This week and next I’m talking to my good friend Josh Huffman, who’s been making his own cosmetics for over six years, about deodorant.

I’d like to share his deodorant recipe:

Josh’s deodorant

Ingredients, equal parts of

• Coconut oil
• Shea butter
• Baking soda
• Arrowroot powder (can substitute with cornstarch)

Melt the coconut oil and shea butter in a bowl, either in the microwave in 15 second bursts, or over the stove in a double boiler on low heat.
Once those are fully melted, stir in the baking soda and arrowroot powder until all ingredients are combined. Pour into a container of your choice and either put in the fridge, or let cool down and keep in your medicine cabinet.

I currently use an empty deodorant stick to apply mine. Since coconut oil has such a low melting point, I keep mine in the refrigerator, otherwise it would be too soft to apply the right amount. If your using your fingers, you can keep your container outside the refrigerator.

Before using, apply one swipe to one armpit, and two to the other, as a litmus test for irritation. It’s very common for there to be irritation for the first few days, but wait an hour after the test to determine a good starting point. I don’t do more than two or three swipes on each armpit, but you can use more or less depending on your own personal body chemistry, tolerance, and preference.

Optional: Add a small amount (maybe 1/5 the amount of any one of the above ingredients) of beeswax to the coconut oil and shea butter, melting them together. This can help stabilize and smooth out the deodorant, but be careful not to use too much or it’ll make your deodorant too waxy.

Bonus recipe: Josh’s lip balm

Ingredients, equal parts of

• Beeswax
• Coconut oil
• Shea butter
• Optional but recommended:  1/4 of one part of honey
• To preference: 1 or 2 drops of an essential oil, such as peppermint or lavender, or vanilla extract, but make sure it’s food safe

Melt all the ingredients in a bowl. I recommend a double boiler on low heat, starting with the beeswax, as that takes longest to melt. You can also use the microwave in 15 second bursts, it just takes more finesse to not overheat it.

Once all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, turn off the stove but keep over the double boiler to prevent from hardening too quickly. Carefully pour into the container of your choice. This will most likely get messy, so put something underneath, preferably something that makes it easy to scrape up anything that spills, so you can re-use. I bought a pipette to inject into empty lip balm containers, and this was the easiest method I found.

Keep any extra lip balm in the fridge and re-melt to re-fill as needed.

Please e-mail me at josh.huffman@gmail.com with any questions, photos, or success stories! Or failures, too – I’m happy to offer any suggestions or tips.  Good luck!