Further on Aluminum Toxicity & Health
Well cripes. I just found out that one of my so-called organic deodorants contains alum, which (you think I’d have picked up on the word derivation) is an aluminum salt. So out it goes. Which one is it? Uncharacteristically, the "Kiss My Face: Liquid Rock" copped to it right on the label. I also highly suspect the "Natural Crystal" rock spray and similar solid "crystal rock" deodorants as they’re of a piece with the KMF claims. They say "natural mineral salts" on the label and never come out with exactly *what*, but heck, aluminum is a naturally occuring mineral, (ditto bauxite, from which it comes) so anything that lists either alum or bauxite is suspect. A tiny taste-test (I washed out my mouth with rosewater!) revealed it all - there was a definite, alum-like acridity about the Natural Crystal Rock spray.
Well shoot. Back to the drawing board.
And back to my old favorite, baking soda. Which incidentally is sodium carbonate from salt (sodium chloride) and limestone (calcium carbonate) mixed together in a reaction known as the Solvay Process. To my knowledge, neither of these compounds have negative health implications unless you ingest too much of them (salt). So I’ve removed the Kiss My Face and Natural Crystal Rock spray from the lineup, and am making my own concoction.
Auntie M’s Pit-Stop Deodorant Powder
When I was in college, first going vegan and utterly broke, I couldn’t afford the fancy organic deodorants so I made this baking soda/cornstarch mix. As I remember, it worked pretty well until I ran out of money to buy more oils. In a glass bowl mix half baking soda and half cornstarch - any amounts, just half-n-half. If you’re allergic to corn, you might want to eliminate the cornstarch. But if you put it in, you’ll eliminate the need for baby powder to take down the tackiness of your wet/stick mix deodorants. Baking soda is not enough by itself to accomplish this.
Add tea tree oil (just a drop - it’s STRONG!), lavender, sage and lemon oils - a total of no more than 6 drops per cup of dry mix. I also liked a scant drop of neroli as a scent-sweetener, though you can use rose or ylang-ylang or just amp up the amount of lavender or citrus. This is reading like a cake recipe! But it’s better than aluminum
Mash all this around in a glass bowl with a fork until well mixed - some folks put this mix in the blender, but cleanup can be difficult as the oils scent sticks to plastics. Store in a glass jar, out of the sunlight (which can degrade essential oils) and apply with a powder puff over other, wetter organic deodorants. Keeps well and for about 6-8 months. If you use Tea Tree and Sage, it’s going to help you free from fungi as well, so feel free to go ahead and powder those barking dogs of yours. Great for sprinkling in the shoes as well.
Enjoy!
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