I’ve made a couple different deodorant recipes—mostly ones I found on a variety of different blogs. There were powder ones, which made a big, poufy, white mess in bathroom and did little of the “de” for the “odorant” part. There were bar/butter types that did the trick, but skidded across my skin like cold butter on toast and left my armpits burning after repeat use. No good.
So, rather than turn into the dirty hippie I seem destined to become (albeit a good 40 years early), I decided to strike out and make my own recipe.
I based it around my more successful body/lip balm formulas, taking cues from the active ingredients in the other deodorant recipes I’d tried (namely baking soda (USA / Canada) thinned with cornstarch).
This is what I came up with. It’s solid enough to use in a tube, but just the right texture to melt on contact with your skin and glide right on. Brilliant. The melting/gliding ability will, of course, vary with the temperature of wherever you store your deodorant, but hold the bar against your skin for a second or two, and it will glide beautifully no matter what.
I no longer recommend putting baking soda on your skin; read this for more information.
The Best Homemade Deodorant
8g | 0.28oz beeswax (USA / Canada)
10g | 0.35oz unrefined shea butter (USA / Canada)
6g | 0.21oz cocoa butter (USA / Canada)
16g | 0.56oz apricot kernel oil
12g | 0.42oz baking soda (USA / Canada)
8g | 0.28oz cornstarch (or other starch like wheat, rice, arrowroot, or tapioca)
10 drops Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
Essential oils of choiceMelt all the oils together, and then stir in the baking soda (USA / Canada), corn starch, and essential oils.
The amount you let the deodorant cool will depend on the type of container you’re using. If you’re using a push tube with a solid bottom, you can pour it right in. If it’s a grid, let is solidify a bit (stirring constantly) before you pack the tube.
I love your ideas and directions for use. One suggestion is putting non-metric measurements in parenthesis.
It’s not that hard to just do the conversions yourself. She’s done all the really hard work of formulating hundreds of recipes and giving them to us for free! http://lmgtfy.com/?q=convert+grams+to+ounces
🙂
Hi, I have read and look at your website and YouTube videos for tallow care for several years now. Thank you for all your information and motivation!
I am a part of a small women’s owned farm company started by my sister and me in Norway. In a tiny place in Norway called Voss, @symre_hudkrem, @een_gard. We do all the farming by ourselves, render tallow from our own cows and have built a tiny buisness with tallowcare locally in Norway. I was wondering if you could cindly consider talking to us about our deodorant that we have tried to make for a long time. We need some good advice and further motivation to finally get the last details in order. Is it of interest for you to talk to us about this? We want to make it with few ingredients and without baking soda and other bad ingredients. Out thoughts and several attempts have been good, but not yet completely satisfied with our deodorant sticks. Want to use tallow, almond oil or jojoba oil, beeswax, cornstarch. And some essential oils. Please let us know if it is possible with some help from you. Best regards, Tonje, one of the sister in Symre hudkrem
Hi! I just made this but swapped the baking soda for zinc oxide. It works! I made two cardboard push-up tubes and two metal slide-top tins for travel. Caveat: it’s zinc oxide so it’s a bit white on skin.
I’m glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I would love it if you put the measurements in something other than grams so I could know how to measure it,or at least say how to measure grams.
btw I really love all your recipes for better living.
definitely a fan,Ediena Hawkes
ehawkes@shaw.ca
Ediena—I love working with weight rather than volume as it’s so much more accurate, and far less messy! You can easily convert the measurements into ounces by multiplying the amount in grams by 0.035274, or using this handy converter: http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/grams-to-ounces.htm. Most scales can be toggled between grams and ounces as well—all of mine can, and it’s very useful. If you want to measure by volume, a rough rule of thumb for liquids is 5g= 1 tsp/5mL, 15g=1 tbsp/15mL, but that’s really not terribly accurate (though it works perfectly for water!). Thanks for visiting!
Thank you…
Another recommendation would be to replace cornstarch with arrow root starch. Cornstarch facilitates the growth of yeast, while arrowroot does not
Great idea, thanks Amy! Cornstarch is generally more readily available (where I live at least), but if you know you are prone to yeast flushes, this swap is definitely a good idea.
I just found your site for the first time today, through a link from Facebook, from Herbs and Oils World. I have been working with herbs for many years, and I really enjoy learning what Other Herbalists are doing! Thanks for a Great Post!
Thanks for stopping by, Jan 🙂
I love your website. I have started making my own products and have ordered products from New Directions Aromatics. I want to try everything …but I need to be reasonable. 🙂
I was wondering if I can substitute the apricot kernel oil with sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil, since I already have these.
I have read that baking soda can cause irritation, can I substitute with arrowroot powder.
I was reading one of the reader`s comments that corn starch can facilitate yeast. Can I substitute this for arrowroot powder.
I also wonder how much vitamin E you put in.
Thank you so much for your advice.
France
I definitely understand the need to not buy everything NDA carries! My shopping carts end up being $500 and then I have to spend ages deciding what to delete 🙁 Ha!
Yes, you can absolutely use either sweet almond or grapeseed oil instead of apricot kernel. They’re very similar; use grapeseed if you want it to absorb faster, though I doubt you’ll notice a huge different between the sweet almond and the grapeseed in this application.
Don’t swap out the baking soda—it’s the active ingredient that actually does the deodorizing! If you swap it out, you’ll just having very well moisturized, starchy armpits 😛 In concentrations this low you shouldn’t see any irritation. That said, if you’re worried about it, make a small batch, test it out for a few days, and see how it goes. If you’re ok with that amount, no worries. If not, make another batch and reduce the amounts of the baking soda and starch and try again!
Feel free to use either arrowroot or wheat starch in place of the cornstarch if you have yeast issues or worries. It’s never been a problem for me, but that’s just me 🙂
The vitamin E is generally just a drizzle—maybe 5–10 drops.
Hope that helps & enjoy your homemade deodorant!
Hey Marie!
This is my favorite deodorant recipe, but it does sometimes cause irritation because of the ph of the baking soda. The baking soda does yeoman’s work, though on preventing smell, so I did want to keep it. In light of your new book you’re working on (can’t wait!) I wanted to share that with some google research I found that my red angry pits were due to the ph balance problem, and that it is easily fixed with a spray of diluted ACV to bring the ph back to normal. Now what I do is I spray that on my pits, let it dry and then put this deodorant on. No unhappy pits, definitely works. The website I went to discussed how much baking soda was in a commercial baking soda deodorant, and it was actually a tiny amount (surprise) and then a bunch of who knows what as well.
Keep doing great stuff!
This is a super awesome tip for anybody who has trouble with natural deodorant—it’s saved baking soda deodorant for many of my friends who were otherwise finding it super irritating 😀
Hi Marie, i am not an expert, but i do have a red pit problem with baking soda in DIY deodorant. Just wondering…, would adding citric acid increase the pH and resolve the issue?
I have a question, most deodorant recipes i’ve seen are with coconut oil because of the antibacterial factor. I am sure apricot kernel, or grapeseed, or almond oil works too. But i am curious as to the possibility there might be a particular great reason why you use apricot kernel oil.
Thank you, Marie. Love your posts!
Hey Inneke! If you add citric acid directly to the deodorant you’re just going to react with the baking soda and completely de-activate it, so you won’t have deodorant anymore… just gritty body butter :/ It would fix the pH issue, for sure, but it also won’t work as a deodorant anymore 😛 Instead, try my pit toner! Separating the two works 🙂
In my experience, whatever antibacterial properties coconut oil may have are completely useless in the face of stinky arm pits 😛 You could use it instead of the shea butter in this recipe, but I don’t think you’ll notice much (if any) boost in performance 🙂
Hi, Marie. I discovered your website yesterday and can’t seem to stray very far from it. I am enjoying it tremendously. I would love to try a less expensive aluminum free deodorant, so this recipe seems a perfect option for me. I was just wondering if you have any residue on your clothing after using it.
Awesome! I’m thrilled to hear you’re enjoying poking around 🙂 I’ve never had residue problems with this deodorant—the butters sink into your skin nicely, and there isn’t so much baking soda or starch as to leave anything behind.
GREAT recipe. I’ve tried several others and from not working to staining my clothes I was getting very discouraged with this process of trying to use a natural deodorant.
I LOVE the metric measurements. PEOPLE asking for other units… this is the most accurate way to measure something like this… every kitchen should have a little food scale anyway. If you need conversions you should have paid more attention in math class… didn’t your teacher tell you you’d use it one day?? LOL
Anyone on the fence… this is the recipe to go with. You won’t regret making the initial purchase to buy all these ingredients.
Yay! I’m so thrilled this worked out for you, Liz—I love this deodorant and use it nearly every day (some days I am lazy, lol).
And thank you for understanding and appreciating my metric units 🙂 I love them! And so does most of the world! I never realized how half-assed we do metric here in Canada until I went to Australia and absolutely everything is metric there. I couldn’t tell you how many meters tall I was, or how many kilos something was, even though Canada is technically a metric country. I’ve worked at getting better with it since then, since it makes so much more sense!
Thanks for reading 😀 Stay tuned for more awesome stuff!
Lol, I’m Australian and we’re TOTALLY metric! If you use Imperial over here, someone will tell you to get out of the dark ages!! Having said that, we’re all savvy enough to know how to convert between the two
No kidding! 😛 I remember being shocked by produce prices until I remembered everything was by the kilo, not the pound haha.
You’re amazing!!
Aww, shucks 😛
Hi Marie,
I tried your deodorant recipe and I really like it. I have read much on other sites about stuff with beeswax staining clothes. So far, I have not had that trouble. I love that this homemade version works well for me, even in the middle of a rush at Starbucks! I am going to try your lip blame as well.
Thanks for the recipes!
Linda
I’m thrilled to hear it, Linda 😀 I’m never had problems with beeswax staining clothing, either—in fact, I’ve never even heard about it! If you can make this the lip balm will be no problem at all—have fun with it & let me know how it goes 🙂 Thanks for reading!
Hi Marie,
thanks for all the useful recipes!
I’m trying to spread the same DIY message in Italy for all natural stuff.. it’s still very unknown there. People are not aware of the bad chemicals in cosmetics..
Keep up the good work!
Thanks,
Cristina
Thanks for reading, Cristina! Spread that DIY awesomeness 🙂
Hi Marie! I love your website, it contains all the great recipes I want to try out (I am new to DIY, but very determinate to never ever use chemicals again 🙂 )
I was wondering how much essential oil do you use?
Thank You!
Melinda
Hi Melinda, welcome to the super awesome world of DIY! You should definitely check out my “The Basics” section, there’s some great easy recipes and articles to help get you started.
For this recipe it really is all about personal preference and the EOs you when it comes to amounts. 10 drops is a good place to start, but I’d advise going slowly, adding a drop or two at a time, stirring, smelling, and going from there 🙂 It’s a great way to learn! Just err on the side of less… I’ve ruined things with too many EOs ’cause they smelled to strong to use.
Your are awesome….I LOVE YOUR BLOG….what do I love?……..everything!
Thanks so much Lynn 😀
Do you remember how many tubes this filled? And do you order your tubes from Saffire Blue? Thinking about trying this recipe… also, do you find deodorant tubes to be reuseable? Trying to figure out if I really should give this a go… I’m a pretty stinky person when I use deo as opposed to antiperspirant… a wee bit scared lol
Errr… no. The ingredients add up to about 60g, so it should yield about 1/3 cup (~80mL) volume-wise. The tubes are actually just some re-purposed sample ones I was handed on the street in Vancouver. I tossed the stinky deodorant that came in them and re-used the tube lol.
As for the tubes being re-useable, it really depends on the tube. Think of a lip balm tube—they have a little platform at the bottom that the liquid lip balm lands on, and then that platform pushes up the product as you twist the bottom. Deodorant tubes are the same way, but the structure of that platform varies greatly. I have a tube that I re-purposed from Tom’s and it has a solid platform, so it’s great for re-using. These pink-capped ones have a grid, which means I have to let the deodorant set up a bit before I can stuff it in the tube. Some don’t have a platform, just edges, so those are useless. And, unfortunately, you don’t know until you’ve yanked out the original stuff. I’d presume that any tube you bought with the express use of self-filling would have a solid push platform, but you may want to check. If it does, that tube is pretty much good for infinite uses!
And I would definitely give it a try 🙂 Give it a go for a short day if you can, so if you need to shower at lunch you have a chance. You might try a half batch if you’re really apprehensive.
Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
I tried a DIY deodorant which contained baking soda, arrowroot powder and coconut oil plus some lavender EO and ended up with angry red, burning armpits. I then read that this is caused by the ph level of baking soda which is about 8.0 and neutral is 7(ish). Most skin care products are about 4-5. I know they use artificial chemicals to adjust that number but I need something more gentle than baking soda. Is it possible to replace the baking soda with some type of clay like Kaolin?
It sounds like your skin doesn’t like baking soda at all :/ Bummer. I have a friend in a similar situation. We’re brainstorming up other deodorizing ingredients that could replace the baking soda, but haven’t had a chance to actually try anything yet. Bentonite clay looks promising, so you could start there. In the meantime I’d also recommend trying out the crystal deodorants. I’ve had great luck with them, and so has my friend who can’t using baking soda deodorants.
Hi Marie.. Thank you for all your posts. they are amazing and inspiring. I’m at the “want to clean up all the chemicals I can” point right now.
I’ve been using the 3 ingredient deodorant now for a while and while it works great, I do get the angry red stinging every once in a while. I’m going to try this recipe this weekend. (got all my Saffire Blue stuff and am now good to go!) I’ve been combing the web for other recipes too, and have found people adding clay to their recipes for “extra dryness protection.” I’m wondering if you think that it will do anything, or mix OK. I have some Kaolin clay I just bought that I was thinking of trying, but I haven’t experimented much yet. Just thought I’d see if you have any words of wisdom before I go a-mixing. 😛
thanks for all the sharing you do! its really appreciated by people like me to lurk and try out stuff! Thanks!
Allie
Hi Allie! My first thought on reading about the occasional deodorant bumps is that you need to pH balance your pits 🙂 Crunchy Betty has a good overview on doing that. And yes, clay is a great idea—my upcoming deodorant recipe uses some 🙂 Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
I just found your site today. My wife has been a DIY er for several years, All kinds of soaps for every use as well as herbal healing teas and salves and lotions. We were very happy to find this deodorant recipe. I have difficulty with deodorants causing chaffing and the number of stores selling decent ones for sensitive “pits” is limited. Thanks! I’ll let you know how it works for me.
Dan
Hi Dan! Welcome to my wee corner of the internet 🙂 If you find this one to be irritating as well, I’ve seen probiotic powered deodorants that are supposed to work as well—that might be another thing to try. The crystal deodorant is also great if it works for you (I’ve heard it doesn’t work for everybody).
What is the exact meaning of “grid” here? It really has a lot of meanings.
Hi Anastasiya! In this entry when I’m talking about a grid I’m talking about a series of intersecting lines. The base of this deodorant tube was a grid of strips of plastic instead of a solid piece of plastic 🙂
Hey Marie!
Again, Love your blog and recepies and all the information you provide! IS the best!
Can you please, in your recepies, tell us for how many pots, o ml are they? because i start and the i find out i do not have enough pots for it… jeje..
Thanks!
Hi Elen! You can figure this out for yourself by adding up the amounts in the recipe, and then dividing that by the size of your containers 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! I made it, converting the grams to teaspoons and using grape seed oil instead of the one listed. It doesn’t seem to remain solid as easily. When I apply it to my armpits, it melts quickly. Maybe I didn’t put enough beeswax in it or something.
Hi Lex! Converting weight measurements to volume measurements is pretty hit and miss, which is why I always recommend getting a scale instead 🙂 You’ll love it!
I’ve been OBSESSED with your website lately! Your recipes are far superior to all the others that I’ve tried!
One quick question: I made this homemade deo last night and for some reason my baking soda and/or arrowroot powder settled in the bottom of my bar. Have you had this happen before? Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Macky! I’m so thrilled you’re loving my blog 🙂 When you want to suspend something like baking soda in a concoction you want to give the mixture a chance to thicken up enough to hold the powder in suspension before transferring it to your container. All you need to do is re-melt everything, and then let it cool a bit while stirring until it’s thick and creamy. Then you can scrape it into your tubes, tapping in the counter to knock out the air bubbles and get it to fall into place 🙂
So I have many family members who are allergic to cocoa any part of the plant including the smell is there anything I can replace the cocoa with?
Hi Briana! I have an entire article on carrier oil subs here 🙂
Sweet that post is very helpful. 😀 Thank you.
I was wondering, I have a few recipes with palm oil in it and due to personal feelings on palm oil would it fall into your soft oil section so I can replace it in my recipes?
From everything I know of palm oil it’s a soft oil, but having never worked with it I cannot say any more than that.
How many drops of vitamin e oil and essential oil should add in this recipe ? Thanks.
~5 drops should be fine 🙂
I’m sad to say this didn’t work for me. Something about my body chemistry apparently reacts badly with the baking soda and cornstarch. I also was super paranoid about having beeswax transfer to my clothing – which would be the hugest nightmare ever. So initially I tried it overnight, but I woke up, we’ll just say, in worse shape than usual, scent-wise… I’m still bummed. I made it up with lemongrass and Rosemary, my fave mix and wasn’t able to actually use it… Since, I’ve gone to perfumes and body sprays – purchased – which work well, and am looking at making my own…
KM
Bummer 🙁 Have you tried any of the “crystal” deodorants or Himalayan sea salt? I’ve had good luck with the crystal myself, and readers have said good things about using a solid block of Himalayan pink sea salt in the same manner. Good luck!
Hi I love your website and get lot’s of inspiration. I’m looking for a non baking soda deodorant did you find any good solution? Magnesium oxide and neem oil have been suggested. Much appreciation from Ireland xx
I’m working on it; the best I’ve found so far is potassium alum, though I’ve yet to share a formula using it 🙂
Hi! Just found your blog through Pinterest and I am hooked, cannot decide what to try first! Thanks a lot for sharing all these awesome recipes, so generous of you! Greetings from Austria! 🙂
Thanks, Carmen! Welcome to my blog 🙂
Hi! First of all, I love your blog and have about a million tabs open right now for things to try. Second of all, about how much essential oil would you use to scent this deodorant (and do you think thieve’s -ahem- I mean bandit’s oil would be good, or too harsh)? Thanks!
Hi Jessica! With deodorant just add a few drops at a time until you like the strength of the scent 🙂 As for bandit’s, do a test with it diluted in some oil and see if that works for your skin.
Hi, Is it deodorant leaves stains on clothes? Thx DAsa
It is possible, but I haven’t noticed any staining. I recommend doing a patch test if you’re concerned about it.
I just made this recipe and perhaps I didn’t let it set long enough (an hour), when I put it on it immediately left oil marks on my T-shirt:( Are there certain oils that tend to do this more than others? I love your site and want to make everything!!!! Great job …..thank you for all your hard work!!
Hi Cheryl! Thanks for DIYing with me 🙂 If you’re having issues with oil marks the easiest thing you can do is let the deodorant absorb into your skin for longer before putting your shirt on in the morning. Otherwise you can add more cornstarch (or a starch of your choice), and read this article on carrier oils to learn about ones with different absorption speeds for your next batch 🙂
Thank you for using the metric system! People, it is so much easier! No difficult fractions and no need to clean measuring cups and spoons. The tare button is your friend. Count me a converted American.
HUZZAH! I never thought this day would come 😉 One more for the metric train, toot toot! 😛
Oh my. I’m from Vietnam. It’s the first “oversea”-website that I love . Thank you for sharing. It’s useful . Ah. I really love doing handmade. Do you know any website sell ingredient ? Can you give me an advice ?
Hi Emily! Welcome to Humblebee & Me 🙂 I’ve got a big list of places to shop here, but I’m afraid there’s nothing in Asia. If you happen to find anything, please let me know and I’ll add it to the list!
I love your Vegan Deodorant but I think it’s a better winter option for me (won’t melt on me in my bathroom). I made this when I got back from Germany and I’m wearing it today and it’s amazing! The beeswax is exactly what I needed to raise the melting temp and keep it from leaving me soaking wet. I used orange and lime oils for the scent and it’s heavenly.
Yay! I’m so glad this oldie-but-goodie is working for you 😀
Is there a substitution for the beeswax? I am assuming it is for solidity, but maybe not. If I don’t have add it, will it just be softer? Instead of a solid, it would be a rub on cream?
Check out this FAQ article 🙂 The wax helps solidity, ingredient dispersion, and adhesion, so I don’t recommend dropping it—it would be drooly and the active ingredients would settle out.
Are than any simple substitutions for beeswax?
None that I’ve worked with are 1:1 (soy wax might be?), but you can try either of the “C” waxes at 70-80%. Read this for more info 🙂
hi marie! thanks for all the sharing, you’re amazing!
if we keep this deodorant out of the fridge, should we use a preservative? (i’m using arrowroot instead of cornstarch) if not, for how long is it safe to use it?
thanks!!
No water, no preservative 🙂 Check the FAQ for several articles on this!
Hi Marie,
Love your blog and all your recipes!
I see you no longer recommend baking soda in this recipe (I had a look at the link). I have been making and using a very similar recipe for 3 years while at the same time trying to craft a deodorant without baking soda for friends who get rashy from it. So far, I have not been successful at finding a recipe that keeps the stink away in the same way. Nothing seems to be quite as effective. Does one of your recipes come close?
Curious to know what you are doing instead of BS.
Thanks again for all the helpful information!
I’ve afraid I’ve got nothing at this point. Some readers have reported success with diatomaceous earth, while others have said it does nothing for them.
Hi Marie! I love the sound of this recipe, I was looking online for deodorants, and most were made with lots of cornstarch p, a bit of baking soda and coconut oil, which I figured A) melt easily and B) would just sit there all gloopy and yuck, and then I thought, hunblebeeandme always has awesome recipes, and sure enough, you had two solid deodorant recipes! Thank you so much for all the work you put into your blog!
You’re welcome! And yeah, coconut oil and baking soda sounds like a recipe for a lot of greasy underarm stain removal lol.
Over the past few years I have been enjoying everything you post! Thank you. My question today is I’d like to make, say, 10 tubes of deodorant, is it okay just to multiple all the ingredients times ten?
Appreciate you, here in California
I’ve got a guide on the best way to do this coming out in a couple weeks—technically you are correct, but for 10x scaling I’d recommend waiting for the post 🙂
I made this today and substituted baking soda for arrowroot powder. It set well and is smooth, however, it has a slightly sticky feeling when you lower and lift your arm up. Any ideas on how change it?
Can you clarify: did you use more baking soda and no starch, or more starch and no baking soda?
Hi! The only sub I made was using arrowroot powder instead of baking soda. I’m wondering how to make it less sticky and more dry.
Well, if you did that you didn’t really make deodorant; you made body butter. There’s nothing in there that’s going to combat odour at all.
You could melt it down and add more starch if you want, but the beeswax & shea butter content that make this recipe creamy and give it staying power are also part of what makes it heavier/sticky.
I made this exactly as your recipe calls, using arrowroot starch instead of cornstarch. The EOs I used were lemon, eucalyptus, pine, tea tree, and peppermint and camphor. This works great! I’m so excited and so glad to never have to buy deodorant again!
Awesome! Thanks so much for DIYing with me 😀
Hi! Just want to start by saying that I absolutely LOVE all of your recipes, and I’m always excited to try making something new! (The Chilli oil tiger balm is a favourite of mine and the boyfriends!). My question is this – I’ve read the article as to why you no longer recommend using Baking Soda on your skin… However, I also found the recipe for the soothing Aloe Pit Toner… The baking soda is too alkali for the skin… yet the pit toner is acidic. I also notice that you didn’t remove the recipes from the website, just crossed them out. Does that mean that it would be ok to make the deodorant and use it as long as pit toner is always used beforehand? Surely this would just balance out the pH and be ok? Or are there any recipes for deodorant that don’t use baking soda? I really want to get to a point of using all homemade natural products, and this was one of my must try’s! Was disappointed to see it all crossed out! Looking forward to your reply 🙂
Hey Joanne! I opted for crossing-out rather than removing for a few reasons—mostly for transparency. I’m saying “hey, here’s a thing I used to do, and exactly how I did it—please don’t do it, and learn from my mistakes.” You certainly can use it if you want, and many people do use baking soda deodorants successfully for years, but many people also experience extreme irritation. I personally never experienced any irritation, for what it is worth. I’m working on some baking soda free deodorant formulas now and potassium alum seems to be the most promising active ingredient so far.
Hi! Do you have a recipe for A natural deodorant that doesn’t include Baking Soda?
Good afternoon Inbar!
From what Marie has said in the past, she is working on developing a formula for a baking soda free deodorant. It will come!
I’ve found that reducing the baking soda by half (replacing with extra cornflour/arrowroot) helps enormously with the red pits. Yes, the baking soda causes a high pH, that’s why your pits become unfriendly to bacteria. So basically it’s actually the high pH which is doing the deodorising, not the natural stink absorbency of bicarb. If you experiment a bit to find just enough to be effective as a deodorant but not enough to irritate your skin, then this recipe is tops. BTW, I use tea tree and lemon myrtle EOs and the resulting deo smells devine – like lemon meringue pie! I also grind the bicarb finer in a coffee grinder and don’t apply directly after shaving – both of which also help reduce the irritation.