Beauty Benefits of Baking Soda
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Months ago, I have written a blog post about Cleaning Hack with the use of baking soda. Not only that baking soda is a kitchen staple, but surprisingly it also has a lot of beauty benefits too! To begin with baking soda is a natural deodorizer, it can be used as a scrub for different areas of the body. Baking soda can help you have brighter skin, smoother hair and whiter teeth. Below are beauty hacks you could do with the use of baking soda and other add on ingredients that you probably already have at home.
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1. Clarifying Shampoo
Add about one teaspoon of baking soda on your palm on top of your regular shampoo, apply to hair and massage it from roots to ends. This will help you remove all the residue of the products you applied on your hair, especially if you are the type who loves putting on mousse and serum everyday. Your hair will definitely feel so much smoother and cleaner after this wash.
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2. Dry Shampoo
I know that using dry shampoo is not common here in the Philippines. Everybody takes a bath everyday since the weather here is hot. Don't get me wrong, I also take a bath everyday (lol!) but I shampoo my hair every other day. I don't know why, but for some reasons I formed this habit because it just feels right. I feel like my hair is softer and it's more easy to fix. The reason is probably because I wash my hair every other day, and the natural oil that form on the scalp is not totally stripped away by the regular shampoo that we use. This way I don't have to use too much products on my hair such as serum and hairspray. However, there are days that my hair becomes too oily because of humidy or too much sweat. On those days I just simply put 1 teaspoon of baking soda on my palm and then massage it on my scalp up until the tips of my hair.
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3. Body Scrub
Make a paste using three tablespoons of baking soda and one tablespoon of oil. Use it to exfoliate your face or any part of the body such as your underarms, elbows, knees and feet. You will notice your underarms, elbows and knees to be visibly lighter after scrubbing them with baking soda.
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4. Toothpaste
Naturally clean your mouth by dabbing your toothbrush on a separate bowl of baking soda. Brush your teeth as how you would do it with your regular toothpaste, do this once to twice a week and you'll notice that your teeth is whiter.
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5. Nail Scrub
Notice that your nails become yellowish due to nail polish? When this happens, simply dab a nail brush on a baking soda and scrub away. Rinse with warm water after scrubbing and your nails are normal again.
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6. Deodorant
If you have sensitive skin and deodorant gives you allergies, baking soda is a great alternative. Baking soda neutralizes acids and bases, that is why it's effective in removing odor.
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7. Foot Soak
You don't have to go to those fancy salon and pay hundreds of Peso for a foot spa that you can actually do at home. In a basin full of warm water, add 1 cup of baking soda, squeeze half of a lemon, then soak your feet for about 10 minutes. You can choose to scrub your feet with the baking soda body scrub ingredients I provided above. Also you can go ahead and scrub your toe nails using a nail brush with baking soda. After that, dry your feet and legs. Apply any lotion that you have at home and your feet will feel a lot softer and cleaner.
