I have not worn deoderant for 15 or so years.I also very rarely use soap.If i work a hard day and I am ultra dirty or stinky a little soap under the arms in the nether regions of my bod takes it all away. I rarely feel like i am offensively smelly.A few months after I stopped bathing with soap every day my skin felt more healthy and way less dry.I do however enjoy showers or bathing just not with soap. Puuku does the soap root work as well after it has been dried out?
I also have not worn deoderent for about 6 years or so. I find that in the the summer if I shave my pits a few times it cuts down drastically on the dampness and smell. Also, eating paleo does improve my smell.
Shadrach
Essential oils (such as tea tree, lavender, and cypress) will limit bacteria growth and they have a nice smell. 
I have all the ingredients to make a “deodorant” with tea tree, lavender, rubbing alcohol (preservative), and water. I’m still looking for a spray bottle or other application device (roll on)? If I find any success with it, I’ll post again with the proportions that I used and any other relevant details…
Well, I’ve known people who could go without deodorant, but it doesn’t work out for me. I guess I’m an unusually smelly person :D.
i wonder if infused oils would work as well as essential oils in a DIY deodorant? There was a debate a little while ago on the Fabulous Forager blog about essential oils vs. infused oils.
Hey starfish,
I have no idea about infused oils, but I did make a deodorant from essential oils, and it is pretty effective. When I want to be extra Sure ™, I put 2-3 drops of lavender oil directly on my skin. It kills bacteria and is aromatic, and it actually makes a good skin conditioner so I figure as long as I’m not shaving and nicking my skin, it won’t do any harm.
I combined 15 drops of bulgarian lavender, 10 drops of tea tree, 1/2 oz of rubbing alcohol, and 1/2 oz of water in a pump-action spray bottle.
Next time I’ll use less water. It doesn’t evaporate like alcohol…just runs down the side of my ribcage, probably taking the oil with it, away from my armpit. Bleh.
A fairly un-shady sales rep told me that whenever I mix essential oils with water, after time they will spoil, and that a cheap rubbing alcohol (or I dunno, even an expensive one) will preserve the concoction if it’s going to be sitting around for more than a few days.
yup, I am interested to try this myself, making the lye water that is. I have made homemade soap using commercial lye, but I’d like to go through the process of extracting it from ashes. I found a link that has some detailed instructions, but I’ve yet to try it (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PAUL_NORMAN_3/soapmake.HTM
I’m only about halfway through the one batch of soap that I made a few years ago so I haven’t been motivated to make any more, but I do want to try soaking corn in lye water to make my own masa.
I also use essential oils if I want to smell nice. I usually dilute lavender in another carrier oil and dab that under my arms.
Every so often, especially on a day when I’ve been working my muscles hard, I’ll do a full body rub of infused balsam poplar oil. Good for the sore muscles, antimicrobial on the skin, and makes me smell like honey, I love it.
Try boiling pine sticks for a long time, you will see that the tre oil gathers on the top of the water, mix this with fat and you have green soap(Used for over thousend years in norway). This soap can be used for whasing your body, your hair(especialy good if you have dreads), treat woodwork(floors, tabels and the likes) and it’s antiseptic, so you can use it(mixed with water) to clean out infections in the skin.
Thanks Ravn, I thought that was incredibly interesting and it’s something I want to try.
And yeah, just one thing I forgot to mention, the pine sticks has to be fresh and preferabely still have teir “leaves” on …
i also have heard of the horsechestnut . Doesnt mud work for cleaning and regulation of skin organism.?
Ai just made a shampoo for mai dad, who likes a specific eucalyptus-scented shampoo. Ai boiled wild gourd wedges, yucca fibers, and leaves from the eucalyptus trees in the local park, then let it sit overnight. Turned out pretty good. Next time ai might try that pine shampoo. 
Bytheby, does that work without adding lard?
I did come across something that said horsechestnuts do contain saponin
I’ve been doing some reading about plants containing Saponins yesterday for a completely different use: fishing.
Oh, cool. Does it feel soapy or lather or anything?
I mostly just roll around in the slough to get clean. If I have any extra dirty areas I rub sand on them. But the slough’s pretty muddy, so I’m sure I end up looking as dirty as I started. Now that it’s winter it’s the season of melted snow washcloth baths and I’ve been using Dr. Bronners. Totally civ. :-\
What plants grow in your area? Maybe some of them have soap in them.
[quote=“chase, post:42, topic:425”][quote author=wildcarrotdances link=topic=460.msg13867#msg13867 date=1228323105]
Now that it’s winter it’s the season of melted snow washcloth baths and I’ve been using Dr. Bronners. Totally civ. :-\
[/quote]
What plants grow in your area? Maybe some of them have soap in them.[/quote]
Soapberries! But I’d have to go sooo far to find them, and then not very many grow in one place.
Mostly there are birch, spruce, willows, high bush cranberry, rose, stinkweed (alaska’s special kind of wormwood), and… well, a lot of cranberries. Some bluebells and fireweed and rhubarb gone wild too, but mostly it’s very shady under big trees and there’s lots of cranberry and roses.
[quote=“Ravn, post:37, topic:425”][quote author=Ravn link=topic=460.msg10574#msg10574 date=1212490596]
Try boiling pine sticks for a long time, you will see that the tre oil gathers on the top of the water, mix this with fat and you have green soap(Used for over thousend years in norway). This soap can be used for whasing your body, your hair(especialy good if you have dreads), treat woodwork(floors, tabels and the likes) and it’s antiseptic, so you can use it(mixed with water) to clean out infections in the skin.
[/quote]
And yeah, just one thing I forgot to mention, the pine sticks has to be fresh and preferabely still have teir “leaves” on …[/quote]
Which sort of fat would be best to mix it with?
Ai just read this again. How could ai be so stupid? Its an artemisia genus plant right? Most of the artemisias in mai area were used as a shampoo. Also, if you have pure clay (of any type) it works well for light to medium strength jobs (reputed to clear dandruff).
Its an artemisia genus plant right? Most of the artemisias in mai area were used as a shampoo.
chase, i’d love to know more about this. i tried doing a search of ‘artemisia homemade shampoo’ but couldn’t find anything.
Ai cant find the original reference just now (grrrr >:(). But for your consideration:
Artemisia campestris L.
Field Sagewort; Asteraceae
Blackfoot Other (Soap)
Infusion of roots cleansed and used for scalp infections.
Hellson, John C. 1974 Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians. Ottawa. National Museums of Canada. Mercury Series (p. 123)
and
Artemisia douglasiana Bess.
Douglas’ Sagewort; Asteraceae
Kawaiisu Drug (Dermatological Aid)
Infusion of plant used as a hair wash to prevent the hair from falling out.
Zigmond, Maurice L. 1981 Kawaiisu Ethnobotany. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press (p. 12)
(same as above) - Kawaiisu Drug (Other)
Infusion of plant used as a bath for mother and father after childbirth.
Zigmond, Maurice L. 1981 Kawaiisu Ethnobotany. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press (p. 12)
Plus the many references to curing rashes and colds by bathing in Artemisia infusions.
(all found at http://herb.umd.umich.edu/)
Ai’ll try to find the reference to more ordinary bathing uses :P.
the nettle root i put it in watter it foam much.
So i got to the idea using cranberry or lingonberry juice with water for washing. Do you think that works?