when I move near, you fly away

song: hummingbird – artist: alex clare

The original recording is awesome, and linked above. This video is better for watching, and it’s also a lovely, stripped down version of the song.

So… um… I make my own deodorant now. I’d never planned on that part of my routine becoming quite so granola. It started some time after I’d moved to Wichita. I couldn’t find my usual brands of natural deodorant here (I was totally paranoid about smelling, so I layered. I still do, but it’s not so crazypants now.) so I tried to find a satisfactory replacement. I found an extremely mediocre replacement. Then I went back to the regular stuff. This led to trying a reformulation of Secret that left my underarms so DISPLEASED that, ugh, *shudder*, I had to stop shaving for awhile (and I HATED every minute of it) and switch back to natural stuff. Only I wound up so dissatisfied with the replacement I’d found, that I was now layering the salt crystal deodorant, coconut oil (usually I would either do the salt crystal OR the coconut oil, unless it’s that transition period of getting back on the natural deodorant – then that party is at least 3 layers deep, plus a chlorophyll supplement) and the natural stuff, with a later reapplication of the natural stuff (that smelled like roses and that scent that can only come from tacky wood paneling that’s aged in a not-so-arid climate, basically, my grandparents’ bathroom – childhood flashbacks can be rad and all, but I’m not sure I want my armpits reminding me so specifically of that room).

I was pretty sure there had to be something better, and had vaguely recalled seeing a post about a homemade deodorant on one of the blogs I follow. You guys, I’m down with trying a whole lot of crunchy, hippie things but I was pretty certain mucking about with my deodorant was going to be way, WAY down on that list. Desperation will change things. I tracked down the aforementioned blog post. I also checked out the related inspiration recipe. Between the two, I tweaked mine to be:

1/3 C arrowroot starch
1/4 C baking soda
6 Tbsp unrefined coconut oil (heaping tablespoons)
10+ drops lavender & tea tree oil
10+ drops lemon oil

Because of the unrefined coconut oil and the lemon oil, it totally smells like lemon cookies! Which is way more awesome than eau de grandparents’ bathroom! This lasts me 9-12 months and, while I still layer with a crystal salt deodorant, I don’t really need to. It just makes me feel better. I get a solid day out of it without any funk. Well, until the most recent batch. My coconut oil must’ve partially melted at some point. While it was solid when I used it, it had hardened weird. It’s like there were little beads in it, which was throwing off the balance in the deodorant ingredient delivery. Which resulted in me venturing into smelly hippie territory. So, I left it out in the garage on a hot day (it melts at 76 degrees or higher [approx. 24 C]), stirred it up after it was all melty and let it set. Except the balance was still off, because most of the baking soda and arrowroot starch had settled to the bottom, even though I’d stuck the jar in the freezer after I stirred it. What I had previously envisioned happening were I to make my own deodorant was totally happening. I was developing a hippie funk (which would’ve been more authentic if it weren’t for my aversion to patchouli)! Before I scrapped this batch entirely and started over, I decided to just dump it in a bowl and mix it up. Thankfully, I was back to lemon cookie underarms with no funk in the mix! Huzzah!

In more fully successful granola beauty adventures, after a weekend trip to Sephora and a totally rad beauty beauty consultant filling me in not only on the products I wanted to know about, but also her skin care routine, I stopped at my local hippie health food store on the way home. I picked up some hemp castile soap for a cleanser, some cold pressed castor oil for a blemish spot treatment, and I had a sample of argan oil for moisturizer. These have been AWESOME! (I’ve since ordered argan oil from Swanson, because $48 for 1.7 oz seemed silly when I could get 2 oz for $15.) I’ve mixed the castor oil with a few drops of the lavender & tea tree oil and it’s worked better than my Burt’s Bees acne spot treatment has on it’s best days. And I’ve got my mom using the castile soap now (Dr. Bronner’s – I wound up picking up the almond scented one). She also loves it!

I was finding I was on the verge of changing up my skincare routine. It may be the change in seasons that is responsible for the need for different products. But, whatever it is, I’m so glad my trip to Sephora was a rousing success, even if it meant needing to go to another store. 🙂