Monthly favorites will be rescheduled – thanks for bearing with me. Meanwhile, I’ve been seeing a resurgence of some bad beauty advice.
Ostensibly in an effort to reduce exposure to chemicals, the sources promoting, “natural,” beauty are back to promoting using baking soda as a skincare and exfoliation agent again. Stop! You’re causing more harm than help.
I love finding clever uses for items I already have in my home, but there is a point at which reason needs to intervene.
Repeat after me:
1. Everything is made of chemicals.
Literally everything that is known to exist has a chemical composition. Your skin, your coffee, your phone, your makeup. Some substances are harmful, some aren’t. Baking soda, too, is a chemical. It’s a simple substance that many of us already have in our homes. It’s cheap and accessible – so I get the motivation. But–
2. I shall not use baking soda as a facial exfoliant.
I’ve written about this before: baking soda is not a good substance to use on the sensitive skin of the face. Even if your skin is not what you would describe as sensitive, the reality is that the pH of skin can be easily upset. Exposure to overly alkaline substances – like baking soda – can upset that balance and cause more harm than help.
Even if you get initially-positive results, prolonged use will result in disruption of your skin’s acid mantle. Then it is all downhill from there.
The Bottom Line
Think about it: If used in abundance topically, you can use it to restore the finish of marred stainless steel surfaces or to clean toilets, should you use it in the same way on your face? (In before it’s also an ingredient in your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe – me too! Applying heat causes a chemical reaction that ultimately produces a tasty food that won’t wreak pH havoc on your innards.)
In short? Stop taking beauty advice from PopSugar and Refinery29.