What are Some Deodorant Alternatives?

If you are making a visit to your local store or the big supermarkets, you will often see shelves stocked with deodorants. However, not all of these are naturally healthy and environmentally safe. Some deodorants contain ingredients like formaldehyde (yes, this is the same ingredient used in glues, inks, building materials, and preserving dead bodies. Yikes!), parabens, triclosan, and aluminum. Some of these are not really healthy to use and aluminum mining is quite polluting and damaging to the environment. So, if you are now uncertain about commercial deodorants, you may want to check out some natural and safer deodorant alternatives:

Some Deodorant Alternatives To Use

Cornstarch and Baking Soda

These two products are common items in the kitchen. Baking soda can help in preventing sweaty underarms as well as body odor. To make your own baking soda deodorant, you can 1/8^th teaspoon of baking soda plus a little amount of water. Mix the two, but do not dissolve the baking soda. Once you the mixture is ready, you can then rub it on your underarms.

Alternatively, you can make a deodorant powder by mixing cornstarch (six parts) and baking soda (one part). Then, once mixed properly, you can then dust some on under the arms. You can also make a thick paste out of cornstarch and baking soda by adding some coconut oil. The recipe for this is a quarter of a cup of baking soda, a quarter of a cup of cornstarch and 5 tablespoons of coconut oil.

Use Lemon Juice

If you have lemon juice, you can also add it in your deodorant alternatives list and utilize it as an odor-fighter. The citric acid in the lemon juice is effective in killing bacteria that cause stench odor in the body. You can also slice a lemon and swipe it under your arms for a more natural approach. Do this on a daily basis and you will see the results in no time. However, you have to be careful in applying lemon juice on your armpits especially if you have just shaved – that will be a little painful.

Rubbing Alcohol and Essential Oils

You can also use rubbing alcohol as one of your natural deodorant alternatives. This is very inexpensive and it can easily kill bacteria causing unpleasant odors. You can make the application easier by pouring in your rubbing alcohol in a small spray bottle. You can then spritz some rubbing alcohol under your arms to deodorize them. If you have essential oils like witch hazel or tea tree oil, you can also add a few drops for some scent and added health benefits. The witch hazel essential oil can absorb the oil under your arms while the tea tree oil can also help in combatting body odor.

There are many other ways on how you can resolve body odor. What is good about this is that the ingredients are mostly inexpensive and can be easily found at home. You can be assured that they are not bad for your health or the environment and that they would make great deodorant alternatives.