Clean Hippies (Part 1)

In the olden days, when settlers drove their covered wagons across the great plains of the North American Midwest, blaring loud rap music from their Victrolas and dying of dysentery, hippies were known for their dirtiness. Not so anymore! Well, some hippies are still quite dirty, yes. But many take the same moral scruples that disgust everyone else and apply them to bodily hygiene, with fresh results. Also, there are a lot of "green" home and body cleaning products that have snuck into the market in the last few years. Some of them might be greenwashed frauds, but there are websites to counteract that. Hippies with money have no excuse to remain dirty.

But what about poor hippies? And DIYers? And historical reenactionists? And rugged individualists? Well, they have recipes for cleaning products. They have quite a few, actually. Sites like Lifehacker and CRAFT have showcased a few in the last year. But a lot of the online recipes are hand-me-downs, without much in the way of explanations for why specific ingredients were chosen. So I thought I'd try a few of these recipes, do some in-depth research, and report to Internet with my results. Here you go, Internet: Science! Even if you aren't interested in making any of these recipes yourself, this information will make you a more educated consumer - you'll know what to look for on the product labels.

This write-up has taken enough time and energy that I'm breaking it up into 3 smaller posts, one for each of the major cleaning products I explored. Part 1 is deodorant, Part 2 is toothpaste, and Part 3 is laundry detergent. My detailed notes on price calculations are at the end of each post.

Deodorant
Difficulty: Easy - 10 minutes, simple ingredients
Cost: $0.65 (1 standard-size stick, container not included)

From a practical standpoint, deodorant is pretty simple. Basically, you want to apply something with anti-bacterial properties to keep bacteria from growing in your sweat and creating powerful odors. There are 3 basic approaches: stop the bacteria, stop the odors, and stop the sweat. In other words: deodorant, perfume/cologne, anti-perspirant.

This recipe uses coconut oil and baking soda, both of which are anti-bacterial. Baking soda has the added advantage of absorbing odors with its magical amphoteric powers, and coconut oil also smells nice (like baking soda, it is multi-talented). The recipe also uses cornstarch, to absorb moisture and make the deodorant more gel-like.

For reference, here's the recipe linked above. It's the one I made, pictured here.

• 1/4 cup baking soda
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• ~10 drops of essential oils (lavender, sandalwood, etc.)
• ~3 drops liquid vitamin E
  

Anyway, the batch I made works pretty well and smells nice. Here's some notes:

• Use an oil with a high melting point. Ideally, you want one that looks and feels like thick grease at room temperature. It'll work with a more liquid oil, but the oil will melt and drip out of your container during hot summer days. Or you could keep your deodorant in the fridge.
• Deodorant bars are essentially a combination of anti-bacterial powders (cornstarch & baking soda) and liquids (oils, alcohol, vinegar). Some people prefer using only a powder or a liquid - experiment, if you want! Here's some of the other variations I've come across:
  

  • Powder: equal parts baking soda and cornstarch
  • Cornstarch and lavender
    
  • Plain coconut oil (just rub it on)
    
  • Tea tree oil
  • Olive oil infused with garlic (supposedly you only smell like garlic bread for an hour or so)
  • A splash of rubbing alcohol or vinegar after a shower
  • A paste of baking soda and lemon juice
  • Alum is also somewhat popular, both powdered and whole (ie, those "deodorant rocks" you may have seen in stores)

  This list isn't exhaustive; there are quite a few other anti-bacterial options.
  

• The recipe I used works fine, but when I run out I'm going to try this one, which is basically the same, but calls for cooking the mixture. There are a couple others that agree. I'm pretty sure heating it before pouring in the container would improve the absorption and consistency of the cornstarch.
• One thing to watch out for: it's only happened to me once so far, but if you sweat a lot in a short period of time, the moisture will saturate the powdered components (baking soda, cornstarch), carry them down your skin, and deposit them wherever it evaporates. So you might get some streaks of crusty white powder down your flanks. I didn't find it terribly inconvenient, but your needs might be different. If you can't handle white powders, try coconut oil or rubbing alcohol.
  
• I haven't touched on antiperspirants in this review, because for most people they're unnecessary. However, if you have hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating, you might need a strong antiperspirant. Some options exist, but none of them are great. Of the deodorants listed here, the baking soda + cornstarch powder would probably be the most helpful for moisture absorption, but see my warning above.

And a final thought: if you're already happy with a synthetic deodorant that you're using right now, you might not like homemade deodorant. Most of the recipes don't "go on clear", and, well, it's just not a commercial product.
Of course, there's also ongoing controversy: industry spokespeople say that antiperspirants and deodorants are totally harmless, and their critics say that they use known carcinogens, neurotoxins, and skin irritants. I can't make heads or tails of it either way, so you'll have to make up your own mind.

Cost details - I've made almost no attempt to find sale items or consider bulk purchasing. All listed prices were either what I paid at the store, or the cost of a typical-looking item found on Google Product Search. Also, I didn't take the price of essential oils into account. Individual taste varies, and besides, "drops" are not standardized, so calculating the cost-per-drop is onerous. If you're motivated, DIY and post a comment.

Deodorant cost breakdown:
cornstarch 1/4 cup (30g) - $0.06 (at $1/lb)
baking soda 1/4 cup (48g) - $0.14 (at $1.39/lb)
coconut oil 2 Tbl - $1.20 (at $18/15oz., roughly $19/lb)
(you can get it at 1/3 the cost, which would be $0.40)
vitamin e - 4 drops (.2ml) - $0.05 (at $12/50ml)
my total (fancy coconut oil): $1.45
your total (regular price coconut oil): $0.65