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Zero Waste DIY Deodorant with 4 ingredients. Stored in reused containers.

Zero waste DIY Deodorant

Posted on April 25, 2016April 22, 2022

This post is about the first step I took towards a zero waste lifestyle. I didn’t come up with this idea myself. No, it was my mom. She does not thrive to live a zero waste lifestyle and when she handed me the recipe (and made it for me), back then I didn’t either. In the meantime, it’s been a succes for over three years. Today I am sharing a recipe for zero waste DIY deodorant with only 4 ingredients.

‘Regular’ Deodorant

Personally, I’ve never liked ‘regular’ deodorant in a spray can. It’s a cold feeling in the morning, you need to spray multiple times throughout the day because the smell fades away, the odor mixes with the sweat which is gross, after shaving the deodorant burns,  my skin got irritated all the time and spray can deodorant has a lot of harmful substances like aluminium. I’ve even tried rollers and creams but they were messy and have the same side-effects. No, the deodorant everybody was using wasn’t good for me.

Recipe

My mom knew this and came with the following recipe for a zero waste DIY deodorant. You just mix these 4 ingredients with a fork and there you have it:

  • Two spoons of baking soda
  • 2 spoons of cornflour
  • Two spoons of odorless coconut oil
  • 2 drops of essential oil (any smell of your choice, I use vanilla and mint)

I like the recipe a lot! Of course I still sweat, but there is no smell. I put the deodorant on once in the morning and that’s it. I would recommend to wash the deodorant off in the evening to avoid skin irritation and to give your skin some rest at night. I’ve never really documented how long a batch lasts me, I would guess 3 months. A few friends of mine have tried the deodorant and they loved it too!

When I dived more and more into a zero waste lifestyle I found out that a lot of people who thrive to live a zero waste lifestyle use this recipe (or a similar one). I suggest you try it and adjust when there’s something you don’t like (maybe less baking soda or something). With this recipe you don’t just create less waste, but it’s also a very simple and lovely product for your body.

Zero Waste Deodorant

The old situation:
– 
Hundreds (just a guess for a lifetime) of spray cans deodorant end up at landfill.

The new situation:
– 
I bought the Baking Soda at a local Indonesian shop for €1,75 (454 grams). The baking soda comes in cardboard and I find that acceptable because it is recyclable and comes from a renewable resource. This also lasts very long since I use 2 spoons for one batch (When I run out of baking soda I will switch to an organic brand because as you can read here, organic is more important than zero waste).

– I bought the cornflour at Albert Heijn (a Dutch supermarket) for €0,61 (250 grams) and this is also packed in cardboard (next time I will go for organic as well) .

– I bought the coconut oil organic already at Albert Heijn for €2,99 (320 ml). This is packed in glass and the lid is made out of aluminium, both 100% recyclable.

– I bought the essential oil at Holland and Barret for €3,09 (10 ml). The jar is made out of glass but unfortunately the lid is made out of black plastic (once I run out of this I will buy organic essential oil with hopefully no plastic lid).

I store the deodorant in a plastic box I still have from a body butter from The Body Shop. Zero waste is not just about buying no plastic, it is also about using what you have and that’s why I use the plastic box to store the deodorant. At first, the investment might seem a lot more than a spray can deodorant, but all the ingredients I mentioned last very long since you only use 2 spoons per batch. This will save you money on the long term. I would never want anything else!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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ABOUT ME

 

Hi! My name is Romee Hoeksma and I am on a journey to an eco-positive life. An eco-positive lifestyle is a lifestyle in which I have a more positive than negative impact on the beautiful planet earth. On this blog you can follow my journey to a life with only positive impact. At this blog you can find all sorts of things, from tips to recipes to personal experiences, but most of all fun (I hope!). I write about how I want to change the world, but don’t look at it as if I’m judging you. If anything, I like responses from my dear readers the most, so don’t hesitate to contact me or respond to any of my posts!

Yours sincerely,
Romee

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Ik gebruik al jaren een bamboe tandenborstel, die van Humble Brush 🎋. Naast dat hun product duurzaam is, doen ze ook wat moois met de winst. Dat maakt een product nou echt eco-positief! Je leest meer over poetsen met bamboe op mijn blog, via de link in mijn bio. Vandaag op de blog: iets waarbij de relatie met eco-positief leven wat indirect is: diëten. Januari is dé maand waarin veel mensen weer aan het diëten slaan en daarom leek het me goed om deze post nog net op de valreep in januari te delen. De blog van vandaag gaat slechts over één van de vele nadelen van diëten: het leidt ons af van wat echt belangrijk is 🧐. Weten waarom ik dat denk? Lees dan nu het artikel via de link in mijn bio. Ik ga dit jaar weer de challenge aan om de winter door te komen zonder de warming aan te zetten. Hiervoor ging mijn essential, een warmwaterkruik 💦, kapot. In deze reel laat ik je zien hoe ik een ‘nieuwe’ tweedehands kruik kocht. Vandaag te lezen op whenateengoesgreen.com: een inspirerende documentary over Greta Thunberg: I am Greta. Een documentaire over hoop, maar vooral over doorzettingsvermogen 🔥. Lees het nu via de link in mijn bio. Meer vegan producten in de schappen, yay! Gisteren probeerde ik voor het eerst de vegan lentil tikki masala saus van Patak’s 🧑🏼‍🍳. Zie in deze reel wat ik ervan vond. Vandaag verscheen er een nieuw artikel op mijn blog over: 5 dingen die ik niet koop. Want we denken vaak dat we dingen écht nodig hebben, maar vaak is dat niet zo 🧠. Check het artikel via de link in miijn bio. Vorige week verscheen er een artikel op mijn blog over alles wat ik nieuw kocht in 2022. Dat is een groot deel van mijn negatieve impact. Deze week was het tijd om te kijken naar de andere kant van de medaille. Vandaag lees je op mijn blog een artikel over al mijn positive impact in 2022 🌞. Je vind de link naar het artikel in de link in mijn bio. Afgelopen week verscheen er op mijn blog een artikel over alles wat ik nieuw heb gekocht in 2022. Eén ding op de lijst waren deze onderbroeken (een stuk of 20). En nu denk je misschien: waarom zou je in één keer zoveel onderbroeken kopen? Op 31 december, nog net op de valreep in 2022, kwam er een video online op mijn Youtube-kanaal over voedselcoöperaties. Ik denk namelijk dat voedselcoöperaties ons voedselsysteem democratischer en eerlijker kunnen maken 🥦.

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  • Dieting distracts us
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  • 5 things I don’t buy
  • My positive impact in 2022
  • All my new purchases in 2022

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