Make Own - Toothpaste & Natural Deodorant

 My Make Your Own Section

I have had a go at making mandarin infused vinegar cleaning spray, fizzing bath bombs, almond milk & liquid soap. 

Below I show you how to make your own natural deodorant & toothpaste plus some tips on using natural products around the house.

How to Make Home Made Natural Toothpaste (Tooth Powder)

I call this toothpaste but in reality it's a powder which you can make yourself really easily & very cheaply too! Key ingredients are arrowroot, baking soda, essential oil & chopped sage.

I used an old jar from a previously used plastic free product. Plastic free toothpaste can be very expensive so using the same jar to house my own version recycles the container & saves money at the same time. 

For extra brownie points, why not ditch the plastic & use a bamboo toothbrush instead!😇

The quantities will depend on how much you're planning to make, I suggest starting small to begin with to see how you get on. Mix equals quantities of arrowroot, baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) & water (sprinkle water in gently to keep the powdery consistency). 

Add in peppermint oil & chopped sage. 

The peppermint oil can be adjusted but do take care of essential oils as they are very strong and can burn if swallowed neat - diluted down in the powder should be fine. Feel free to experiment with quantities, base ingredients and flavours to see what works for you.

The site below has the recipe & suggested quantities at: 
https://uncomplicatedrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/03/arrowroot-toothpaste.html

You can search for other recipes that use clay for instance to make a paste & some use salt but I like this one as seems less abrasive than salt and I didn't have anything clay based in the cupboard. 

Here's what mine looked like. I find that my teeth do feel very smooth & clean afterwards. Use the toothbrush head to scoop up some of the powder. 

How to Make Your Own Home Made Natural Deodorant

So super easy, you'll wonder why you never did this before! Uses just 3 ingredients (baking soda, coconut oil & essential oil).

Mix equal quantities of coconut oil & baking soda. I started off very small as utilised an old jar of natural deodorant that I reviewed in the past - I found just 1/8th cup of coconut oil + 1/8th cup of bicarb was enough to make up my jar which would make it super cheap & was so quick an easy.

Coconut oil is available in supermarkets or places like Holland & Barrett.

You can add whatever scent you like, I chose sweet orange, lemon grass & lavender. 

Mix the 3 ingredients together (you may need to melt the coconut oil gently first, or if you have a warm kitchen just stirring makes it soften enough to mix with the other ingredients). Mix until you've smoothed out any lumps then add essential oils until you're happy with the scent. 

(Please note that some people are sensitive to bicarb so I would suggest making a small batch first to trial it out. If you are sensitive arrowroot can work as a good substitute).

Also don't drown it in essential oils as too much can irritate. Essential oils need a carrier so the coconut oil should help to protect the skin but never apply essential oils directly onto the skin undiluted.

I was inspired by Dr Axe for this recipe - google searches will help guide you but here's a link to the one I used: https://draxe.com/beauty/homemade-deodorant/

The end product comes up like a paste that you apply to the underarm. You only need a pea sized amount, it should firm up once cold but warms up with the heat of your fingers for application. I found my last product in a similar sized jar lasted about 4 months so a little goes a long way & making your own is a huge saving on your pocket!

Uses for Coconut Oil

Once you've bought your coconut oil you'll find many uses for it. It can be used to soften skin, soothe irritated scalp, use as a hair mask by leaving in before washing and I even found that it makes a good furniture polish! 

We rescued a coffee table from the skip and it had 8 coffee or tea stain rings on it (was rescued from an office clear out). The coconut rubbed in obliterated the stains & the oil helped to condition the table at the same time - win win!

Why not try using coconut oil as a makeup remover? We sell home made makeup wipes in our store - apply a small amount of coconut oil on face then wipe off. Rinse wipe under tap with some handwash to clean. The wipes can be hand or machine washed and then composted after they've become worn out.

Uses for Bicarbonate of Soda

I make my own loo cleaner by adding one cup of bicarb to a cup of distilled vinegar - add bicarb around toilet bowl then add vinegar to make it froth up. Close lid for 10 mins then scrub with loo brush to clean. 

Beth Terry, author of the book 'How I Kicked the Plastic Habit' has some great tips on her site at: https://myplasticfreelife.com/2009/11/baking-soda-so-many-uses-so-little-money-and-plastic/

Uses for White Vinegar

Make your own orange vinegar cleaning spray (which I've also used as a fabric conditioner, you can add essential oils to this too for an extra burst of scent). Or you can use vinegar to make a loo cleaner (see bicarb section above). 

I also keep a glass spray bottle with a mix of vinegar & washing up liquid diluted in water as a useful all purpose spray - even makes a good weed killer too!

Lots more you can do with bicarb & vinegar to clean your home from top to bottom. These are just a few simple tricks to make and use natural things. 

How to Colour Your Hair Naturally

If you have dark brown hair a useful tip for keeping your hair colour is to add cocoa powder to your normal shampoo. Or add to a coconut oil home made hair mask for colour & conditioning.

I hope you find some of these tips helpful. There's some great eco books out there available & of course don't forget to check out some of my reviews and other home made items.

Lovelier Planet also sells some home made products. Come on by & take a look.

Now grab a tea & celebrate your greatness!

Deodorant in a Jar

This is my 22nd review on plastic alternatives.

Scoring system:

❤ = Will keep, I love it / 👀 = Not sure, will try some more / 😐 = Oh dear, it's not for me

Review Twenty Two - Native Unearthed Deodorant Balm

OK, I have to own up. In my bid to buy something with no plastic (especially as we're now in Plastic Free July) I tripped up buying a product in a glass jar not realising the lid was plastic!

I'm feeling quite bad as my reviews to date focus on plastic alternatives, but I decided that in the theme of reduce, reuse, recycle that I would include it in my reviews. 

The product is reduced plastic in that its main base is glass, can be reused after (I plan to make salves, deodorants and toothpastes in the future, so this product with a screw top lid is ideal) and once done with I will of course recycle the glass. 

Black plastic is notoriously difficult to recycle, as automated sorting machines use scanners which struggle with black plastics, so I will be mindful of this & try to reuse the container as much as possible.

So onto the product review!

Native Unearthed is a British company that produces deodorant balms using natural ingredients. I sheered away from deodorant balms in the past as I didn't fancy applying greasy products under my arms. But this was surprisingly smooth and almost powder like on the fingers, so you don't feel greasy at all.

They say to apply a pea sized amount, warmed between the fingers and although this seemed too little to make a difference I realised after a few hot, humid days that even a small amount was more than adequate for the job.

The product I bought was sage & lavender scented made with natural ingredients including shea butter, arrowroot, coconut oil, sodium bicarbonate, lavender and sage. 

A product I had previously tried in a cardboard tube pulled on my skin as I applied it and had no detectable scent, so was more delighted with this brand.

Plastic reduced products can be a little pricey so to bring the cost down I bought it from Holland and Barrett during a store promotion. 

My Verdict?

Reviewers said they found the scent too strong and preferred the Coconut & Vanilla one. For me the lavender was great with an uplifting, flowery scent. Once applied the scent is more subtle and when warmed into fingers it glided onto my skin nicely. 

The manufacturers state the product can last 4 months. I have used mine about 3 weeks so far & still have more than 3/4 left, so I can certainly believe it will last a long time.

So my verdict is definitely a ❤ love it from me. 

Have a Happy Summer! 🍦🍨🍸

Review - Plastic Free Deodorant

This is my 15th review on plastic alternatives. I hope these help give some ideas on alternatives you can use in your daily lives.

Scoring system: 

❤ = Will keep, I love it / 👀 = Not sure, will try some more / 😐 = Oh dear, it's not for me

Review Fifteen - Earth Conscious Deodorant

I made the decision to swap out or reduce 50 items for my 50th year on this planet and very quickly built up a whole arsenal of plastic free products for personal care, bathroom and kitchen use. I found the switch for most items really easy (albeit at times expensive) - finding a suitable plastic free deodorant though has become a bit of a challenge.

I chose to buy the award winning Earth Conscious deodorant which has a base of bicarbonate of soda and coconut oil with jasmine and rose scent. It comes in a card tube so certainly hits the brief of being plastic free. Jasmine is one of my favourite scents too so I was super excited to give it a go. I bought mine from the Floral Fox shop.

However, for me the scent just wasn't there - at one point I thought I'd bought a scent free version by mistake. I wasn't so keen either on how the dry product pulls the skin as you apply. I thought at first it was due to it being cold having just arrived in the post on a cold day - but nope, even with being in a warm bathroom it didn't improve.

As I worked my way to the bottom I found the consistency changed slightly, I think I was reaching more of the coconut as it did glide a little easier but only just a slight improvement. The scent didn't get any stronger either.

I also found a strange odour being created which I couldn't quite work out! After googling I found the smell could be coming through your skin, as you start to eliminate the aluminium found in many products - I checked my normal product and found it did contain aluminium. 

So with the extra weird smell and the fact the product had little scent of its own I ended up having to use body spray on top to provide that extra bit of floral notes (the first time I've ever had to use two products to do one job!)

My normal deodorant though used to make me itch for a few days after shaving & this product didn't do that so that's one plus I can take away. 

I have read that some of their other products may have a stronger scent, maybe if I was to restart again with hindsight I would try a different one. A quick note though that some can be sensitive to sodium bicarbonate so wouldn't be suitable for all.

My verdict?

I love the fact it comes in a card tube and made in the UK, however due to the lack of scent and pulling on the skin I would have to rate this a no, it's not for me 😐.

This is not meant to discourage others by the way from trying it out. They do have a tin product you apply with your fingers but I'm a little put off by this (fingers on pits on a daily basis doesn't appeal to me!)

My mission to find a good plastic free alternative is certainly not yet complete but kudos to the company who make plastic free alternatives available to all 👏 .