Acne Treatments - Baking Soda

Using baking soda to clear your skin |

Baking soda is another home remedy for acne that frequently pops up in magazines and internet searches. It is very affordable. It deodorizes and cleans well. However, it is excellent for cleaning household items, not the skin on your face. I wish people would stop recommending baking soda because it really is harsh on your skin.

The common way to use baking soda as an acne treatment is to make a scrub. You can either mix a spoonful of baking soda (not baking powder) with water or add some to your cleanser. Other people like to use baking soda as a mask or spot treatment to help draw out any pimples.

People start to think, "Why bother spending money on scrubs and spot treatments when baking soda is so cheap?!"

Well, yes, baking soda is cheap and does make a very fine scrub, but it's so fine and the particles are so minuscule and jagged that it actually causes microscopic tears in your skin. Baking soda is also very alkaline, around a pH of 8, so when you're using baking soda as a scrub or mask, you're not only giving your skin microscopic tears, you're also ruining your skin's natural acid mantle (which is around a pH of 5).

I tried baking soda as a scrub and immediately after I washed it off, I have to admit I was very impressed. My skin felt super smooth and I was ecstatic because I thought I would never have to spend another penny on a store-bought scrub ever again! Oh, how I was wrong.

Baking soda turned out to be incredibly irritating. Even though my skin felt very smooth after washing with it, it stung like the dickens whenever I tried to put on moisturizer afterwards. At first I thought maybe the moisturizer had some acid or treatment ingredient in there, but even plain ol' Cetaphil, aloe vera gel, and eventually water stung my skin!

I had to give up baking soda because it was turning my face into a sensitive, red, dry, and very pimply mess. Baking soda looks very innocent, but I definitely would not recommend using such a harsh ingredient on your skin for acne, even if it is really cheap.

Last updated: September 10, 2012

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