Homemade Deodorant - Oh Yes I Did

I've been inside all day with a horrible sore throat and nasty cough - no bueno. Poor Copain didn't sleep at all last night, because I was up every five minutes pouring honey down my throat. Note to self: keep throat lozenges in the house at all times.

In any case, this morning he was a papa poule (a "father hen"), as they say here in France, and got me meds, made me tea and covered me up with a quilt on the taupe couch. We watched some TV, had some soup for lunch and then, when I realized that I had basically been horizontal for the past 15 hours, I decided that it was time to actually do something.

I got dressed (boo), walked up the street to my local organic market, BioCoop, and bought everything that this blogger told me I needed to make my very own deodorant. Why on Earth would she do that, is what you are probably thinking to yourself. Well, I had used a bit of Copain's deo that morning and had my annual revelation that I should really stop using anti-perspirant. 

This happens to me every so often, like when I decided to go shampoo-free, or 'poo free as the hippies call it, using just baking soda and apple cider vinegar to wash my hair.  Copain just about had a mini flip out about that one. 

But I digress...back to BioCoop...

I gathered all of the necessary, organic supplies, but got coconut oil instead of cocoa butter (they didn't have any at that store). Once back home, I sterilized my tools, melted the butters, added my baking soda and arrowroot, threw in some vitamin E, lavender and clove essential oils and 10 minutes later, BOOM! Homemade, totally organic deodorant!

All of my ingredients, plus my little pot of deo, down right.

It's sitting in the fridge right now and I'll be testing it out tomorrow. I'm admittedly a bit cynical - I've tried it all in terms of natural deodorants...but I have high hopes for this homemade one. Plus, it's always more fun to try stuff you've made yourself, right? Apparently, this one will go on like a cream and I'll smell like a daisy (or a lavender bush) all the live long day. Ca à l'air pas mal n'est pas?

Je vous tiendrai au courant! (I'll keep you posted!) Worst case scenario, I'll just have really moisturized armpits right? 

Want to test it out with me? Here is the recipe I used:

- 3 tablespoons of shea butter (beurre de karité)

- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (huile de coco) or cocoa butter (beurre de cacao)

- 3 tablespoons of baking soda (bicarbonate de soude)

- 2 tablespoons of arrowroot (arrowroot) or cornstarch (maizena)

- 2 vitamin E capsules (you squeeze the oil into the mixture)

- 5 drops of lavender essential oil (lavande fine)

- 1 drop of clove essential oil (clous de girofle)

Note: you can use whatever essential oils you like. Many websites recommend tea tree oil for its anti-bacterial properties. I unfortunately didn't have any. 

Sterilize all tools, including the jar that you will use for the final product. I placed a glass cup in a pot of  boiling water, added the butters, baking soda and arrowroot, then mixed it with a wooden stick until it was smooth. Once I took the glass out of the water, I added the vitamin E and essential oils, then gave it a final stir. Finally, I poured the mixture into my specially purchased container and popped it in the fridge to harden. Voila! This took me a total of 15 minutes, tops!

Has anyone ever tried this before? Am I a total weirdo? Wait - don't answer that.

America the Air-Conditioned, America the Great

I wasn't going to blog today - I vowed I'd be in bed by 11pm.  But after reading my friend Sunny Life's post I had to blog!

Today I was speaking to an anglophone who was new to France - this person has been a little errr...challenging.  At any rate, she was jet lagged and tired and I was trying to be understanding:

"Um, so like, what kind of accommodations do they offer in the South of France? I might want to go there instead next month."

"Well, I'm not sure," I answered. "All cities have different kinds of accommodation options. Why do you ask?"

"Because it's so HOT in Paris! In the South of France it will be less hot and more bearable because the ocean is there!"

hmmmm....how to explain....

First of all, it's a sea, not an ocean, but let's not get into technicalities. Second of all, uh NO it's not less hot in the South of France!  I told her I lived there, I knew.  And then she threw this one at me:

"So do they just like, not have air conditioning here?"

"Well, as you've noticed by the way I have swamp ass, there isn't even air conditioning in our offices...no one really has air conditioning, you know, like San Francisco or Santa Barbara."  (I tried to bring it closer to home for her)

It was a ROUGH conversation.  One that I had to quickly relay to my Anglo friend as we chuckled over her uber-Americaness.  But after a five minute pause I had to bite my tongue. I was a big ol' hypocrite:

At 15, during my first trip to Europe, all I could do was complain about the lack of air conditioning and how stupid all of these Europeans were. What the eff were they thinking suffering through summer like they did? And why the eff were they making me suffer too??!!  I spent most of my vacation in Berlin at the large mall in the center of town, not because I cared to buy anything but because it was friggin air-conditioned.  Call me a spoiled Southern California girl but I just couldn't take it!  To this day, that is pretty much all I remember of Berlin.  And cold showers.

Over the course of 6 years I, like Sunny Life have gotten used to the sweaty, smelly mess that is France during the summer.  I live with swamp ass, I sweat a bead of sweaty mustache, I feel the sweat drip down the back of my legs in a store that is hotter than hell and I save money - why? Because I leave before I can pick anything out.  The heat makes me angry and I have to GO.

I give up trying to look suitable and I just deal with it - cotton and linen are de rigeur, the hair goes up in a bun, rings are totally off limits due to heat inflated sausage fingers, and makeup? makeup is a total joke! But I don't stink - I will never go that far into the French realm of summer.  C'mon people! Antiperspirant it up! Fill your pores with alluminium! For the love of déo! For the love of my nasal passages and gag reflexes on the metro!

And to continue my rant just a bit further, what really gets me are the people who stink already at 9am.  How for effs sake does that thappen?! I'm at a loss.

So where I had a little chuckle about the naive newbie who just didn't get it - I take it back. I take it allllllll back. Girlfriend is right. Get it together Frenchies.  Install the AC. And if you "get sick," as you always claim you will,  pas de stress! The government will pay for your lovely doctor bill anyways!