Smells Like...

I realised that I needed a deodorant that did more than just sit on the skin, smelling of flowers, that I could use immediately after roller derby training. And, of course, I HAD to try to make it myself.  I may well concede defeat in the future, but for now, I’m going to road test  the hell out of this…

There are a lot of recipes online, and many of them seemed to use witch-hazel as the base, with essential oils added for antibacterial properties and fragrance.

I based my recipe on this tutorial but left out the Aloe Vera, because I’m one of those people who gets a mild allergic reaction from using the plant topically.

That's bicarbonate of soda on the spoon...

The bottle I planned to decant the deodorant in was quite small, so I halved the ingredients; I also messed around with the essential and fragrance oils until I felt as though I had the right combination of scents balanced with the right amount of bacteria fighting elements…

So, I used:

1/4 cup of Witch Hazel

1/8 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (a natural stench killer!)

5 Drops of Tea Tree essential oil

5 Drops of Clove essential oil

10 Drops of Cold Pressed Lemon essential oil

15 Drops of Musk fragrance oil

There is actually some Witch Hazel in the bottom of the beaker!

This mix creates a unisex (or even slightly masculine) scent, but definitely not a feminine one, which is fine by me - I sweat a hell of a lot during training, so I wanted something with a ‘robust’ fragrance.

However even though I halved the initial ingredients, I still ended up with LOADS of this; so I had to fill a few more bottles than expected.  I’ll keep the cutsie ones, and give the less girly looking bottles to Mr Ponchos…

You can find the girly bottles here. 

So far it has served me well during a workout - I hope it keeps doing its job after training