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.
This is a household cleaner – NOT a beauty product.Many moons ago, before I bothered to look at the ingredients of products or or bothered to learn how they worked before slapping them onto my face without abandon, I was guilty of a major beauty no-no (to be childish about it, anyway). Sometimes, if I was out of the also-not-ideal very popular apricot scrub, I’d reach in my cabinet for a fine white substance that serves multiple household purposes. It can deodorize. It can clean bathrooms (including toilets), kitchens. It can help refresh your carpet. The fine grit of baking soda on your face will deliver a satisfying exfoliation, whisking away pesky dead skin…right?
Technically, sure. It will remove dead skin. But that doesn’t mean that you should be using baking soda on your face!
It’s cheap – less than a dollar a box – and does more than just scrub your skin! It’s fragrance- and dye-free…and therefore (supposedly) non-irritant! The grit is not jagged and harsh like walnut shells. It has to be fine, right?
Wrong. No, you aren’t making tiny cuts in your skin, but you are tampering with the pH of your skin in a big way and are positioning yourself to cause more harm than help.