Make Your Pits Peaceful Without Baking Soda – DIY Baking Soda Free Peace Pits Deodorant Paste

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One of my most popular posts on this blog is my classic DIY Peace Pits Deodorant Paste recipe. It's so popular in part because we are all trying to find a better alternative to the toxic antiperspirants and deodorants on the market, but it's also because that recipe WORKS! And it works REALLY well! The only problem with that recipe is that some people find themselves too sensitive to use baking soda based deodorants.

Why's my natural deo causing irritation?

A red painful rash under your arms can really be the pits. It's important to gently take care of your pits if a rash occurs, and discontinue the use of the natural deodorant that is causing this issue until your pits are healed up.

Your pits might be detoxing – You might not realize this, but sweating is one of the ways that our body gets rid of toxins. If you are making the switch from an antiperspirant that was closing the pores and not allowing toxins to freely escape, your pits may now be in detox overdrive. If this is the case, stop using the natural deo that you are currently using and try using this sensitive version while your pits heal up.
Your personal pH might be off – Our bodies are ruled by chemistry, and pH is in controls of many factors. Our hair and skin both have pH's in the acidic range, but each person's pH can differ depending on your gender (men have a higher pH than women), what foods you have been eating (the worse the food, the more it changes your body's pH), and even what part of your hormonal cycle you are currently in. If your body is having to detox a lot of toxins from foods, body care products, and medicine, you may find your pH changing drastically from it's normal range. With natural deodorants relying on pH to balance out the stink, baking soda based deodorants can be too alkaline when your pH is off and cause a rash to occur.
Your pits might be allergic – Some people simply are allergic to the ingredients in the natural deo. It could be a sensitivity to baking soda, corn (from those that use cornstarch), or even coconut allergy. Be sure to check the ingredients for any known allergens and avoid using
Your pits might be sensitive to essential oils – Many companies extensively use essential oils in their skin care products without much knowledge of how to use them safely and which ones are best when used on sensitive skin or out in the sun. If you have an allergy or sensitivity to a specific plant, you will want to avoid the essential oil of that plant and any plant in the same family. Chamomile, for example, is in the same family as ragweed and many people with ragweed allergies find themselves sensitive to chamomile as well. Other essential oils can cause irritation when not highly diluted (such as lemongrass, clove, cinnamon leaf, etc.).

The secret odor-bashing ingredient for sensitive skin

So what ingredient is so special that it can beat the stink like baking soda without all the PITiful (did you see what I did there? lol) pain and rashes? I introduce you guys to one of my favorite natural ingredients; food grade diatomaceous earth! Diatomaceous earth, a powder made from fossilized phytoplankton, is extremely antimicrobial (making it great in a natural deodorant recipe) and normally has a lower pH than baking soda, making it a great alternative for those with sensitive skin.

DIY Peace Pits All-Natural Aluminum Free Deodorant Paste

The secret to my Peace Pits deodorant paste is in whipping it like a body butter! If you do not want to go the extra mile (trust me, you totally do) you can just pour the melted mixture into the containers to harden and use it that way, but I find that the whipped version is much easier to apply and incorporates the powders evenly throughout the mixture! For a stronger version of this recipe, try using my original Peace Pits Deodorant Paste!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup unrefined shea butter (optional – You can make this recipe without the shea butter and it works great, but the shea butter really helps to heal your pits, make them softer, makes the paste harder, and even softens the hairs for less frequent, easy shaving!)
1/2 cup food-grade diatomaceous earth
1/2 cup arrowroot powder (or non-GMO cornstarch)
essential oil blend for 4 oz. glass jars (see below)

INSTRUCTIONS

In a double boiler, melt the shea butter and coconut oil.
In a separate large bowl, stir the diatomaceous earth and arrowroot powder together.
Pour melted shea butter and coconut oil mixture into the DE/arrowroot powder mixture, and stir until completely combined.
Allow the mixture to cool and harden, preferably over an ice bath for faster cooling.
When it looks like the deodorant is half way hardened, meaning there is still a small pool of liquid on top, remove from the ice bath (if using), and take out your electric hand mixer or emulsion blender.
Blend the mixture until there are no chunks of hardened deodorant left. This can not be done by hand. I usually take a spoon and chip away the bottom pieces first to make it easier to blend in the final result.
If you blended the deodorant too soon and it’s still not solid enough to pour into your containers, put the bowl of deodorant onto the ice bath for a minute or two more, then blend with it there in the ice bath.

Deodorant Essential Oil Blends

These blends are made for 4 oz (or 1/2 cup) of Peace Pits all-natural deodorant paste! I like to use 4 oz. glass jars when making these for other people! You can simply add the unscented deodorant to the jar, add the essential oils straight to that jar, and then stir with a chopstick until mixed completely together! This makes it so that you can make several different scents for different people, in one big batch!

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