Lavender Flower – Image Courtesy: Karen Arnold
There is nothing else in the world that smells as wonderful as a little baby, kept clean. Unfortunately though, each baby grows up and becomes an adult like us and loses that sweet baby smell. The dusty and grimy outside world, a hot day or various physical activities leave each one of us a little bit sweaty. This sweat from our apocrine glands mixes up with bacteria already present on the skin and creates that unwanted body odor.
Not everyone, however, needs a powerful, sweat-absorbing antiperspirant. I don’t know about you, but the last time I checked, we weren’t all firefighters or police officers who drip sweat all day. Some of us don’t really sweat that much. But we wanna smell fresh. Fresh as the summer wind or the wee daisy flower, if you will!
Fight Body Odor with this Natural Recipe
Here’s a quick and easy way to get most of your deodorant needs met. This formula is great for underarms and feet. (The alcohol content dries quickly — so feel free to use it right before your socks go on). I have trusted this alternative for over 3 years and am now completely spoiled. I can no longer tolerate the artificial scents and propylene glycol or whatever other ingredients are in the widely available brands.
Put 2 parts vodka, 1 part lemon or lime juice (if fresh, be sure to strain the pulp), and 1 part water in a container. (Optional: Use a few drops of the essential oils of lemon, lime, and/or lavender) for fragrance. Pour final mixture in a small pump (non-aerosol) spray bottle. Use liberally and adjust water content if skin sensitivity ensues.
This is safe for all ages.
Take Caution
The only slight drawback of this recipe is that it isn’t safe to have around if you or someone you live with is a recovering alcoholic, as the recipe is largely edible. But if that isn’t a problem, this is a wonderfully easy and portable way to avoid using the not-so-healthy chemicals currently available in drugstore-bought deodorants.
Other Ways to Stay Fresh
Most people are already aware that the kind of food consumed by us affects the way our bodies smell. So, if you make it a habit of eating your greens at night – leafy green vegetables like chard, kale, parsley and spinach – the chlorophyll absorbed by your body will have a strong deodorizing effect on your body.
Dressing up sensibly also helps you keep fresh; on a hotter day, make sure to wear some loose fitting clothes as that would allow the free circulation of air around your body and skin, thereby evaporating any sweat beads. It would be best to wear clothes containing cotton material instead of synthetic on such occasions. Our feet may become the other culprits by becoming smelly as foot odor is a common problem. Make sure to absolutely dry them after getting out of the shower and before putting them in your shoes, preferably with odor absorbing insoles.
Cassendre Xavier (aka Amethyste Rah & Amrita Waterfalls) is an award-winning multimedia artist, musician and author, working in Philadelphia. She writes on various subjects including Raw Vegan/Live Foods, Alternative Health and Recovery from Addiction and Abuse.
Gina Laverde says
Thank you for this post, CX! I am going to try this out!
Gina