I've tried to find a deodorant that I absolutely love the aroma of AND can trust that it will work for me. I've tried so many brands and I began to feel a little let down by the world of natural products.

I know the benefits to only using natural deodorants over anti-perspirants and commercially made over the counter deodorants are immense, so I was determined to keep up the search.

If you're not familiar with the issues surrounding commercial deodorants, let me break it down for you:

1) Parabens and chemicals in many off-the-shelf deodorants are easily absorbed into the blood stream and fat cells when applied directly to the skin. When you apply these chemicals and parabens under the arms they come into direct contact with hormone receptors which can have a negative impact on our reproductive systems.

2) Know the difference between a deodorant and an anti-perspirant. There is a massive difference between these two products. Anti-perspirants stop us from perspiring in the first place by blocking the ducts of our armpits and stopping the sweat which is one of the ways our bodies get rid of toxins. Preventing this from occurring can cause a build-up of these toxins. Deodorants allow us to sweat naturally but combat the yucky odour which is created when sweat hits the skin and mixes with natural bacteria.

3) There are many amazing natural deodorants out there, some though include aluminium as an ingredient. Aluminium is a massive issue as research has found that aluminium can actually promote the development of tumorous and cancerous cells. Given that the underarm tissue and glands are linked to the breasts and milk ducts - the ride of concern over aluminium deodorants and breast cancer is one I'm more than happy to avoid.

Natural deos that contain ingredients like witch-hazel and bi carb are the ones you want to look out for. Witch Hazel and Bi Carb (especially together) act as an anti-microbial so that odour-making bacteria on the skin is essentially neutralized.

A look at some of the other ingredients in this particular recipe:

Aloe Powder - you don't need a lot to create skin hydration and a soothing effect. When we sweat to cool down, Aloe’s cooling effect helps to speed up the process by helping to reduce skin temperatures. Higher heat also equals more of a breeding ground for that odour making bacteria.

Guar Gum- this is a thickening agent so the deodorant does just slop everywhere. Nasty thickening agents can come from all sorts of chemical concoctions. Guar gum comes from plants, specifically the bean from the Guar plant.

Zinc Oxide - surprisingly Zinc is an active anti-microbial! And is super effective at killing off those odour creating bacterium

We used Mojave blend in this recipe for its beautifully balanced uplifting citrus and calming chamomile - the perfect option for a neutral armpit.

We recommend no more than 1% of essential oil in your deodorant. We used 0.5% and it was plenty!.

In our Sports deodorant blend we used: Eucalyptus Dives, Rosalina, Lemon, Wintergreen, Patchouli, Lime, Orange and Peppermint. But we strongly encourage you to customise your deodorant to what YOU like.

Other things you can add to make it your own: Swap portions of your Glycerine for Extracts, portions of your distilled water for floral waters, add a touch of vitamin e!

We hope you have fun trying out this recipe and if you want to check out a comparison or perhaps you just don't want to bother with the making we've got a small batch of each our Mojave and Sports versions available to buy online.