Of course, you might counter that you can't avoid sweating in the gym, especially if it's hot and humid. But surely, you must have heard of "deodorants".
I recently discovered a recipe for a homemade deodorant. It's a simple DIY (do-it-yourself) thing. And for the past couple of weeks, I've been applying this deodorant.
I have to conclude that it's the best deodorant that you can possibly use. Yes, that even includes all you sweaty gym rats out there.
Virgin Coconut Oil - Best Deodorant for Heavy Workouts
- No Side Effects
The homemade deodorant is only made up of 4 basic ingredients, baking soda, cornstarch and virgin coconut oil. The fourth, scented body oil, is essentially just for fragrance and just optional.
How much simpler can you get? It doesn't have aluminum (Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrate) like most anti-perspirants do. Aluminum in contact to skin is often linked to cancer, although unproven.
For those who find the smell of coconut oil unappealing, the scent in virgin coconut oil fades away after application. The oil is quickly absorbed by the skin and there are no marks on the clothes as well.
- Cheap and Easy-to-Prepare
The first two ingredients, Baking Soda and Cornstarch are items you probably have around the house. Virgin Coconut Oil may be bought in supermarkets, health and beauty shops and some drugstores.
All three ingredients are inexpensive and go a long way.
- Effective and Lasts Longer
It is much better than commercial store brands. I do cardio workouts in the morning and weight lifting in the afternoon. Because I sweat heavily, I apply the deodorant before each workout.
There's absolutely no smell (not even the coconut oil) during and after the workout. For normal, day-to-day activities, you only need to apply once. As to shelf-life, I know that virgin coconut oil can last up to two years or more.
- No Crusty Stiff and Yellow Stains on Shirts
With commercial deodorants, I've detested having to deal with the crusty formation on shirt armpits that become thick over time. Sure, there are ways to get rid of them.
But why go through the manual and tedious process of removing these crusts? The unsightly yellowish stain that develops from using commercial deodorants is another cause of embarrassment that made me want to ditch these store-bought products.
The homemade deodorant can definitely be used outside of the gym - office, school, wherever. It won't leave any unsightly stains or crusty formation on the armpit area of your shirts.
Homemade Deodorant with Virgin Coconut Oil and Baking Soda
Materials
- Baking Soda
- Cornstarch
- Virgin Coconut Oil (Cold-pressed)
Virgin Coconut Oil has antimicrobial properties and is recommended for skin application (more on this later).
- Scented Body Oil
Body oil is a skin moisturizer and may be bought in Health and Beauty shops. Available scents may include Lavender, Jasmine, Gardenia, etc.
- Chopstick or any utensil for stirring.
- Empty plastic jar or container
You can be flexible here. I've always used roll-on's in the past, not deodorant creams. So for this deodorant, I reused an empty small plastic peanut butter jar.
- Sheet of paper
Used for collecting the powdered mixture of cornstarch and baking soda.
- Small plastic bag or sandwich bag
Used for pre-mixing the powdered cornstarch and baking soda.
Go ahead, post your comment below!
I have used this recipe also, for over a year now. I added one thing to make it harder, candelilla wax (or you can use beeswax too). I melt it and pour it into old commercial deodorant tubes that I washed out with hot water and soap. I don’t think it actually keeps me dry all the time, but I don’t have the body odor problem I had before when using commercial deodorants, even the “clinical” super-expensive ones didn’t help! I get my coconut oil from here: http://www.soaperschoice.com. The price for one gallon organic extra virgin (7 pounds) is here: Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin, QAI Certified Organic($3.90 per pound) 7 Pound Bottle $27.30
I've not heard of candelilia wax and don't think we have it around here. But thanx for the tip, gotwick.