Sodium bicarbonate, popularly known as baking soda, is one of the most amazing health palliative that you can have in your home. Besides, baking soda is also affordable and pretty much an ingredient that doesn’t miss from any household. The reason is that there are a lot of baking soda benefits and uses, ranging from cleaning products, pastry ingredient, natural treatments and remedies, to gardening aid or homemade beauty products. In fact, there’s hardly any situations in which baking soda doesn’t come handy.
Baking Soda vs Baking Powder vs Sodium Bicarbonate
Sodium bicarbonate is the “official” term for baking soda, whereas baking powder is a baking mix that contains baking soda, as well as other ingredients in it. So, if you’re looking to make them most of this wonderful ingredient, then you should go for baking soda instead of baking powder. Today we’re going to talk about the health uses of baking soda and give you some simple and effective remedies and beauty recipes that use baking soda.
Another thing to consider when buying baking soda is to go for the all-natural 100% sodium bicarbonate kind, that is aluminum free! This is really important to ensure you make the most of using baking soda for home remedies or natural cosmetic recipes. Here we have for you 55 Amazing Uses of Baking Soda & Home Remedies as well as a whole bunch of simple beauty and cosmetics recipes! Here we go!
28 Amazing Baking Soda Benefits and Uses with Natural Remedies
1. UTI Treatment with Baking soda – In case of mild UTIs, baking soda can be of real help. What you need to do is rebalance the PH in your body, and for this, baking soda is a great natural remedy. For 2-3 days, drink plenty of water (8 cups/day) in which you add baking soda (1/2tsp. / 300 ml). This will help balance your body’s PH and help you treat mild UTIs. In order to attenuate the UTI pains, follow a simple remedy with baking soda. Make a sitz bath with ½ cup of baking soda and 5 L of water.
2. Baking soda remedy for Hemorrhoids – A great natural remedy for hemorrhoids is a simple steam sitz bath that uses baking soda and other natural ingredients. Prepare the bath as follows. Clean and cut 4-5 horseradish roots, pour 1,5 L of water over them and boil them for 4-5 minutes. Take the pot aside and little by little add 5 tbsp. of baking soda to the boiled horseradish. Cut out a round role from a piece of cardboard and put it over the pot. Put the pot on a small chair and take a steam sitz bath with the vapors that come out of the pot. To make it last longer, cover yourself and the pot with a blanket so that it cools off slower. Follow this treatment 7 days in a row. It is very effective!
Baking Soda Remedies for Infections in the Body
3. Vaginal Itch – Often times triggered by the menstrual cycle, vaginal itching can also be soothed with baking soda. Take a warm bath in which you add ½ cup of baking soda and say bye-bye to itching.
4. Panaritium – Start this treatment immediately after you feel the painful are start to pulsate. Mix 2 tbsp. of baking soda in ½ L of hot water. Submerge your thumb in this hot water for 20 minutes. Make sure the temperature is bearable and you don’t burn yourself! Repeat the procedure 3 times a day and the infection will go away.
5. Ringworm/Dermatitis – Dry clean the area with a sterile cloth until you dry it completely, then cover it in a thick layer of baking soda.
Baking Soda Benefits and Uses for Cold and Cough
6. Cold and Cough Relief – Spread honey on a piece of cheese cloth, then sprinkle it with an equal parts mixture of baking soda and mustard flour. Apply the cloth on the chest and keep it on overnight. 2. Melt 1 tsp. of sheep lard together with 1 tsp. honey, 1 tsp. propolis and another one of baking soda. Spread the mix onto a piece of cheese cloth or bandage and apply it, while warm, on the chest area. Cover it with a piece of parchment paper, and then take on a t-shirt. Leave the bandage overnight, until the next day. 3. Finely poke a piece of paper with a needle, then spread some pork lard on the paper and sprinkle baking soda on top. Apply the paper on the chest and remove it after 4-5 hours.
7. Sore Throat – There’s nothing more effective for a sore throat than the baking soda gargle. Prepare the gargle by adding 2 tsp. of baking soda into 1 cup of warm water. Gargle 5-6 times per day with this preparation, until your throat is no longer sore.
8. Catarrh – Make some simple and effective nose drops at home, following this recipe. Add ¼ tsp. of baking soda in a cup of distilled water (boiled and cooled). Using an eye dropper, add a few drops of this solution in both the nostrils. Wait for a minute and then blow your nose clean. Repeat the procedure 2-3 times per day.
9. Cold – This is a nighttime remedy and it goes like this. Dissolve 1 tsp. of baking soda in 1 cup of really warm milk. Drink the milk right before bedtime. Not only your cold symptoms will get better, but warm milk actually helps your sleep too.
10. Dry Cough – Make the following mix: 1 tsp. cow’s milk butter, 1 tbsp. organic honey and 2 tsp. baking soda. Have 1 tsp. of this preparation every morning, right before bedtime. Continue until the nagging dry cough is gone.
11. Sinusitis – Pour hot water in a pot and then add 1 tsp. of baking soda, fresh basil and mint to it. Make a 2-3 minutes long facial steam bath by inhaling the hot steams from the mixture. If you suffer from allergies to any of these components, you shouldn’t do it.
Remedies with Baking Soda for Stomach Issues
12. Stomach Acid/Stomach Burns – Have 1 tsp. of baking soda with 1 cup of water and a few drops of lemon juice. The effect lasts for about 30 minutes, but is instant.
13. Stomach Discomfort – Make a cup of mint infusion and add in it ¼ tsp. of sodium bicarbonate and the same amount of salt. It doesn’t taste that good, but it sure helps heal your stomach.
14. Stomach Ulcer – Baking soda is a very common quick remedy for stomach ulcer patients, because it soothes the pain on the spot. The reason is that, sodium bicarbonate neutralizes the excess stomach acid that builds up and causes pain. However, using baking soda for stomach ulcer on a long term will create the opposite effect, by increasing the stomach acid that builds up and attacks the already thinned stomach walls, leading to more ulcerations.
Baking Soda Benefits and Uses for Accidents and Injuries
15. Ligament Sprains – Make a boil with elder tree bark to which you add 1 tbsp. of baking soda. Apply it on the painful ligament strain.
16. Hypertonia Cure – If you take ½ tsp. of baking soda together with your prescript drugs for hypertonia, you may decrease their dosage. Dissolve the sodium bicarbonate into water when taking it.
17. Insect Bites – Make a simple solution with ½ tsp. baking soda and 1 cup of water. Apply it on the insect bites a few times a day. You will see the inflammation caused by the bites will soon be gone. Even more so, baking soda is a natural microbe repellent, preventing them to enter into the insect bite wounds.
18. Battery Acid Burn – If you’ve entered in direct contact with leaked car battery acid, or other sorts of acidic products and you’ve burnt yourself, there is a quick remedy for that. What you need to do is apply a cold jet of water for the deep tissue burn to stop and then powder the burnt area abundantly with baking soda.
19. Mild Burns – Burns need to be treated immediately. Fill up a bowl with melted ice water and add baking soda. Soak a cloth bandage in this water and soda solution and apply it on the burn. Make sure you move fast so that you decrease the chances for blisters to form.
20. Baking Soda for Car Sickness – If you are nauseous and feel like vomiting when you ride the car on longer distances, make a simple preparation and take it with you when in need. Dissolve ½ tsp. of baking soda in 25 ml of water. Pour it in a small/tiny jar and drink it whenever you feel car sick. It really helps!
Remedies with Baking Soda for Pain
21. Arthritis Remedy – Try drinking ½ tsp. of baking soda with 300 ml of water every 2 hours. Repeat the procedure 4 times a day for 3 consecutive days.
22. Radiculitis & Articular Diseases – Dissolve 1 tsp. of baking soda in a cup of hot water. Take a piece of cotton cloth the size of the painful area, soak it in this solution and then squeeze it a bit. Drizzle one size of the cloth with lamp oil and soap it with laundry soap detergent. Apply a layer of animal fat on the painful area and then place the cotton cloth over, with the drizzled side down. Secure it in place with a bandage and then wrap it with a thick woolen scarf, so it stays warm. Keep it on as much as you can bare. Repeat a few times, depending on the severity of the radiculitis or the particular problem.
23. Rheumatism Pain in Legs – Dissolve 4 packets of baking soda in 5 L of water and heat up the solution until it starts to smoke. Take foot baths with this water every evening for a month. When you’re done, get a pair of wool socks on. Try to make the baths as hot as you can bare. You can reheat the water with baking soda for the entire time of the cure. Beware! These foot baths are not recommended for patients suffering from varicose veins.
24. Joint Pain – Mix 1 tbsp. of pork lard with 1 tbsp. of baking soda and another tbsp. of quicklime. Leave the mixture to sit for 24 hours. First, take a warm bath and then apply the natural cream on the painful joints. Cover them with a slightly beaten cabbage leaf (so that its juices come out). Wrap everything with a woolen cloth and leave it overnight.
Other Natural Remedies that Use Baking Soda
25. Adenomatous Goiter – Chew on a rye bread until you mix it well with the saliva. Form it into a flat bread, sprinkle it with baking soda and apply it directly on your neck. Keep it in place with a cloth bandage. In addition to this, drink danewort tea. Make this tea with 1 tsp. of danewort fruits per cup of hot water. Drink 1/3 cup of this tea, 3 times per day. Continue this treatment until the goiter is well reduced or gone completely.
26. Baking soda for Conjunctivitis – Pad your eyes with a low concentration water and sodium bicarbonate solution. Don’t use the same cotton pad twice, but throw it away after usage.
27. Diabetes Remedy – Mix 1 tsp. of sodium bicarbonate in 250 gr. of yogurt and eat it first thing in the morning, for a long-term diabetes treatment.
28. Heart Arrhythmia – Baking soda activates the excretion of excess water and mineral salts from the body, and this way, it lowers blood pressure. You can stop the heart palpitations by drinking ½ teaspoon of baking soda diluted in a cup of water.
22 Baking Soda Uses for Beauty with Recipes
As opposed to the majority of the synthetic beauty products on the market, baking soda is not dangerous to use and it has no side-effects. On the contrary, it protects, heals and beautifies the skin. Here are a handful of beauty uses of baking soda that you can safely try at home.
Baking Soda Benefits and Uses for Face
29. Acne Vulgaris – What you need to do is to grate your natural face soap and mix it with baking soda. Wash your face twice a week, with a cotton pad soaked in this soapy mix. This wonderful remedy for acne helps your skin get rid of the dead cells and it also opens up the pores of your face.
30. Overnight Treatment for Acne – Squeeze half of toothpaste, mix it with the juice of a lemon and with 1 tsp. of sodium bicarbonate. Mix all the ingredients well until you obtain a homogeneous paste. Apply this baking soda paste on your acne in the evening and let it work its magic overnight.
31. Natural Facial Cleanser – If you wish to clear your face rapidly and efficiently, get your hands wet and pour some baking soda on your palms (don’t pour too much though). Massage your face in circular motions, starting with smaller areas and expanding to your entire face. Wash your face well with warm water and wipe the water off with a clean towel. Recommendation: make sure the baking soda doesn’t enter your eyes.
32. Facial Scrub – Mix a bit of baking soda with water until you obtain a paste. Spread the paste on your face, by massaging it gently, then rinse it off with warm water. This is your natural facial scrub with baking soda. This is also wonderful against acne.
33. Peeling with Baking Soda – Although the skin of the ace is very delicate, it is permanently bombarded with damaging external factors like pollution, synthetic cosmetics, sunlight etc. This is why it needs deep cleaning and disinfecting done regularly. What you can do is peeling it with this baking soda solution. Mix in a bowl 3 tbsp. of baking soda with 1 tbsp. of natural cow milk, until you make a paste. Apply this paste on your face in soft circular motions, after you’ve removed your make up and washed your face. Then wash you face with cold water to help tone the skin up and wipe with a clean towel. After the peeling, you can apply an organic moisturizer for best results.
34. Glowing Skin Recipe – Add 1 tsp. of baking soda per cup of water and mix well until you obtain a pasty mix. Soak a cotton pad in this mix and pad it on your face well. Wash your face thoroughly afterwards. Make sure you avoid your eye area when padding the mixture!
Baking Soda Benefits and Uses for Body & Skin
35. Natural Deodorant for Smelly Sweat – It’s important to understand that baking soda doesn’t stop sweating, but what it does is to neutralize the acids produced when we sweat. As you may know, some transpiration acids help develop bacteria that give our sweat an unpleasant odor. If you want to stop using chemically loaded body deodorants from the supermarkets, this recipe is something you might be interested in. What you can do about the smelly sweat is to wipe your armpit with a cotton pad soaked in a water and baking soda solution. You can also prepare it in advance, by adding 1 tsp. of baking soda to a cup of water and make your simple baking soda deodorant recipe. Now you’re ready to break a sweat, without the stink though.
36. Dehydration – For dehydration, you need to prepare a simple recipe using baking soda and organic sea salt. The recipe is pretty simple: Add ½ tsp. sodium bicarbonate and 1 tsp. of salt in 1 L of very warm water. Have 1 tbsp. of this sodium bicarbonate drink every 5 minutes and your body with rehydrate naturally.
37. Body Itching – Baking soda is also an amazing remedy for skin conditions, namely eczema or body itching. For chicken pox in kids, for instance, add 80 gr. of baking soda to your kid’s water in the tub, for a small bath. You can add 150 gr. if the volume of water in the tub is larger.
38. Warts Remedy – Make a paste with baking soda and castor oil. Apply it 2-3 times per day on the warts with a bandage or rub it in a few times a day.
39. Prevent Ear Wax Formation – Impede the formation of ear wax by washing every now and then with baking soda. Use an eye dropper to introduce the warm water and baking soda into the ear for a thorough cleaning. Ear wax, bye bye!
How to Use Baking Soda for Beautiful Hands
40. Soft Delicate Hands – If you want to have softer hand skin, but don’t want to spend a fortune on chemicals loaded hand creams and lotions, you can use baking soda instead. All you have to do is to soak your hands in water first and then smear them with a little bit of baking soda. Don’t exaggerate with the baking soda that you use. Massage your hands and then rise the baking soda off with cold water. You can repeat the procedure as often as you wish, because it has no side-effects whatsoever.
41. The Perfect Manicure – What about a natural and cheap manicure session? For this, pour some warm water in a bowl and add 1 tsp. of baking soda to it. Hold your hands in this sodium bicarbonate water for 10 to 15 minutes, while the water temperature is still warm. This bath will help clean your nails and soften the cuticles so that you can remove them more easily.
Happy Feet with Baking Soda
42. Foot Odor – Baking soda neutralizes the bacteria responsible for that unpleasant foot odor we dislike so much. For this, take a warm foot bath in which you add baking soda. That’s it.
43. Baking soda for Candida/Athletes Foot – This remedy is especially recommended for athlete’s foot. Make a paste by mixing baking soda with water. Apply the paste on your feet, massaging it slowly in. Then rinse it off and wipe clean your feet. Then powder them with a little bit of corn flour.
44. Swollen Feet – After a long day at work, your tired and swollen feet can be treated with a natural solution based on baking soda. Make a warm foot bath with 10 L of water and 5 tbsp. of baking soda. 15 minutes later you’re off to dancing all night if you please.
Baking Soda Benefits and Uses for Hair
45. Silky Hair – Immediately after you’ve washed your hair with shampoo, rinse it with a solution made of ½ tbsp. of baking soda and 2 L of water. That’s it!
46. Shampoo Recipe – Another easy use of baking soda for hair is this simple baking soda shampoo recipe. Add 1 full tbsp. of baking soda into a bottle of kids’ shampoo and use it as your regular shampoo. This is a very efficient shampoo for thorough hair cleaning and eliminating all the hair products residues from your hair (hair gel, hair spray etc.).
47. Dandruff – add 1 tbsp. of baking soda to your shampoo and that’s it. Bye bye dandruff!
Baking Soda Uses for Teeth & Oral Health
Is Baking Soda good for Teeth Whitening? The answer is yes! Here are a few recipes you can try at home to whiten your teeth naturally and without spending a fortune.
48. Teeth Whitening with Baking Soda – Baking soda can make a great replacement for your toothpaste if you want to whiten your teeth the natural way. And this is pretty simple to do. Soak a cotton pad in baking soda and rub it on your teeth, until the yellowish spots from your teeth will go away. The results will be visible after the first wash.
49. Teeth Enamel Protection – The acids in the foods that we eat, gradually consume the teeth enamel layer. However, you can neutralize their damaging effect if you make it a habit to brush your teeth with water and baking soda. Soak the tooth brush in water first and then in baking soda and brushy brushy.
50. Tooth Ache Treatment – Fill half of a 500-ml cup with chamomile flowers, then pour boiling water over the flowers until they are all fully covered. Put the cup on medium heat and boil for 5 minutes. Add 1 tbsp. of baking soda and leave aside to cool off. When your tea has cooled down so that you can bare keeping it in the mouth. Use this magical tea to rinse your mouth. You’ll see that after the first rinsing the intensity of your tooth ache will increase even further, but if you continue rinsing, you will see that ultimately, they will go away.
Baking Soda Side Effects and Contraindications
It is recommended that internally, baking soda is used less often, only when you don’t dispose of other drugs or natural remedies. The internal remedies with baking soda should be used with caution because it can lead to high blood pressure. Don’t take sodium bicarbonate if you’re on a no-salt diet. It is not recommended for pregnant women. It’s best that you consult your doctor or the pharmacist with regards to possible interactions with the other medicine that you are taking, just to make sure it is completely safe to take baking soda.
Fantastic Article ! There is so much that we didn’t know about Baking Soda, Thanks so much for this amazing article