

This homemade deodorant is specially designed for women.

It contains herbs that are used to promote lymph flow and prevent or treat issues with inflamed or cystic breast tissue.

Instead of applying a chemical laden, potentially toxic-to-your-breasts product under your arms each day, try this healthy herbal alternative instead!

To make this deodorant, you’ll first need to infuse coconut oil with herbs. Coconut oil is most often used because of its antibacterial and antifungal properties. If you’re allergic to coconut oil, you could test out using babassu oil instead, as it’s sometimes used as a substitute for coconut oil.

Herbs that are often used to soften lumps and promote healthy breasts include:

Dandelion Flower

Violet Leaf

Calendula

Red Clover Blossoms

Plantain

Susun Weed already has great write-ups about these herbs, plus several others I didn’t list, so definitely hop over HERE, HERE and HERE to read her articles for a deeper understanding of how they work.

To infuse coconut oil with herbs:

– Make sure that your herbs are dried before infusing. Water content from fresh herbs can sometimes make your oil spoil faster. Your herbs should be freshly dried though and not old or discolored or they won’t offer the benefits we’re looking for.

– Put about 1 cup of melted coconut oil and 1/2 cup dried herbs into a mason jar or heat proof container. You won’t need this much infused oil for the recipe, but I like to keep extra on hand for future batches or other projects. If you’d like to make a smaller batch, that’s fine too. Keep a ratio of roughly 1 part herbs to 2 parts coconut oil in mind, no matter the size of the batch. (This does NOT have to be exact, so don’t get hung up on precision at this step.)

– Set the jar down into a small saucepan containing a couple of inches of water, forming a makeshift double boiler. Place the pan over a medium-low burner for about two hours. The heat will help infuse the properties of the herbs into the oil. After infusing you can strain the herbs and use right away. Alternatively, and what I most often do, is to let the jar of oil and herbs sit in a warm sunny window for at least another week or two, to make sure the oil is even more deeply infused.

Other ingredients in this recipe include:

Neem Oil – a strong antimicrobial oil that fights odor causing bacteria, but it also has a strong scent. Use sparingly. If you really dislike the scent, you can omit it. Check with a doctor before using neem if pregnant, nursing or a young child.

Arrowroot Powder & Kaolin Clay – to absorb excess moisture and odors.

Hemp Oil – I like this oil because of its skin nourishing properties and because it absorbs into the skin well, but you can use your own favorite light (liquid) oil, such as sunflower, sweet almond, avocado and so forth, if you’d like.

Shea Butter – protects and conditions skin. Unrefined shea has more benefits, but some people (including me) dislike the raw scent, so I like using refined shea butter instead. You could also use other types of butter such as mango or cocoa.

Beeswax – makes this deodorant thick enough to apply using a tube style container. You can leave it out and tinker with the ratios of arrowroot and clay to make it a thick paste to apply with your fingers. Or, you can use a smidge less beeswax and apply it like a salve, if you’d like to avoid a plastic container altogether. (See the next note.) Vegans can use roughly half as much candelilla wax instead.

Essential Oils – mostly for scent, but tea tree is antimicrobial and lavender is skin soothing. You can use other scents, if you prefer.

This recipe does not contain baking soda, since many people find it irritates their skin. You can add some in though, if you’d like, swapping out some of the kaolin clay or arrowroot powder.

The consistency, scent and texture of your basic ingredients will vary depending upon where you bought them, how they’ve been stored, what season it is and so forth. Everything in this recipe is adjustable and flexible. Don’t be afraid to remelt and change up things if you find it too soft, too hard or not exactly as you’d like it to be!

About plastic containers:

Normally, I try to avoid storing homemade body products in plastic, however, some old deodorant tubes are what I had on hand to use and for some reason, that didn’t cross my mind as it normally would.

Not long after making and using though, the disconnect between combining a plastic container with a product I was hoping would help with my higher risk of breast cancer (my mom & grandma had it pre-menopause) finally dawned on me, so I scooped it out and now keep it in a glass container.

DIY Herbal Deodorant for Women’s Health

1/4 cup (45 g) herbal infused coconut oil

1 tablespoon (13 g or .5 oz) neem oil

1 tablespoon (13 g or .5 oz) hemp or other favorite light oil

1/4 cup (27 g or 1 oz) beeswax (or 1/8 cup candelilla wax, if vegan)

1/4 cup (50 g or 1.8 oz) shea butter (or mango, cocoa, etc)

1 tablespoon (11 g or .4 oz) arrowroot

1 tablespoon (6 g or .2 oz) kaolin clay

15 to 20 drops tea tree oil

30 to 60 drops lavender essential oil (adjust or omit depending on preference)

20 to 30 drops litsea or other favorite essential oil, for scent

This batch filled two empty 2.6 ounce deodorant containers similar to these at Amazon, with a tiny bit leftover.

Using a heat proof glass jar or container, combine the coconut, neem and hemp oils with the beeswax and shea. Set the container or jar into a saucepan containing a few inches of water.

Set the pan over a medium-low burner until everything is melted. (Don’t melt too long or at too high of a heat, or your shea butter may get grainy.)

Stir in the clay, arrowroot and essential oils. The mixture will thicken, but let it cool a bit, stirring frequently, before spooning into tubes (or glass jars if applying with your fingers.) If you don’t, the clay and arrowroot may settle to the bottom as it cools instead of being incorporated throughout.

Let the deodorant set up until firm.

To use:

Rub a thin, single layer under each arm. You do not want to push hard or slather this on, a little bit will go a long way!

Wait a few minutes before dressing after use, to allow it to absorb into the skin a bit. I haven’t had any staining from this deodorant, but I live in t-shirts so am not sure how it will do with fancier clothing.

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Dandelion Salve | Leg Cramp Lotion | Violet Leaf Balm