Exfoliating with baking soda

[RawPaw]

I just tried it, OMG—nothing has worked so immediately. I just added water to some baking soda making a paste, and then gently applied it to my face. After about 10 minutes, rinse.

I'm also experimenting with using it as a toothpaste and drinking a pinch throughout the day.

Anyone have any similar experiences?

[JennaHoneyBear]

ooooo!

no experience with that...yet! thanks for sharing

[Aleesha Sattva]

very interesting. what is the benefit of using it on your face?

i love to use coconut oil and if i want a facial mask... i use green clay. ohhhh i just love the stuff.

never heard of using baking soda though...

[RawPaw]

very interesting. what is the benefit of using it on your face?

i love to use coconut oil and if i want a facial mask... i use green clay. ohhhh i just love the stuff.

never heard of using baking soda though...

I think it absorbs the impurities and it's abrasive enough to exfoliate with.

[spicyfull]

Thanks for Sharing. Now this is a very reasonable way to EXFOLIATE, getting the old cells off and exposing New ones, skin. There are Many items on the Market but this one is a RAWinner......Thanks again for Sharing this information with us.....Learn Something everyday and there's always a Box around.

[Raw Joy]

Baking soda works much as a scrub, getting rid of all of the old, dead cells.

I've been using it quite a while. Just a caution, it can possibly be drying if you use it every day. I make it really, really watery and scrub lightly so as not to exacerbate my slight rosacea. Using it as a paste is way too much for my dry skin.

I do this about once a week or so. Keeps my skin looking very fresh and young.

[Shine]

I love this idea! I use baking soda for cleaning anyway (mixed with distilled vinigar and tea-tree oil) so I always have it around. Thanks!

[Veganforlife]

Isn't baking soda cut w/something? I was trying to find something on-line about it, but couldn't. I did a quick search though. I know at the HFS we sold 'un-cut' b-soda...

[Azaria]

Love to wash my face once a week or so with a honey mask (slather the honey on until it starts to warm and melt and drive me nuts, or the cat starts licking it, whichever comes first) and then make a paste of baking soda and warm water, and then scrub with fingertips in little circles all over my face until the honey comes away and the baking soda cleanses. Sheer bliss, I tell you.

[Raw Joy]

I know. Honey is my daily cleanser. And I'll use it as a mask once a week while soaking in the tub.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I would want to lick (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXBmlkzJMUM) it off myself... I soooo love my honey! *giggling*

[lunabear]

No, no, don't scrub your face with baking soda! It is far too alkaline for your skin. The skin is supposed to be slightly acidic (the acidity of Apple Cider Vinegar, incidentally, which you can dilute with water to use as a toner).

I used to scrub with baking soda, broke out in HORRIBLE acne. It works for a short while and then it interferes with your skin's ability to slough itself off.

You want to exfoliate, try rubbing a little fruit on your skin (pineapple is amazing, and my favorite fruit hence my avatar). The acids will help eat at your dead skin cells, leave on for fifteen minutes, wash off, and enjoy a shiny complexion.

I am against all abrasive exfoliators (apricot pits, baking soda, sugar scrub, you name it). They are too harsh even for normal skin and cause irritation. Just use something with a little acid -- again, the fruit -- cover your face in honey to kill bacteria if you want -- and focus on eating right for the best skin possible.

Source? Me, ten years of acne that has finally started to go away with raw. I've tried everything, trust me, and baking soda is the WORST for long term results.

[RawPaw]

No, no, don't scrub your face with baking soda! It is far too alkaline for your skin. The skin is supposed to be slightly acidic (the acidity of Apple Cider Vinegar, incidentally, which you can dilute with water to use as a toner).

I used to scrub with baking soda, broke out in HORRIBLE acne. It works for a short while and then it interferes with your skin's ability to slough itself off.

You want to exfoliate, try rubbing a little fruit on your skin (pineapple is amazing, and my favorite fruit hence my avatar). The acids will help eat at your dead skin cells, leave on for fifteen minutes, wash off, and enjoy a shiny complexion.

I am against all abrasive exfoliators (apricot pits, baking soda, sugar scrub, you name it). They are too harsh even for normal skin and cause irritation. Just use something with a little acid -- again, the fruit -- cover your face in honey to kill bacteria if you want -- and focus on eating right for the best skin possible.

Source? Me, ten years of acne that has finally started to go away with raw. I've tried everything, trust me, and baking soda is the WORST for long term results.

Interesting. Thanks for the acid info.

[lunabear]

Anytime. This article explains the PH of the skin very well:

http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Apple-Cider-Vinegar-t108428.html

I wash my face with either a homemade oatmeal scrub or Alba's pineapple cleanser. I then use a 50/50 ACV as a toner and occasionally moisturize with Shea butter. My skin has never looked better.

Again, since baking soda is extremely alkaline, doing so will damage the balance of your skin and cause greater outbreaks in the long run. There are many better exfoliants such as oatmeal and plain sugar in olive oil (looks like sugar is good for something after all!)

[Mindy Sue]

I have been using baking soda for quite a while and I love what it does to my skin. I will continue to use it because it works for me and my face never breaks out! :p

My youngest daughter used to have bad breakouts, but now uses bs as well, and her face is always clear.

I don't leave it on my skin, I just rub it on lightly and rinse right away, followed by avocado oil.

Do whatever works for you - not all skin is the same.

[cara4art]

Boy, it sure didn't work out for me. All I got was irritated, dry skin with it, even though initially it made my skin nice and smooth. But then I got raw irritated, even broken-out patches(and my skin is neither that dry nor that oily)despite not rubbing hard etc. Not for me - it's VERY harsh!

[sport]

I use nothing on my face but water. Lots of it. 50 splashes in the morning and just a wet wash cloth at night.
I do not understand why people want to remove cells and cause new ones to grow. Cells have a preset number of divisions in them and making them produce faster does not seem like a good thing to me. There is the question of the telomeres length which reduces every time a cell divides. I do not encourage my cells to divide more than they want to.
I have had that way of thinking for many years. Am I being an idiot.
P.S. my skin is great and never needs moisture.

[cara4art]

Hi sport!
That's great that you can just use water only on your face and your skin is happy! Mine wouldn't be, as it gets dull unless I use SOMETHING to exfoliate though. I've tried the no-exfoliation-whatsoever route due to sensitivity and during one period when I was recovering from a skincare-induced chemical burn and that was fine while I was healing up from that, but after that, no dice - my pores tend to clog and my skin, although on the reactive side, gets rough and dull if I don't, despite eating a wonderful diet at age 62. My skin(normal to very slightly oily) DOES look better than a lot of people who on SAD though so I have to give myself credit for that. A lot of how skin looks and how little one can get away with using in the way of appropriate products also has to do with genetics. We all know the person who just uses whatever soap is lying around and maybe a little commercial hand lotion on their face if they're "feeling a little dry in winter" and their skin is flawless. Conversely, there's the person who does "all the right things for her skin type" and looks like she still doesn't take care of her skin, even with keeping to a healthy lifestyle. My best friend's mother had very dry sensitive skin and she finally got into the habit for many years before she died to just wash with water-only, as dry-sensitive doesn't do well with exfoliating at all - she had a delicate British complexion. Even mainstream skin care people often say that this skin type is better off with an extremely simple routine, and if needed, something that relieves dryness. I hang out over on a skin board for mature women, and a growing number of them are getting away from the hype that's out there about anti-aging this, anti-aging that, and getting back to basics. I couldn't agree more myself, but as mentioned above I do need a little bit of daily exfoliation. So I do that, plus just basic cleansing and moisturizing - no "anti-aging" products. One thing about unexfoliated skin, anything that you put on it doesn't do its job - it just tends to sit on dead flakes while the skin underneath is still dehydrated and dry. Once you get a layer of that dead stuff off without trashing the skin, it looks better and just a simple oil or cream will work a lot better. There's a fine line between just smoothing the skin with a light exfoliation, and this really aggressive stuff out there that over time DOES compromise the skin in the way you mention.

[Conscious Midwife]

Excellent on teeth

great for a deoderant

but ummm I'd never use it on my face

[juliebove]

I used it years ago on my face. It was in combination with a couple of other things. First the scrub, then a wipe with hydrogen peroxide, then a mask of Milk of Magnesia. Really good for oily skin. My skin is no longer oily.