Homemade Deodorant with Essential Oils & Natural Ingredients

QUICK SUMMARY

To make homemade deodorant, melt coconut oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter in a jar over low heat, stir in arrowroot powder, baking soda, and organic cornstarch, add 15 drops of essential oils, and pour it into an empty stick deodorant container. It moisturizes your underarms and fights odor-causing bacteria without triclosan, phthalates, parabens, synthetic fragrance, or aluminum. Mama Z’s favorite blend is 5 drops each of wild or sweet orange, peppermint, and vanilla.

When giving your home a toxin-free makeover, don’t forget about your personal care products! My Homemade Deodorant Recipe uses essential oils to deodorize, detoxify, and keep you smelling fresh all day. Unlike many store-bought all-natural deodorants, this recipe will moisturize your underarms without irritation. This deodorant should be a staple in every natural living guru’s bathroom.

Homemade Deodorant Recipe w/ Essential Oils

This recipe takes just a few minutes to create! In no time at all, you’ll have a great smelling, effective deodorant.

This recipe makes a solid deodorant stick. If you would rather have a two-ingredient version to carry in your purse or gym bag, click here for our homemade roll-on deodorant.

Homemade Deodorant

Author Mama Z

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Quantity

2x4x6x

Ingredients

• 2-4 tablespoons coconut oil, extra-virgin AND unrefined
• 2 tablespoons organic cocoa butter
• 2 tablespoons unrefined shea butter
• ¼ cup organic arrowroot powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons organic corn starch
• 15 drops essential oils**

Supplies

• 1 empty stick deodorant container

Instructions

 

• Fill a saucepan with 1-2 inches of water and place over low heat.
• Place 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter in the glass jar and set in the saucepan.
• Heat the ingredients until melted. As soon as you can stir the mixture, remove the jar from the heat, so it's not too hot for the other ingredients.
• Stir in the arrowroot, baking soda, and cornstarch.
• Add essential oils. Allow the deodorant mixture to sit for 5 minutes.
• When the mixture is still pourable but thick enough to not be runny, fill the stick deodorant container. (Make sure the applicator is rolled all the way down, so there is room for the mixture!)
• Store in a cool, dry place and apply as you would regular stick deodorant.

Notes

Don’t forget that certain citrus oils are photosensitizing, so be sure not to apply a citrus-based deodorant before sunbathing or when your underarms will be at risk of burning due to sun exposure.

Also, if your mixture starts melting in the summer, try adding 1-2 tablespoons of kokum butter, which is the hardest butter available. You will need to add 4 or 5 more drops of essential oils to overcome the waxy smell of the kokum butter.

*Some of my favorite essential oils for deodorant are cedarwood, clary sage, geranium, jasmine absolute, lavender, lemon, lemongrass, rose absolute, sandalwood, sweet or wild orange, tea tree, vanilla absolute and ylang-ylang.

Step One: Melt the Moisturizers

Set a jar in a saucepan filled with an inch of water. Place two tablespoons of coconut oil, cocoa butter, and shea butter in the jar. Melt slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Step Two: Stir and Remove From Heat

As soon as you’re able to stir the homemade deodorant recipe, remove it from the heat so it doesn’t overheat the other ingredients. The mixture needs to be thick enough to stir but thin enough to have no air pockets.

Step Three: Add Baking Soda and Powder

Stir in the arrowroot, baking soda, and corn starch.

Step Four: Add Essential Oils

Once the mixture is cooled, add the essential oils of choice and stir gently.

Step Five: Pour Into Container

Fill your empty container when the homemade deodorant recipe is still pourable but thick enough to not be runny. Make sure the applicator is rolled all the way down, so there is room for the mixture! Store in a cool, dry place and apply as you would a regular stick deodorant.

Safe Deodorant Recipe Ingredients

How does a homemade, non-toxic deodorant work to improve body odor? The answer lies in the ingredients! Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll need.

Coconut Oil: Coconut oil doesn’t just moisturize the tender underarm area. It’s also a powerhouse ingredient against harmful bacteria. In a 2025 lab study from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, monolaurin, a compound found in coconut oil, stopped antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus taken from the skin of people with eczema, without harming skin cells. (1) When you decrease odor-causing bacteria, you’re going to see a decline in body odor!

Cocoa Butter: Cocoa butter is an intense moisturizer that smells heavenly! It helps create a perfectly creamy deodorant bar!

Shea Butter: Shea butter is one of my favorite moisturizers! It’s a classic soothing ingredient for irritated skin. In a 2024 double-blind trial in Indonesia, adults with eczema who used a moisturizer whose anti-inflammatory ingredients included shea butter had better skin hydration and lower eczema scores after two weeks than adults using a plain moisturizer. (2) The underarm area is easily irritated from shaving, so that soothing touch matters.

Baking Soda: This inexpensive grocery item is an excellent deodorizer. Baking soda has the unique ability to absorb odors!

Arrowroot Powder and Organic Cornstarch: Arrowroot powder is my favorite powder to use in DIYs because of its ability to absorb excess moisture. Instead of aluminum, which blocks sweat, arrowroot will decrease the amount naturally. Cornstarch will do the same thing. Just make sure you purchase a non-GMO brand!

Essential Oils: You can create so many beautiful blends with essential oils. EOs give this deodorant a lasting scent without any synthetic fragrances!

Here’s a little essential oil inspiration to help you create your new favorite deodorant! Remember to store your deodorant bar in a cool, dark place between use. A combination of any of these oils smells fantastic!

• lemon
• lavender
• tea tree
• geranium
• lemongrass
• lime
• thyme
• sweet/wild orange
• vanilla

Peppermint is also an excellent oil to use because its menthol gives the armpit area a cooling feel. However, the skin of the armpit is often a sensitive area. So be sure to use no more than 5 drops of peppermint in this mixture.

Special note from Mama Z: My favorite mix is 5 drops each of wild/sweet orange, peppermint, and vanilla. It’s such a lovely fragrance!

Safety Tip: Cold-pressed lemon and lime oils are known to be phototoxic, so if you use them in this deodorant, choose steam-distilled lemon and lime or avoid direct sunlight on your underarms for at least 12 hours if your skin is prone to a photosensitive reaction. Sweet or wild orange is not phototoxic, which makes it an easy choice for a daytime deodorant.

Here is our list of photosensitizing essential oils.

4 Chemicals to Avoid in Deodorizing Efforts

Sweat is scentless until it meshes with your skin’s bacteria. Deodorants fight against “bad” bacteria on the skin to neutralize your body’s odor. Unfortunately, this process is done through chemicals that can hurt your body. Here are a few of the top offenders.

1. Triclosan: This antibacterial chemical is one of the most popular ingredients in drugstore deodorants. It fights off fungi that create strong odors. Sadly it does more harm than good. A 2023 systematic review describes triclosan as an endocrine-disrupting chemical that has been shown to interfere with development, behavior, and reproduction in lab and animal studies. (3) Your endocrine system is the hub for hormones, fertility, sleep, and mood. If this delicate system gets thrown off, your body is in for a shock!
2. Phthalates: This toxin is a preservative that gives deodorant lasting power. It also affects your endocrine system, much like triclosan. Phthalates aren’t just an endocrine disrupter. A 2024 umbrella review from Australia, which pulled together the meta-analyses on plastic-related chemicals, found phthalate exposure linked with early puberty in girls. (4) Women aren’t the only ones at risk, though! A 2023 meta-analysis of 12 studies found that men with higher levels of two common phthalates in their urine had lower sperm concentration. (5)
3. Parabens: Parabens are preservatives that are in most store-bought beauty products. Parabens get into the body: they turn up in the blood and urine of the general population. A 2022 review reports that in lab studies, parabens raised local estrogen levels and worked with growth signals in breast cancer cells. The reviewers note that the human evidence tying parabens to breast cancer is still limited, but these are the hormone pathways that matter in breast cancer. (6)
4. Synthetic Fragrance: Synthetic fragrance is what gives deodorant its scent. It’s easy to conclude that these chemicals aren’t good for you when you look at the research, but the extent of their damage isn’t known thanks to the “Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.” (7) This act prevents companies from having to disclose information that’s considered a “trade secret.” So you never know exactly what you’re getting when you purchase a scented product.

Say No to Anti-Perspirants

Most deodorants double as antiperspirants. An antiperspirant is just what it sounds like: a product that uses specific chemicals to stop your body from sweating. This concept is backward because sweating is good for your body. When you break a sweat, you’re regulating your body temperature and releasing toxins. In a 2023 study from Seoul National University, sweat collected from 22 people in an infrared sauna carried toxic metals such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead out of the body. (8) It’s like a mini-detox!

Besides trapping toxins, antiperspirants often use aluminum to stop sweat from reaching the surface. A 2023 systematic review from the University Hospital of Strasbourg in France looked at the research on aluminum and breast cancer. The human studies on antiperspirant use did not agree with each other, but lab studies on cells have shown aluminum’s cancer-causing potential. The reviewers concluded, “In light of the precautionary principle and based on the data obtained, it is better to avoid antiperspirants that contain Al,” and noted that deodorants without aluminum are not implicated in breast cancer. (9)

Antiperspirants are simply a bandage. They don’t help the root issue of underarm odor, bacteria on the skin. Sweat on its own doesn’t cause body odor. The resolution to body odor is not less sweat; it’s detoxing the body. We can easily do this with all-natural ingredients.

Keep reading: Homemade Roll-On Deodorant With Essential Oils · Homemade Body Powder Recipe: Talc-Free DIY Body Powder · Toxic Chemicals in Personal Care Products and Heart Health