The Lime Experiment: A Single-Ingredient Natural Deodorant?
Body Natural Beauty Personal Care
Have you heard that lime can be used as a single ingredient, natural deodorant? Let’s put this rumor to the test and see if it works!
So I recently embarked on a little week-long self-experiment: for a week straight, I used lime juice as a deodorant.
Man oh man, this was a risky experiment to conduct in the mid-summer heat! Luckily, it worked out rather well. But we’ll get to all that in a bit…
While I am head-over-heels in love with the DIY all-natural detoxifying deodorant (it keeps me odor-free naturally and pulls toxins from my skin — what more could anyone ask for?), it’s been said that lime juice can be used as a natural deodorant and I’ve been very curious about whether or not this was true.
So…
I juiced a lime, strained the pulp and seeds, and put the juice in a little glass spray bottle. I kept the bottle in the fridge and sprayed it on my underarms every morning for a week.
The big conclusion: it worked! But..
Not as well as my other deodorant (I was a little stinky by bedtime which is not usually the case for me). But it did work.
So will I be making the switch to lime juice? Nope. I’m still very committed to my DIY all-natural detoxifying deodorant. (It’s amazing.)
But this may be an option for others who have a sensitivity to baking soda, cornstarch or arrowroot, common ingredients in many natural deodorants (both DIY and store-bought).
A word of caution before giving it a go:
- It can sting when applied immediately after shaving
- Lime juice and the sun react in such a way that can cause your skin to burn, so absolutely do not apply lime if you are planning on exposing this area of your body to the sun.
Mag – how long did you try Lavilin for? Usually there is an adjustment period (I heard up to 3 weeks for some people). I almost gave up on it, but persevered and it’s been amazing. Wouldn’t ever think of switching!
Lime does work, but unfortunately for me when it dries out my armpits smell like something along the lines of stale maple syrup. I prefer my body odor to that, but it was worth a try.
She said it can irritate freshly shaved skin. Also remember about going into the sun. Some girls where I live we’re playing with fresh limes at the pool, having a tea party the juice dripped down their bodies and face and they were severely burned and made the national news. Don’t want that happening to your pits if you’re in a tank top or something! I might have to try this out. I just made your deodorant and am excited to try it! I used the Redmond Clay brand. I think I will check out your link for their prices and some arrowroot too. Thanks for all the great recipes and ideas.
I’ll have to try Milk of Magnesia too! I had been using coconut oil/baking soda/arrowroot/teatree/lavender with success for months! And then all of a sudden I started getting in-grown hairs! So I tried lemon today (because we didn’t have lime in the fridge) and did a pretty risky first trial run at Bikram Yoga (a hot yoga) and it worked really well!
Yes! (I wrote this in the post)
Does the lime irritate freshly shaved skin?
My odor was so bad, i would not raise my arm in public so i tried lavilin, i had high hopes due to reviews on amazon but it did not work for me. i tried different natural deodorants, they would work for like a week and stop working for some reason. i’m currently rubbing lime under my armpits twice a day. and i’m loving it so far. Hope it lasts cos it’s cheap lol:)
Hi Nadia, appreciate the article! By any chance, have you experimented with Lavilin? My friend recently forwarded me a review of natural deodorants in NY Mag, and Lavilin was #1: http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/07/any-of-these-hippie-deodorants-work.html
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Lavender essential oil works great for me.
Does it leave a chalky residue on your clothing?
That’s awesome, Jackie! Maybe that will be my next experiment 🙂
I’m in love with my one-ingredient Milk of Magnesia for a deodorant. I love it for several reasons:
1) I can’t use the coconut oil & baking soda version because the baking soda seriously irritated my armpits
2) The oil did cause some oily marks on my clothes
3) Milk of Magnesia is incredibly cheap and readily available
4) Just ONE ingredient! No mixing!
5) Your body NEEDS magnesium and it’s more readily absorbed through the skin anyway
6) It keeps me odor free all day (I live in hot, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico) and even into the next morning
7) Doesn’t irritate my armpits at all, even after applying to freshly shaved armpits.
I read that if you have a reaction to the baking soda, your ph has been thrown outa whack and the best way to reset is use apple cider vinegar/water rinse first. I will give it a try.
I just started using a lemon slice. So far, so good!
The baking soda/coconut oil formula burned my underarms too… the next day I put a layer of coconut oil on first and then the baking soda mix, worked like a charm! The next batch I might lessen the amount of baking soda.
Lime juice can cause burns on the skin when exposed to sunlight. Just a word of warning, so that anyone interested in doing this is extra cautious when applying. Just make sure that any area exposed to sunlight is rinsed off thoroughly (i.e. hands, arms, surrounding skin).
That is awesome to hear!
I did react to the baking soda in my coconut oil deodorant, so I switched to just coconut oil, voila! It works just as well.
Deodorant is something I haven’t switched to natural/DIY yet. Lime juice is about as non-intimidating as it gets!