Ask An Herbalist: Natural Deodorant

Karen Ask's:

Hi April,
I have been using a homemade deodorant spray with a base of Grain Alcohol. I'm concerned about using alcohol in such a sensitive area with high absorption and perfusion! Do you have ideas or suggestions that would not only help with keeping us fresh but also be beneficial for our lymphatic system?

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Hello Karen!

I'll touch on a few things here. The alcohol itself is not a huge concern if you are making sure to dilute it. I use a 100 proof vodka base in my own blend but 100 proof vodka is already 50% water 50% alcohol. I then dilute this by 50% with colloidal silver just for added bacterial killing bennifits. But plain ol water would work well too and this gets you to about a 25% alcohol base that's not to harsh on the skin at all and there is still just enough alcohol to keep it preserved. 

My main concern would be what you are adding to your spray at the moment. I am worried you're likely using essential oils. Not trying to assume and i sure hope i am wrong but sadly eo's are in rampant use these days. Anyhow eo's are really bad for many reasons that i won't drone on about here (read why I avoid eo's here) but out of all of the places they are dangerous to apply I believe under our arms and around our breasts are just about the most dangerous places!

So what would be some better options? Well you can make any tincture into a diluted under arm spray! I love to use yarrow, white pine, cedar, lavender. Basically anything with a good antibacterial action as is. But if we want to get our lymphatic systems flowing we sure could made a blend one herbal for the sake of smell and antibacterial and another to aid our lymphs cleavers would be my first choice here but chickweed or violet leaf/blooms would be great too! You could toss in a vanilla bean and some lavender or any of the aromatic herbs you prefer (aside from spicy ones like cinnamon those could cause some irritation).

I really like this method for keeping my arms fresh, granted in the summer you have to spray and wipe down a time or two cause it's ya know a billion degrees out(I carry a few washable clothes in a baggie I use to freshen up with) and we are sweating like pigs, but using oil based products just puts us in a perpetual cycle of bacterial growth because oil + moisture = bacteria no matter what we are adding to the oil.

I sure hope some of this was helpful!

Kindest Regards,

April G.

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