Sprinkle me with salt and call me a margarita, but lime juice really works as a deodorant, and I’m never switching back to anything else!
This is probably one of my favorite plastic free swaps to share. Partly because it’s such a simple solution, and partly because it took so much trial and error for me to figure out. I love sharing because I want to stop others from repeating my mistakes.
I first heard about lime juice as deodorant on Hippie in a Van’s webpage “STOP STINKING: VEGAN + ZERO WASTE DEODORANT OPTIONS.” But I didn’t believe it. It seemed too easy, and too far from all I’d been lead to believe about what deodorant “should” be. So I did what I usually do and made life more difficult for myself.
If you enjoy reading about what NOT to do, check out my article “Sustainable Deodorant, A Personal Journey.” You can learn about all the research I did and different options I tried that just didn’t work for me (like Pit Balm, magnesium oil, and Little Seed Farm). I also list a bunch of other options that I didn’t actually try.
After several disappointing failures, the lime we had lying around the house started to look appealing. I figured what the heck – why not try it? Worst that can happen is it doesn’t work, and I’m no worse off than I am now. Finally, I gave it a try, and like I said, I’ve never looked back!
I happened to have an old roll-on vial that used to hold lavender essential oil. To refill it, I ease the roll-y cap part off with a knife and clean it out with water and a tooth pick if it’s gotten linty or pulpy. Squeeze some lime juice, pop the cap back on and I’m good to go!
It holds 1/3 of a fluid ounce and usually lasts a month or two. I roll a little on when I get out of the shower, which is usually every other day, and I rarely have to reapply in between. I store it in the fridge so it doesn’t go bad.
So far I haven’t noticed any ill effects on my clothes – that tended to be a major issue with traditional deodorants and many of the alternative deodorants I tried.
The only minor downside I’ve experienced is that sometimes when I apply just after shaving my underarms it stings a little. When that’s the case, I try to apply just a little at first and a little more later if I need it. Honestly, though, the stinging is WAY less than what I experienced with the magnesium oil. It really isn’t all that bad and disappears within 10 minutes, tops.
We were out of limes once when I need to refill, and it turns out that lemon juice works, too!
