Kitchen Chemist Makes Lemons Into All-Natural Deo Powder

How did you start Madame Lemy?
I launched Madame Lemy in 2018. I had the idea in 2016. I was working as a celebrity and TV makeup artist. During that time, one of my close friends was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. She was only 30. She really educated me on products, and specifically, she kept harping on switching to natural deodorant.

Did your friend blame personal product usage on her diagnosis?
It is controversial whether aluminum and synthetic products in antiperspirants cause breast cancer or not. You can find mixed studies proving and disproving, so I’ll only speak to what she shared with me. I remember a specific time when we were talking about her growing up in Texas and living on a farm and using different types of chemicals. She said being 30 years old and being diagnosed with such an aggressive type of breast cancer she believed that there had to have been something in chemicals that she was exposed to—whether where she grew up or the products that she used. She was very adamant about not using antiperspirants. I just speak to what she believed. I’ve read reports on both sides. I always err on the side of caution, and that maybe it’s not an issue at all but if it is, I’d rather just be safe knowing I’m not putting that on my skin every day.

In 2016 I had been trying multiple natural deodorants and either they gave me a rash or—TMI—I smelled worse. Somebody had mentioned to me they saw the rash I had from natural deodorant and asked if I had ever tried lemons. I waited for the rash to go away and started using lemon slices. That’s when I had the idea that the lemon on its own is working so well, I wondered if there was a way to turn this into something to carry with me. Just DIYing, I figured out a way to turn lemons into powder, not knowing you can just buy lemon-peel powder. But I’m glad I didn’t know that because it really set me on a path to mix and make things in my kitchen, and lemon peel powder wasn’t as effective as just the lemon slices. Through DIY, I figured out other ingredients through Pinterest and Google.

How did you go about recruiting chemists?
My neighbor in New York City happened to be an Oxford-trained chemist. I knocked on his door and asked for his help because I figured out the powder dry ingredients, but I didn’t know how to make the scent or how to add in a liquid—essential oil—into powder. He taught me how to make my powders…. We became really good friends. He’s like my Walter White from “Breaking Bad.”

How did you get the business off the ground?
A family acquaintance who’s the former VP of Elizabeth Arden—he created the Prevage line and those ceramide capsules…really revolutionary products—I called him in the beginning stages and asked for his help and he became a mentor.

You have an interesting story about the eureka moment that helped you nail the formulation.
I call myself a kitchen chemist. I don’t have a formal chemistry background. I went to ‘Google University’ and looked up different ingredients. [The formulation] was 80% there when I had baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, arrowroot, essential oils and botanicals; it was working pretty well, but it wasn’t as effective. I was trying different formulas, and making armpit A and B tests every few days. I would run two miles and then I would test—smell myself—and see if I was sweating….I knew something was missing. I was visiting Santa Barbara and there was this Himalayan salt store, and they had a Himalayan spa and I walked in and saw on the counter loose Himalayan salt and it looked like a powder. The woman said Himalayan salt is an antibacterial and a light bulb went off! Himalayan salt is the main ingredient and the active, which is a healing, nourishing ingredient. It has 84 minerals that naturally balance the pH.