It's impossible to think of a more versatile household ingredient than baking soda. Not only is it fabulous for cooking, absorbing odors, and cleaning everything from shoes to drains, but it's also a brilliant addition to your beauty regimen.
Baking soda is great for skin and hair. It's a natural exfoliant, teeth whitener, skin soother, complexion improver, scalp clarifier, and odor blocker. Baking soda is a naturally occurring substance that is safe for plumbing and harmless to ecosystems and animals (at least in small amounts).
Here are 10 ways to use baking soda in your beauty routine.
1
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Wash Your Face With It
Baking soda is great to use on your face, albeit not frequently. The powder is mildly abrasive, which helps to remove oils, grime, and dead skin cells that can clog pores and cause acne. It also helps tighten pores and relieve inflammation.
The easiest way to use baking soda on your face is to mix it with just enough water to form a milky consistency, then scrub skin gently. To up the soothing factor, combine baking soda with honey and colloidal oats until you get a thick masklike consistency. Massage it in, rinse clean, and repeat once per week.
2
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Exfoliate Your Underarms
You may notice a darkening of the skin under your arms if your deodorant contains harsh ingredients like alcohol and aluminum. Shaving (especially on dry skin and/or with a dull blade) can also cause skin to darken and thicken over time.
You can improve underarm darkness by removing some of the product buildup and dead skin. Do this by combining coconut oil and baking soda into a thick, creamy paste. Apply to your armpits, gently massaging it in, and leave on for five minutes before rinsing. As a bonus, baking soda itself acts as a natural deodorant.
You may be left with stained hands after working with berries, walnuts, beetroot, or turmeric. Most things that can stain skin are acidic in nature, and using baking soda on the stain should neutralize it and help your hands—or the carpet, etc.—return to their normal color. Just add a dash of baking soda to some liquid castile soap. Scrub, rinse, and voila!
4
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Use Baking Soda as a Spot Treatment
Washing the whole face with baking soda is too much for some sensitive skin types. If that's the case, you can still reap the inflammation-fighting rewards of baking soda by targeting pimples instead.
Make a thick paste by adding a drop of water to a teaspoon of baking soda. Feel free to add a drop of tea tree oil for extra fighting power, too. Apply the thick paste to your blemish and allow it to dry. This will take 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse, pat dry, and moisturize the area to prevent overdrying.
5
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Swap Your Dry Shampoo With It
Baking soda is ahygroscopic substance, meaning it attracts and absorbs moisture. That includes hair grease, which is why many use the powder as a natural alternative to chemical-based dry shampoo. Just add a dash to your scalp and rub in with your fingers for a fresh, just-washed feel.
6
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Soothe Skin After Shaving
Baking soda has a refreshing cooling effect on skin—hence why it's often used to soothe sunburns. It can also reduce some of the irritation caused by shaving. Treat your razor bumps and burn with the same solution you'd use on blemishes: a simple baking soda and water paste. Apply it to clean skin and allow to dry for about 10 minutes. Repeat this twice a day as needed.
7
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Make a Brightening Face Mask
While baking soda works to cleanse and purify skin, lemon aims to brighten the complexion. Together, they deliver all the things you look for in a face mask.
Mix freshly squeezed lemon juice from half a lemon with one to two tablespoons of baking soda, depending on your desired consistency. Mix in a teaspoon of honey to balance out the acidity and protect your skin's barrier. Apply the mixture to clean skin and leave on for 10 minutes.
8
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Make a Baking Soda Bath
A baking soda bath can be good for inflamed and irritated skin. Baking soda is detoxifying and cleansing. Thanks to its alkaline nature, it can be soothing to dermatitis, eczema flareups, and other itchy conditions, including sunburns.
Run a warm bath and stir in one cup of baking soda. The water should be just above body temperature, between 90 and 105 degrees. Anything hotter could irritate skin and dry it out further. Soak for up to 30 minutes for smooth, soft, and soothed skin.
9
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Prep Your Nails for a Mani or Pedi
Like a baking soda bath would, this extremity-specific soak should soothe and smoothen skin in preparation for a manicure or pedicure. It should also help loosen up tough cuticles and clean the nails thoroughly. One tablespoon of baking soda per gallon of warm water should do the trick.
After you've soaked for about 10 minutes, rub a little baking soda on your nails to buff, then finish with a cool rinse.
10
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Get Rid of Chlorine and Product Buildup
Sodium bicarbonate's alkaline nature makes it a great antidote for thick grease, grime, and oil—whether you plan to use it on pots and pans or, rather, your head. Regular swimmers and product users will know the struggle of stripping chemicals from your delicate strands. Baking soda is a great natural way to get rid of this buildup.
Just mix equal parts liquid castile soap and baking soda and massage it into your scalp in the shower. Be sure to condition well afterward.
It can relieve minor irritation, pain, itching, and redness. Mix up a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water. Smear it on your skin and leave for 20 minutes before you wash it off. Or soak in a bath with a half-cup of baking soda added to the water.
It can relieve minor irritation, pain, itching, and redness. Mix up a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water. Smear it on your skin and leave for 20 minutes before you wash it off. Or soak in a bath with a half-cup of baking soda added to the water.
Baking soda works to remove dead skin cells, soften your complexion, and tighten pores. Used as part of a wrinkle-fighting beauty routine, exfoliating with baking soda can lead to visibly smoother, firmer skin. Mix two teaspoons of baking soda with two teaspoons of warm water.
Over time, baking soda can strip the natural oil from the hair, lead to breakage, and make the hair fragile. People with very oily hair may see some benefits from using baking soda, but it should only be used for a brief time and with caution.
As such, baking soda not only prevents tooth decay but also helps remineralize your enamel. Baking soda can also limit plaque buildup by neutralizing plaque acids. Many kinds of toothpaste contain baking soda to help clean teeth more effectively and protect against plaque.
There is no scientific evidence that baking soda is effective for weight loss. In fact, there are many potentially dangerous side effects of ingesting baking soda in large amounts on its own or with water. People should only consume baking soda by itself if a healthcare professional recommends it.
Not only is it fabulous for cooking, absorbing odors, and cleaning everything from shoes to drains, but it's also a brilliant addition to your beauty regimen. Baking soda is great for skin and hair. It's a natural exfoliant, teeth whitener, skin soother, complexion improver, scalp clarifier, and odor blocker.
While it's generally not harmful, baking soda can irritate the skin. Most people don't know they are sensitive to baking soda until they start applying it directly to their skin. It's notorious for causing armpit rashes, redness, and burning for some people when used in homemade or natural deodorants.
"Combine three parts baking soda and one part water to create a gentle yet effective scrub to buff and exfoliate nails," says Julie Kandalec, the creative director at Paintbox in New York City. "Rub gently in circular motions over hands and fingers to seriously smooth the nail surface."
Both coconut oil and baking soda have great anti-aging benefits. Baking soda is a natural ingredient used to exfoliate the skin, shrink large pores and promote collagen production when massaged into the skin. Coconut oil is a great product to moisturize, treat sagging and wrinkles that appear over time.
Discover the beauty benefits of using baking soda and Vaseline for a glowing complexion. Remove dead skin cells, lighten dark spots, and moisturize your skin for a fresh and radiant look.
This is why baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has been incorporated into beauty routines due to its alkalinity with a high pH level. The substance works by lightening gray hair but should only ever be used cautiously as it also affects moisture retention capacity making it brittle.
In general, baking soda is abrasive and can leave your hair and scalp dry. Using the powder as a shampoo is more likely to be effective for people with extra oily hair. People with dry hair should consider following the rinse with a conditioner to moisturize the scalp.
The no-poo (or “no shampoo”) method is a hair-cleansing technique that removes shampoo from the equation, says Yadav. Instead of using shampoo, followers of the practice use alternatives such as apple cider vinegar, a cleansing conditioner, or just plain water.
Some people drink baking soda for indigestion and other purposes, but drinking baking soda can be dangerous and is not suitable for long-term use, use during pregnancy, or use in children.
Baking soda is a natural neutralizer which works well to clear out toxins from the kidney and guards against urinary tract infections. It lowers the acid levels in the urine, lowers the symptoms of UTI and assists the body to battle against bacteria causing infections.
Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, is also used in the treatment of kidney disease. The National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) recommends the use of sodium bicarbonate to treat metabolic acidosis. This condition occurs when there is an excessive buildup of acid in the blood.
Introduction: My name is Jonah Leffler, I am a determined, faithful, outstanding, inexpensive, cheerful, determined, smiling person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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