Baking soda is for cakes, cleaning and...baths?
Updated: Jan 12, 2023
Just when you thought you had figured out all the secrets of baking soda - toothpaste, fridge freshener, mini volcano fizzer, something you put in cakes - it turns out there's a whole lot more you didn't know about this humble, inexpensive powder. And yes, it has to do with the tub. Doesn't everything? The more I looked into natural products, the more I realized how much I've been missing, especially when it comes to bathing the kids. They love bubble baths, and there's nothing wrong with that, but there is also an alternative ingredient to give their delicate skin a break from all that soap: Baking soda.
Here's what baking soda can do
Regulate pH levels. That's why in a pinch, you can mix baking soda in water to neutralize stomach acid when you have heartburn and have run out of Tums. In the tub, baking soda regulates pH balance of the skin - the body's largest organ.
Relieve skin issues like poison ivy, bee stings, minor burns and sores
Soothe the skin
Relieve the pain and irritation of diaper rash
Remove buildup of hair products on the hair
Ease yeast infections
Added with other healing ingredients like sea salts, Epsom salts and essential oils, you get a great natural, inexpensive ingredient that detoxifies and relaxes, while actually improving the skin's condition. No wonder natural bath bombs - whose primary ingredient is baking soda - have become so popular!
Baking soda is one of those versatile 'stuck on a desert island' kind of ingredients (I like to fantasize that I would be queen of the desert island once people realized I knew how to still eat well, get clean, stay healthy etc. even under harsh and inhospitable conditions - largely due to the survival type books I've read over the course of my life!).
The baking soda bath, all glammed up
You can add a half cup of baking soda directly to bath water, even bath water that has bubbles in it, for a wholesome hit of natural healing. But every product in the kids' line of SaltZ contains baking soda for its gentle cleansing and healing properties - without the harsh detergents and chemicals typical of commercially made kids' bath products. I wish I had known about this when my kids had sore bums - cornstarch and ointments eventually worked, but seeing how SaltZ has been healing my daughter's dry skin on her legs shows me that some very unexpected natural products really do work miracles!