by Texas Homesteader ~
Rubbing alcohol has natural antibacterial properties. So it makes an easy way to eliminate odors as a deodorant without harsh chemicals or extraneous plastic in my personal hygiene routine.
It’s easy, it’s fast and it’s cheap!
Reducing Plastic Waste In Our Home
Y’all know I hate plastic. Oh don’t get me wrong, plastic has its uses such as in the medical industry for example.
But for regular consumer products I hate plastic and strive to reduce what comes into our home as much as possible.
Ways I’ve Reduced Plastic In Our Home
I’ve made many easy changes to reduce plastic in our home. Colas & juices have been replaced sun-brewed tea. No plastic bottle or jug to dispose of. Plus it’s healthier (and so much CHEAPER) for us.
I’ve made homemade Face Powder and even Laundry Powder.
It’s been quite a fulfilling and fun challenge for me.
There’s a list of zero-waste health & beauty steps I’ve taken at the end of this post. Or to see more of our Zero-Waste Living posts you can click the button below:
But there’s one thing I haven’t shared with you yet. I dunno, I just figured maybe it was a little TMI. But it’s my deodorant. Let’s talk about that…
Deodorant vs Anti-Antiperspirant
Deodorant is very different than anti-perspirant.
Deodorant: Kills odor-causing bacteria on skin.
Anti-Perspirant: Blocks sweat glands to reduce the amount of sweat that reaches the skin.
But I feel that the body sweats for a reason so I’ve never liked to use antiperspirants. It just seems unnatural to me to force the body not to do something it was designed to do to keep it healthy.
Lifestyle Suited For Deodorant vs. Antiperspirant
I prefer deodorant, but I’ve never been one to sweat heavily in the first place.
I suppose I’d feel differently if I was a silk-shirt wearing CEO meeting with important clients! But for my purposes deodorants have always been my preference even when I worked in an office environment.
Environmental Waste Using Deodorant
I typically purchased deodorant sticks instead of the sprays since I felt the aerosol in sprays were even worse for the environment. But I’d always hated the immense plastic waste of deodorant sticks.
The containers are typically not filled completely (or even close). There’s not near as much deodorant as it appears in those big clunky disposable plastic tubes.
Plus there’s no way to use up the deodorant product at the end because it’s encased in the roll-up plastic holder thingy. (Yeah, that’s my official description. HA!)
Looking For Homemade Deodorant Recipes
As is often the case I got to wondering, “Hummm… I wonder if I can make this product for myself??” So I started trolling the internet for recipes to make my own deodorant.
I found that there are several options out there, but most sounded a little too hippy-dippy for me.
There were also recipes that called for weird must-order specialty ingredients too.
Other recipes sounded reasonable but with many comments about irritations when using baking soda on the pits.
A Simple, CHEAP Deodorant Alternative
But then I stumbled upon a statement that made much more sense to me. This was years before I started my blog so I can’t give credit to the author, but the blogger said:
Underarm funky smell is bacteria. Dark, moist conditions under your arms are perfect for that bacteria to grow and, well, stink!
She sprayed her pits with alcohol. Nothing else. No concoctions or specialty products to order online & get shipped to her.
What? JUST ALCOHOL? Could that really work?? But it’s so cheap. It’s so simple! Is it too simple?
So I saved a travel-size bottle of hairspray when it was empty. I washed it well and filled it with alcohol to give it a try.
It worked as well for me as the more expensive stuff sold in the roll-up container which contained much more plastic and many questionable ingredients.
Things to Consider When Using Alcohol As Deodorant
Since we live and work on a ranch our bathing routine is ranch-specific. Our work is outside in the hot & humid NE Texas summer weather. Ranch work is hard and hot and sticky. I certainly don’t want to work cows during the day & slip into my PJS and go to bed that evening.
So I shower (and therefore shave) at night, not in the morning. But I don’t apply my deodorant until I get dressed the following morning.
I’m not sure what spraying pure alcohol on freshly-shaved pits would feel like! Just something to keep in mind for your own typical routines.
I’ve found the alcohol scent disappears when it dries shortly after spraying. Especially since I use this little hairspray bottle because it sprays in such small droplets.
UPDATE: Although I preferred the wintergreen scent over the plain alcohol scent, I did notice that if my armpits weren’t completely dry by the time I slipped into my shirt, the light-colored shirts began to stain light green under the arm section. Since the alcohol smell disappears shortly after spraying anyway, I switched to plain ole alcohol and haven’t had any further green-staining issues.
And finally here’s my common sense disclaimer: I’m not a doctor nor have I cleared my pit-funk-eliminator routine with my doctor. I’ve just never felt the need.
I mean, I’m putting less chemicals on my body so I’m assuming that’s a good thing. And it’s worked well for me for over a decade so far.
But if there is any question at all for you please check with your doctor.
Summary of Homemade Deodorant Experience
I’ve been very pleased with this armpit-funk-deterrent method. And the alcohol keeps me from smelling funky even though my work is outside in the heat & humidity in Texas.
Sometimes during prolonged strenuous outside work I feel the need to respray mid day. But I did that with purchased deodorants too.
Using this cheap spray has been effective and also eliminated untold amounts of chunky plastic from having to buy commercially-produced deodorant.
Oh, and a single container of alcohol costs me a dollar and refills my little spray bottle many times over. So I’ve saved a good chunk of money too.
But then again, I’ve found being environmentally sensitive almost always results in saving some cash too, haven’t you?
~TxH~
This post categorized in 
Zero-Waste Health & Beauty
Personal Cleaning
- Zero-Waste Shaving Using A Safety Razor
- Low-Waste Snap Toothbrushes
- Homemade Minty Mouthwash
- Quick & Easy Homemade Deodorant
- Homemade Vanilla-Scented Shampoo Bar Soap
- 3-Ingredient DRY SHAMPOO Mix
- MYO Naturally-Scented Hair Conditioner
- Morning Motivation Mint Soap
- Homemade Soap: Lavender/Rosemary
- Soap Grows On TREES! Soapberry Shampoo
- How A Bidet Can Be An Eco Win
Homemade Beauty Products
- MYO Light & Sheer Face Powder
- 3-Ingredient Beeswax Lip Balm
- Homemade Hairspray
- Easy Zero-Waste Health & Beauty Swaps
C’mon by & sit a spell! Come hang out at our Facebook Page. It’s like sitting in a front porch rocker with a glass of cold iced tea. Lots of good folks sharing!
You can also follow along on Pinterest, on Twitter or on Instagram.
If you’d like to receive an email each time a new blog post goes live it’s EASY to subscribe to our blog!
Deodorant has to be one of the most unnecessary products ever made. My mom never wore deodorant. She said there was no need. I always thought that was odd—of course you need to wear deodorant. It’s part of hygiene, according to all the commercials. And then one day I thought about it. Why wear deodorant? The waxy kind and the spray kind too probably clog the pores. Why do that? As far as disguising odor? I shower on week/work days and sometimes skip on the weekends. I never have body odor, even if I do activities where I sweat—gardening, housework, etc. I’ve had sweat run down my head and have never had body odor. Even if I did, no deodorant is going to stop that. So I quit about 20 year’s ago and have never looked back. My clothes don’t have deodorant spots and I’m saving some money and time not worrying about it. I tell people my theory and they look at me like I’m nuts. People have been so indoctrinated by the advertising that they don’t even think it through. Why do you bother w the alcohol? It’s so unnecessary if you shower regularly.
I know that different body chemistries react differently to our environment. Some people (like me) sweat very little, some sweat profusely. Some get the armpit funk with very little sweat, some don’t get it at all. Armpit bacteria grows in dark moist conditions and grows faster with some people than others. There are some who say diet affects armpit bacteria growth, we’re all different. Although there are many people out there who feel armpit funk is a natural thing and are not repulsed by the odor, I am not one of those people. I’ve never liked using antiperspirants since it keeps your body from doing what it does naturally to stay cool. And like you I don’t like using the waxy deodorants either. I shower regularly but I also work outside in the hot & humid Texas summers doing hard physically-demanding labor. Spraying plain alcohol on my pits in the mornings before I get dressed keeps me fresh and has worked beautifully for me for over a decade.
I’m a little late to the party but I make my own as well. I use half and half baking soda and arrow root powder with lavender essential oil. I use a puff like you would for face powder and just apply each morning. The orginal recipe I found was for baking soda and corn starch and then EO. However the corn starch make me itch. I have actually used this for nearly 5 years and have not had a problem being smelly.
I’ve made my own personal hygiene products for decades now, switching out ingredients now and then. A bout 10 years ago I began to use kombucha vinegar as deodorant. It works fine, but sometimes there would be mild irritation if the vinegar was extra strong. I don’t bother using deodorant if I’m not going out.
SO… on one of our “feels like” 120 days this summer, I was in a rush to get out in the pasture before it boiled and failed to rinse the soapberry off of one pit. I hoped for the best and dashed out to get the sheep fed and check the fence. So yes, I worked up a massive sweat. Later that day, I noticed the un-rinsed pit didn’t have the clock stopping odor of the other pit and a light-bulb went off. The next day I dabbed the soapberry bodywash on both pits and had an odor free day despite the sweat I worked up. No irritation, and you know what a light, fresh scent soapberries have, so it was pleasant.
AHA!! I soaked 4 soapberries in 1 cup of witch hazel for a week and strained it off into a small spray bottle I had saved, it had once held an essential oil bug spray which has a fine mist, so it provides good pit coverage. The soapberries are antimicrobial and the witch hazel helps it dry very quickly. It’s very effective, and smells lovely. It also seems to work as a bug spray too, we haven’t had a mosquito problem this year because of the drought, so I plan to test it further when the bugs come back.
Fascinating, Gail. I have soapberries but I’ve never made ’em into bodywash. Hummmm…. I may just have to try that. And I love how you’ve changed your zero-waste hygiene as you’ve discovered what works better for you. How awesome – thanks for sharing!! ~TxH~
I have been using alcohol prep pads for years because I seem to get hives using the other deodorant products. The only thing worse than the sting of alcohol on fresh shaved pits is hives there.
Ouch – hives on the pits? I imagine that wasn’t pleasant at all Mindy! ~TxH~
We share the same thoughts on plastic and antiperspirant/deodorant. I haven’t tired the alcohol method but for years have used coconut oil. Same concept in that it inhibits bacteria growth and since I have it in the house already it was an easy switch. If you get too much it can leave a residual greasy feel but not so much as to make me stop using it.
I’ve heard of using coconut oil as well Sandra, although I’ve never tried it. Whatever lowers plastic waste while still doing the job though, right? Yea! ~TxH~
It’s funny how we have the perspective about the antiperspirant. I only wear it when I know I’ll be in public or around other people. I usually don’t need it since I work from home at a desk job, and it seems counterintuitive to put on antiperspirant before I go for a run or exercise since sweat is one way we cool off. I’m not advocating chemical body washes, BUT I actually do use one a few times a week – I am totally guilty of washing my underarms with that orange colored store-brand Neutrogena acne face wash. I don’t know the name of it, but it’s inexpensive. It’s made to kill bacteria on your face, and it also works great to keep stinky underarm bacteria at bay. Maybe it’s not the healthiest thing to use. I really don’t know. I just figure that using it a few times a week is probably healthier than needing to use deodorant. However, now that I know your rubbing alcohol trick I may try that instead.
I think you’re clever Miss B! ~TxH~