It’s so hard to find a good natural deodorant. I have tried so many! I’ve tried sticks and sprays and creams. Some of them work but irritate my skin(and I mean severe irritation, like my skin gets all red and itchy and then peels off-yuck!), some of them work for a while then give up and some of them just don’t work at all. I noticed that the cream deodorants work the best for me. The extra  moisture in them seems to counteract the baking soda, which is what irritates me in the other stuff. The only problem is, the stuff that works can be a bit expensive. After making my own stick deodorant (which works great for a lot of people!)and getting mild irritation, I decided I was going to try my hand at a cream deodorant and I am very happy with the results! So far I’ve made 2 different scents, lemongrass and lavender/orange. The lemongrass works great for me, but The Holistic Chick is in love with the lavender/orange! I think next time I am going to try a lavender/lemongrass…

Melissa’s Cream Deodorant:

1/2 oz shea butter (by weight)

1/2 oz  coconut oil (liquid measurement)

1/2 oz sunflower oil (liquid measurement)

1/4 tsp baking soda

5 tbsp arrowroot powder

1 vitamin E capsule (optional)

essential oils

For the Lemongrass scent:

25 drops lemongrass essential oil

For the Lavender/Orange scent:

17 drops lavender essential oil

13 drops sweet orange essential oil

4 drops litsea cubeba essential oil

Melt the shea butter and coconut oil. I use a glass bowl over a saucepan like a double boiler to prevent the oils from getting too hot. Add the sunflower oil and make sure everything is melted. Take off the heat and stir. You can cool it down a little by sticking it in the freezer for a minute. Add the baking soda and stir well. Pierce the vitamin E cap and squeeze the oil out of it into the mixture. Then start adding the arrowroot powder a couple tbsp at a time and mix well. Next add the essential oils. Store in an airtight container, I use a 4 oz glass jar for mine. It will work best if applied to freshly washed armpits. Make sure your hands are clean and dry before you dip into it and remember, you only need a little bit!

Whether or not a deodorant works for you depends on how your body chemistry works with the ingredients. If this doesn’t work for you as it is, you could try adding a little more baking soda or change the essential oils. I have seen some recipes with equal parts baking soda and arrowroot powder. Wouldn’t work for me or anyone else with a sensitivity to baking soda, but hey- you never know what works for you until you try it. Tea tree and mint is a good combo. Lavender and tea tree is another one. Lavender by itself would be nice, too.

The best part? It doesn’t cost $12 for a 2 oz jar…

This has to be the worst time of the year for my skin. It’s cold outside and the heat is blasting inside which makes my skin dry out like you wouldn’t believe. Or maybe you would because you are having the same problem! I woke up this morning and literally wanted to scratch off the side of my face. And the backs of my arms. And my calves. Yeah, you get the idea…

Enter the coffee scrub…

This stuff is awesome! It’s too harsh for your face, so PLEASE don’t use it there.(If you have sensitive skin, test it out in a small spot before you scrub your whole body with it)  But for the rest of your body- scrub away! It’s so nice and scratchy it takes care of the itchies while exfoliating all that dry, dead skin and leaves you feeling smooth and hydrated.

Here’s what you need:

1/2 cup ground coffee

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive oil (you could use other oils like jojoba, sweet almond, sunflower, etc. I just had olive oil on hand)

optional: vanilla extract, almond extract, essential oils

All you need to do is mix everything together. It should look a bit soupy like in the picture. If it looks too dry add some more oil. I like to add 1/4 tsp of vanilla flavor oil that I got from Nature’s Flavors, but you could use vanilla extract or any other extract you think would smell good with coffee. You could also use essential oils, just remember to start small with just a couple drops. Another way to get some fun scent is to use your favorite flavored coffee. I store mine in a glass jar. I actually have 2 jars, one in the shower and one next to the kitchen sink because the coffee will help get those yucky kitchen smells off your hands.

Happy scrubbing!

It’s really hard to find a natural deodorant. Everyone’s body chemistry is different so what works for me may not work for you. There has been a lot of trial and error in my search for a good natural deodorant and it was not cheap. Lots of natural deodorants are at least 2-3 times as expensive as the toxic deodorants you buy in the stores.

After trying a TON of them, I decided I would make my own. If you search online you can find numerous recipes and it took me a while to perfect mine. I have seen recipes with equal parts baking soda and arrowroot powder, but high concentrations of baking soda irritate my skin. I have seen others that call for beeswax, but beeswax and my underarms should never mix. It always ends up smelling like whatever scent the deodorant is and stinky underarm mixed together- exactly the opposite of what I want my deodorant to do!

Melissa’s Fresh and Minty Deodorant:

1 cup arrowroot powder

1/8 cup baking soda

5 tbsp coconut oil

25 drops tea tree essential oil

30 drops spearmint (or peppermint) essential oil

Mix the arrowroot powder and baking soda in a microwave safe bowl. Add the essential oils and the coconut oil. Microwave for 25-30 seconds or until the coconut oil is soft and melty. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined and it looks kinda crumbly(see picture above). Pack as much as you can in a deodorant stick. Push down on it until there is no more room. (I save the tubes from deodorant I have bought, clean them really well and let them completely dry out, but you can find them online if you don’t have any empties) Let it sit for a while to harden up. If you are impatient you can put it in the fridge for an hour or so but be aware that you will need to let it come to room temp before you are able to twist up the stick. This recipe should make 1 1/2 to 2 tubes of deodorant.

This is the recipe I use when making deodorant for my hubby. If you have more sensitive skin like I do, cut the baking soda down to a tsp or 2 (or you can leave it out) and cut the tea tree down to 5 drops or less and the spearmint down to 15-20 drops or less. If you prefer not to have minty armpits, you can use different essential oils like lemongrass, lavender or a combo of lavender and orange, lavender and lemon, or lavender and tea tree. Rosemary is supposed to be good, too. You could also leave it unscented. Experiment and see what scents work for you. If you create a great scent I want to know about it!

I bought the baking soda, arrowroot powder and coconut oil in my local natural grocery store and the essential oils at Mountain Rose Herbs. All the ingredients cost me about $25 and I will get a lot of batches out of it so it is very cost effective to make. Try out the recipe and let me know what you think!

*****Please be cautious when using essential oils. If you don’t know how sensitive your skin is start with a small amount to see what works best for you. *****

Sometimes I just need to take a nice hot bath. I want my skin to get some nutrition and feel smooth and hydrated when I get out. I also want to treat myself to a little aromatherapy. Enter the bath fizzie!

I love these little nuggets of fizzling fun! I made a bunch of them for Christmas gifts last year and they were a hit. They are easy to make and can be customized to whatever scent or color of salt you want to use. You can also add herbs or flowers to go with your choice of scent. All the ingredients can be found at Mountain Rose Herbs and some of them can be found in the grocery store. So, let’s start with the base of the recipe and we’ll get to the different scents later…

You will need:

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup salt(all epsom salts or a mix with other colored salts, see below for the different recipes)

1/2 cup citric acid

1 tsp olive oil

spray bottle of water

essential oils of your choice(about 20 drops depending on scent)

First, combine the baking soda, salts and citric acid. Mix them up well and make sure there are no clumps. Next drizzle the olive oil and essential oils and stir. Then spritz with the water while you stir to prevent fizzing. When it starts to clump together you are done adding water. I like to do 2 sprays then stir, then 2 more, stir and so on. Try not to add to much water or it will fizz all over. Press into whatever molds you choose to use, I used a silicone mold that I found in the baking section of JoAnn’s Fabrics. They might puff out of the mold a bit, so if you want them to hold the shape you need to keep an eye on them and occasionally press them back in. Let them dry for 2-3 hours before taking them out of the molds. Let them cure for a week before using them. Store in an airtight container.

Now for the fun part! I made 3 different kinds of fizzie: orange, mint and lavender rose.

For the orange scented fizzie:

1/4 cup epsom salt

1/4 cup black lava salt(warning-if you use black salt you will have a black ring around your tub after you drain your bath)

20 drops sweet orange essential oil

4 drops litsea cubeba essential oil

For the mint scented fizzie:

1/2 cup epsom salt

20 drops spearmint essential oil

1/4 cup dry crushed mint

For the lavender rose fizzie:

1/4 cup epsom salt

1/4 cup himalayan pink salt(coarse)

14 drops lavender essential oil

1 drop geranium essential oil

1/4 cup dried rose petals

1/4 cup dried lavender flowers

Salts are really great for your skin and the fizzies are just plain fun to throw in the bath! I hope you have fun making these and experimenting with different scents and herbs. Get creative- there are so many different colors of salt and scents to choose from.

Have a nice, relaxing smelly-good bath!!

Face masks are a fun and easy way to pamper yourself. They can leave your skin feeling smooth and firm and some of them can even reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles! I recently received a request for some face mask recipes so here are a few to try out.

Oatmeal Face Mask:

1 Tbsp oatmeal (finely ground, I use a coffee grinder, it works great and as an added benefit your grinder will be cleaner!)

1 Tbsp yogurt (I use greek yogurt because that is what I normally have on hand, but any plain yogurt will work)

1 tsp honey

Mix all ingredients together. Apply to your face and relax for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and moisturize.

Banana Face Mask #1:

1/4 of a banana

1 1/2 tsp honey

1 Tbsp sour cream

Mix together, apply to your face and relax for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and moisturize.

Banana Face Mask #2:

1/4 of a banana

1 Tbsp heavy cream

Mix together, apply to your face and relax for 15 minutes. Wash off with warm water and moisturize.

**Banana is astringent and can cause a tightening feeling, helping to diminish the appearance of fine lines.

**To switch it up a bit you can make either of the banana masks with avocado instead of banana. Avocado is very moisturizing so it’s great for people with dry skin or those who have sun or wind burn.

Now on to clay masks. These are my favorite. I like to use french green clay or rhassoul clay but you can use bentonite, kaolin or fuller’s earth clay or a mixture of any of them.

Clay Mask:

I always start with 1 Tbsp of clay. From here you can customize it for your personal skin needs.

**For oily skin add 1-2 tsp of water

**For normal skin add 1-2 tsp of milk, yogurt, sour cream or honey (or a mixture of honey and dairy)

**For dry skin add 1-2 tsp of oil (or you can mix a little oil with a little water- you can use olive, sunflower, sweet almond, jojoba or another liquid oil you may have on hand)

You want it to be a spreadable paste, so if it’s too dry- add more wet ingredient, if it’s too wet- add a touch more clay.

Apply to your face and relax for at least 15 minutes, I normally leave it on for 30 minutes or until it’s dry and my face feels tight. Wash off with warm water. I find it is easiest to remove while I’m in the shower. Then- don’t forget to moisturize!

I recommend using a face mask at least once a week. If you are new to using face masks start by leaving it on for 10 minutes and then as long as your skin doesn’t get irritated you can leave it on for longer next time- anywhere from 15-30 minutes.

Now, go pamper yourself!!