Make scents

In the past, Rebecca and I have enjoyed our times together making various natural skin care products, we have made, lip balms, a soothing headache one, even a luxurious body butter, adding essential oils to suit. Rebecca trained in Aromatherapy when she was studying for all her holistic therapies, it´s more complicated than you think, mixing the high, middle and lower notes of the scents to obtain the best mix.

Some are uplifting, some antibacterial, ideal for various applications around the home, some comforting and soothing, the old favourites such as Lavender, Roman Chamomile and Rosemary work quite well for sleep problems. Putting Lavender oils in a diffuser in the bedroom before bed time, leaves the room very calming, Lavender oil can also be used directly on the skin and by massaging a couple of drops in your hands first to warm it, then applying it directly to the soles of your feet, again aids sleep, with the added bonus of making the skin feel nice. Our feet are so often neglected and yet we put them through so much, so it´s a win win.

I have always been interested in using herbs, both for culinary and holistic uses, some of the old tried and tested remedies can be better than using today´s chemical laden products. 

So with this in mind I decided to make a natural deodorant, very simple, using just 3 ingredients plus an essential oil.

I mixed bicarbonate of soda with cornflour, then added coconut oil (in it´s solid state) using 7 tbsps,

the mixture was slightly ´wet´ so added some more cornflour, mixing well before adding the essential oil, in this case Lavender, although I think Rose would be nice too, what ever is your preference.

The original recipe called for arrowroot, which is so difficult to get here, so maybe that would make the consistency a little firmer.

As I didn´t have any pop up containers, I pressed it into silicon moulds and let it solidify in the fridge.

It would definitely be much easier to apply from a container, but it does work, well I haven´t had any adverse complaints so far! lol and it doesn´t leave any oil stains on clothes.

A word of warning though, don´t apply straight after shaving as it may irritate

Here is the recipe in case you wanted to try it too

6-8 tablespoons of coconut oil (solid state)

1/4 cup bicarbonate of soda

1/4 cup arrowroot or cornflour (plus a little extra in case it is too soft)

few drops of essential oil of choice

(pop up containers can be purchased on the internet for about 9.00 pounds for 10)

Next trick is to get hubby to try this anti-pong as he calls it.

I´ll leave you with two of his lovely views taken a couple of days ago

take care

xcx