hair. Total bed head. I have such class.
BattleGnome
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I just picked up neem but don't have any babassu with no known local sources. I'm traveling for the weekend and wanted to make a quick pit paste. I sent a spray bottle with roughly 1oz of MOM/sage hydrosol ahead (I'm flying and had some lotions I wanted to gift) but am unsure if I'll have enough for a full weekend.
As to scents, the tester at the coop smells like a edible nut butter to me (similar qualities to peanut butter or tahini). When I opened and spilled my bottle in the car (didn't realize it was melted) I immediately thought tea tree would be complimentary.
I'm going to try a neem lotion (maybe some coconut as a filler for now) with MOM as my water phase and tea tree/lavender for scent.
While I would definitely enjoy the cool feeling, I'm not exactly awake when I wake up most mornings and have to rush off to work.
As such, I worry that I'll end up forgetting to grab the deodorant out of the fridge frequently. At warmer temps (anything over mid 90's fareheit usually only occurs maybe 1-2 weeks a year, so I'll say that's my high) would you think that the deodorant would hold up well enough sitting out at this temp to use in stick form? If so, I'll gladly skip the beeswax and do 50/50 (by weight) of babassu and Mg(OH)2.
WeaversPort
Voyages of Curiosity
If I recall, part of the move away from coconut was because coconut stains? But I might be mis-remembering. You might be able to get away with just neem and MoM, dropping the coconut oil altogether?
BattleGnome
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I forgot about the coconut stains.... I wear a ton of dark colors, so hopefully it won't be an issue?
One bad day later and I have some sort of whipped lotion.
180g MOM
19g neem
7g coconut
2g castor
1g each - lavender and tea tree
(Plus appropriate wax and germaben)
After an MOM explosion I heated everything in the microwave to condense my bowls and get stuff into the sink. The upside is that all the cleaning I've been avoiding is starting to get done.
2 minutes after pouring my small jar for travel is firm enough to hold upside down without issue. It is a beautiful buttery, custardy yellow from the neem. I can't tell if the scents compliment or contrast at this point, each time I smell it there is a different combo.
One bad day later and I have some sort of whipped lotion.
180g MOM
19g neem
7g coconut
2g castor
1g each - lavender and tea tree
(Plus appropriate wax and germaben)
After an MOM explosion I heated everything in the microwave to condense my bowls and get stuff into the sink. The upside is that all the cleaning I've been avoiding is starting to get done.
2 minutes after pouring my small jar for travel is firm enough to hold upside down without issue. It is a beautiful buttery, custardy yellow from the neem. I can't tell if the scents compliment or contrast at this point, each time I smell it there is a different combo.
I bought my babassu oil from Soapers Choice. I think they have good prices on their oils, but their shipping is killer for me. I wait until I have a large order for them because it's more cost effective for me to pay $30 to have 4 boxes shipped than it is to pay $23 to have 2 boxes shipped.
While I would definitely enjoy the cool feeling, I'm not exactly awake when I wake up most mornings and have to rush off to work.
I think it would hold up well for most of the summer. The product will definitely get a soft creamy consistency and will be easier to apply with fingers from a container than from a stick. I put mine in the fridge because last year I had them in sticks. This summer I'm just going to use a jar to avoid the issue. When I made my last batch, I piped it into small embed sizes molds (hearts and butterflies). I've got about 3 dozen of those in a jar. One usually lasts three or four days. I put the current one on a little soap dish I have for it. When it starts to get really hot, I'll transfer a few into a jar to keep in the bathroom and put the rest in the fridge.
Yes, that was part of it. I was going to try to make a deo from neem & tea tree. Someone asked why those two. I ssid because of the antibacterial qualities and was told about antibacterial qualities of coconut snd it went from there. That was actually in a different thread, but I didn't want to hijack that one so started this. I linked the original thread that inspired the search in the first post of this thread. There is actually really good and useful info there, too, about antibacterial and antimicrobial qualities of various essential oils.
I'm excited about this thread actually, that so many people found it interesting, inspiring, have made such wonderful contributions to it and are still talking about it so many months after my first post. Who knew funky pits would be such a hot 'n' happenin' topic? Oh, yeah. I must have... bwahahahaha
BTW! As an aside and an important scientific bit of information: it is now nearly 5 PM and I still do not stink. Which is actually quite surprising to me. I thought for sure I'd be getting a bit tipe by now. But not so much. I'm either fresh as a daisy or my nose is totally blocked up. Since I can smell other things in the vicinity, I'm going with fresh as a (somewhat wilted) daisy. And there you have it.
Babassu has a melting point of 76F/24C. For what it's worth, it's 78F in my house right now (with the air conditioner on- it's hot outside) and my 50/50 babassu/magnesium hydroxide deodorant that I keep in a replenish-able 1-oz jar in my bathroom is completely fluid, but of a lovely creamy consistency like heavy cream from a carton.
I confess that can't be bothered into making it into a stick now that I'm used to applying it with my fingers. At first, it was weird because I'd never applied deodorant that way before, but I'm actually pretty fine with it now. I scoop it up out of the jar with a clean cosmetic spoon/scoop first so that I don't contaminate the rest of the jar contents.
Yes- very true. Coconut oil will stain, but babassu will not. At least that has been my experience.
IrishLass
I confess that can't be bothered into making it into a stick now that I'm used to applying it with my fingers. At first, it was weird because I'd never applied deodorant that way before, but I'm actually pretty fine with it now. I scoop it up out of the jar with a clean cosmetic spoon/scoop first so that I don't contaminate the rest of the jar contents.
WeaversPort said:
Yes- very true. Coconut oil will stain, but babassu will not. At least that has been my experience.
IrishLass
Is the general consensus that magnesium citrate won't work? I have a bag of it that I'd love to use up.
Could you just melt the flakes with the other ingredients? I have magnesium chloride flakes here that I had bought to make the oil but never did....always thought about trying it in a deodorant recipe.
Ok, so it has been about one month now since I first tried the detox (1 Tbsp bentonite clay powder and 2 tsp water; did that daily for 4 or 5 days and used no deodorant during that time) and I have been using the babassu deodorant (babassu - 125g, magnesium hydroxide - 125g, emulsifying wax - 10g, 6 drops tea tree oil; made enough for two 2.5oz deodorant tubes plus a bit extra) ever since.
Before all of this I was pretty much back to smelling like I did as a teenager (puberty, hockey, lacrosse and football combined to make one helluva stink), and it seemed like nothing I did made any difference - the smell was awful and was only getting worse. I was at the point where I was putting on deodorant 4-6 times a day and there was no need to stick my nose near my pits to smell them they were that bad.
I must say, "impressed" doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about the outcome of the detox and deodorant. That awful smell that was emanating from my underarms was gone in a few short days and has stayed gone ever since. I (no joke) put the babassu deodorant on only every other day and (again no joke) have, on more than a few occasions, had family and friends stick their faces in my pits and take a whiff when they have trouble believing that this has worked so well. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of fun seeing their looks of disgust at the thought of smelling my armpits quickly turn to surprise after not being met with any of the horrid smells they had expected. Thank you, Teresa and everyone who contributed here, you have done what I was beginning to think was impossible!
Before all of this I was pretty much back to smelling like I did as a teenager (puberty, hockey, lacrosse and football combined to make one helluva stink), and it seemed like nothing I did made any difference - the smell was awful and was only getting worse. I was at the point where I was putting on deodorant 4-6 times a day and there was no need to stick my nose near my pits to smell them they were that bad.
I must say, "impressed" doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about the outcome of the detox and deodorant. That awful smell that was emanating from my underarms was gone in a few short days and has stayed gone ever since. I (no joke) put the babassu deodorant on only every other day and (again no joke) have, on more than a few occasions, had family and friends stick their faces in my pits and take a whiff when they have trouble believing that this has worked so well. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of fun seeing their looks of disgust at the thought of smelling my armpits quickly turn to surprise after not being met with any of the horrid smells they had expected. Thank you, Teresa and everyone who contributed here, you have done what I was beginning to think was impossible!
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I am having really good results from the 50:50 mix of babassu and mag hydroxide. I added a bit of lavender and rosemary EOs to lightly scent it. Put it in an oval deodorant container with a screw-up mechanism. See post 206 in this thread. I've been working in my flower garden digging and dividing plants and spreading mulch, so the past few days have been a good test of this deodorant mix. Very pleased.
When the weather was cooler and my house was in the upper 60s F (around 20 C), the mixture was pretty firm. Now that the temps in the house are in the 70s F, the mixture is still a solid but slightly softer and more pasty -- it drags on the skin more than I'd like. Since I only need the barest film of deo on my skin, I'd like the product to be more glidy so less comes off onto the skin.
I'm pondering what could be added to the mix to ensure the deo remains solid but with a more glidy texture. I'm wondering if stearic acid might be helpful to raise the melt point of the product and improve the glidy-ness -- it's used in lotions and scrubs as a thickener, so why not in this? Another possibility would be a soap (sodium stearate) made from stearic acid and NaOH. If anyone has any thoughts on this ... I'm all ears.
When the weather was cooler and my house was in the upper 60s F (around 20 C), the mixture was pretty firm. Now that the temps in the house are in the 70s F, the mixture is still a solid but slightly softer and more pasty -- it drags on the skin more than I'd like. Since I only need the barest film of deo on my skin, I'd like the product to be more glidy so less comes off onto the skin.
I'm pondering what could be added to the mix to ensure the deo remains solid but with a more glidy texture. I'm wondering if stearic acid might be helpful to raise the melt point of the product and improve the glidy-ness -- it's used in lotions and scrubs as a thickener, so why not in this? Another possibility would be a soap (sodium stearate) made from stearic acid and NaOH. If anyone has any thoughts on this ... I'm all ears.
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I actually made a mistake above. It was not Beeswax I used, but emulsifying wax. I did so because of its higher melting point (~120F if I remember correctly). I wanted to start low of this to see how well it would work and figured I could go from there. Although temps are not too high just yet, we did have a couple days last week in the low 80's and I did not notice much (if any) difference in consistency of the deodorant.
Yes, an emulsifier like e-wax or emulsifying conditioner (BTMS) might also be options for making the deo firm at higher temperatures and perhaps more glidy. Thanks for the update!
Take this with a grain of salt as I haven't tried the babassu/ magnesium hydroxide blend yet. I have tried a few times to make deodorant with a NaStearate and glycol blend and I'm not crazy about it. The texture is great (10-12% NaStearate), but I always end up with irritation. I'm relatively certain that the high alkalinity of the soap is the problem. Technically (I think!), as long as there is no water in the mix, the pH should be neutral. But once it goes on and I start to sweat, there's water. . . . Just my 2 cents, but I think that if a person is bothered by baking soda, the NaStearate might cause problems as well.
Good point, Saranac -- I'm glad to hear from the voice of experience! Thanks for sharing.
