One of the items that I’ve been longing to make is a natural, aluminum-free deodorant. The only problem is that I’m hooked on Lavilin. Oh, I’ve tried other natural deodorants (Tom’s of Maine, Jason, Kiss My Face, and Weleda — just to name a few), but none of them compare to Lavilin.

The funny thing is, most people have never heard of Lavilin. You can find it at health food stores, but it’s not as popular as most of the other brands. The reason? Well, I’m not entirely sure, but my guess is that the price is a huge deterrent — it sells for between $12 and $17! The worst part? You only get 12.5 grams (less than half an ounce!) of deodorant! Most other natural deodorants sell for about $4-$6, and that’s for 100 grams (~3.5 oz).

So what’s the big deal about Lavilin, and why am I willing to shell out big money for it when I’m ridiculously frugal in other areas of my life? (In college I used to routinely go out of my way to the downtown Borders bookstore to buy a 0.49 candy because they would give me two hours of parking validation in exchange. A net savings of $1.31. Yes, this is probably why Borders went out of business.) Well, Lavilin is THE BOMB, that’s why.

You see, aside from Lavilin being free from aluminum, it’s also free of alcohol, parabens, phthalates, BHT, and petrolatum. But that’s not the best part.

The best part is that after you apply it — wait for it — it lasts for nearly A WEEK. That’s a week of daily showers AND daily trips to the gym. And it works. Not just for me, but for my husband who is a big guy.

And I’m addicted to that convenience.

Interestingly, when I’ve talked to other people about Lavilin, they seem a little freaked out about the fact that it lasts for more than one day. Their fear seems to be that they won’t know when it stops working, and they’ll go out of the house one day, seemingly fresh, and embarrass themselves with reeking underarms by the end of the day. But from my experience, that fear is entirely unfounded. First of all, Lavilin seems to gradually stop functioning. Secondly, since the deodorant lasts for nearly a week, you run the risk of smelling like BO about once per week. With other deodorants (including conventional deodorants), you run that risk DAILY.

All of this is to say — if I’m going to make a natural deodorant, it has to work like Lavilin. I’ve searched the internet for ideas of how to do this, but so far the only thing that I’ve found out is that Zinc Oxide is probably the active ingredient in Lavilin. So, I’m going to go off of Lavilin’s listed ingredients and just try a few things.

So, for reference, here’s Lavilin’s ingredients: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil & Hydrogenated Castor Oil & Copernica Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Talc (pharma), Zinc Oxide, Potato Starch (modified), ethylhexylglycerin, triethyl citrate, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) extract; glycine soya, calendula officinalis flower extract, arnica montana flower extract, tocopherol, tetrasodium EDTA (tetrasodium edetate dihydrate), fragrance, O-Cymen-5-Ol.

I made my first attempt at making Lavilin yesterday. It was a failure on all counts. The texture was all wrong, for one. Lavilin has a thick, creamy texture, much like the Zinc-based sunscreens. My texture was like a too-hard lip balm. Also, it did not work as deodorant. But, for posterity’s sake, here’s the recipe I tried:

20 g Castor Oil
17 g Coconut Oil (in place of the Hydrogenated Castor Oil)
14 g Beeswax (in place of Carnauba Wax)
4 g Cornstarch (1 t) (in place of talc and potato starch)
2 g Zinc Oxide (1/2 t)
1 g Fragrance (1 mL) (I used Aqua – Pier 1 Type from Elements Bath and Body)
100 IU drops Vitamin E (5 drops)
10 mg GSE (1 drop)

My next attempt will involve using more Castor Oil, Coconut Oil, and Zinc Oxide and less Beeswax. I’ll let you know how it goes. Oh, and if you have any ideas, let me know!