It’s a well-known fact that baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) can do wonders and not only when it comes to baking. It's often used for cleaning or as a natural pharmaceutical remedy for indigestion and alkalizing. You’ve probably seen lots of TikToks on what to do with this magical ingredient, but we’ll hopefully show you more ways to use it, that you didn’t know about.
1. Personal hygiene
Baking soda can be used as a gentle exfoliator, teeth whitener and odor remover. If you’re out of body scrub, toothpaste or even deodorant and shampoo, but have some baking soda on hand, you’re good to go! Plus, it's all natural and can save you a lot of money ;)
Just add some water to it to make a paste and use on your skin, teeth or hair. The mixture is powerful enough to get rid of the strongest smells like garlic and onion and is great with fighting dandruff. Now, as gentle as sodium bicarbonate is, probably it’s best not to use it daily, especially on your teeth, to make sure it’s not hurting the protective layer of the tooth in any way.
2. Health
A natural way to fight chronic hay fever is to make a homemade sinus rinse from three parts iodide-free salt, one part baking soda, and distilled/boiled (and cooled after) water. Put the mixture in a bulb syringe and squeeze into each nostril :)
Another fact about baking soda that might be new to you is that it can be applied to help you extract splinters. Using equal parts of water and baking soda, apply it over the splinter, wait a few minutes, and it will come out of the skin easier. The same mixture with a little more baking soda, can be used to relieve itchiness and pain from bug bites.
3. Household and gardening
Sodium bicarbonate is ideal for cleaning and polishing silverware, from jewelry to kitchen utensils, it leaves them shiny and disinfected. Sprinkle enough baking soda onto an aluminum foil-lined basin, put your silver items, pour boiling water, and let it soak.
You might already be using baking soda to remove bad smell from your fridge or cupboard, but you can actually use it as a natural deodoriser for your home. Place some baking soda with a few drops of essential oil of your choice in a jar and cover with a cloth, then place in your bathroom or any other place as an air freshener!
Baking soda doesn’t only help with bug bites, but also helps you keep pests away. It can be used as a natural insecticide for your garden. Simply make a solution of baking soda, water and dish soap and use it on all different types of plants.
So basically, you can use baking soda for nearly anything. It’s not only cheap, but great for replacing the toxic chemicals we breathe and put on our skin daily! Let us know if we missed any interesting facts on the topic!
In case you missed last week's article on coffee, you can check it out here ;)
---
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/89788/10-things-you-didnt-know-baking-soda-could-do
http://ozscience.com/chemistry-2/fun-facts-baking-soda-uses/
https://www.echemi.com/cms/1100179.html
