51 Fantastic Uses for Baking Soda

I don’t mean to sound seditious here, but I have a rebellious plan to combat the ills that many corporations are perpetrating in the name of fighting grime and germs. My main gripe is about the environmental pollutants from cleaning and personal care products that we wash down our drains and into our water systems, resulting in situations like the chemical triclosan (a pesticide added to many products as an antibacterial agent) being found in dolphins.

So the simple plan is to encourage everyone to use baking soda in any of these 51 applications. Besides showing kindness to aquatic life, we can also protect ourselves from the array of toxins in household cleaning products. Conventional cleansers can expose us to multiple chemicals linked to asthma, cancer, and other documented health problems.

Baking soda also makes a perfect stand-in for many personal care products, which are adding their own twist to the toxic tangle of pollutants and personal health (mainly in the form of synthetic fragrance (and it’s almost all synthetic), sodium laurel sulfate, and parabens).

So exactly how does baking soda fit into my scheme to make the world a better place? Baking soda, aka sodium bicarbonate, helps regulate pH—keeping a substance neither too acidic nor too alkaline. When baking soda comes in contact with either an acidic or an alkaline substance, it’s natural effect is to neutralize that pH. Beyond that, baking soda has the ability to retard further changes in the pH balance, known as buffering. This dual capability of neutralizing and buffering allows baking soda to do things such as neutralize acidic odors (like in the refrigerator) as well as maintain neutral pH (like in your laundry water, which helps boost your detergent’s power). It’s a simple reaction, but one that has far-reaching effects for a number of cleaning and deodorizing tasks. And so without further ado, I’ll remove my scientist cap, put on my rebellious housekeeper’s cap, and get this folk-wisdom revolution rolling…

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Julia G.

9:05AM PST on Jan 11, 2012

I use soda for cleaning my burned pans and I use it for washing myself too ;)

send a green star

Carol Y.

8:57PM PST on Dec 29, 2011

Thanks for all the ideas with baking soda. It's a great 'green' solution.

Natasha L.

11:16PM PST on Dec 27, 2011

Thanks, very useful

robert G.

3:07PM PST on Dec 13, 2011

What about baking - Is there no use for baking soda?
love and appreciation.

Sarah M.

12:25PM PST on Dec 10, 2011

Awesome, thanks.

Rosemary G.

12:18PM PST on Dec 6, 2011

hanks for the tips. I do use baking soda for some of my cleaning. Like better tips for it

Lara K.

10:56PM PST on Dec 5, 2011

Also, if you want to make your body more alkaline internally, a fast way to do it (if you plan to stick to an alkaline diet like the PH miracle diet) is to mix a few tablespoons of baking soda with water and drinking (will taste awful). You can buy PH test strips at the health food store. If you test your urine first, it will probably be quite acidic. If you're fighting disease, you want to get your urine PH level up above 7, preferably up above 8. This is a fast way to do it, but because it can increase blood pressure, only use if you are healthy and plan to stick to an alkaline diet. Also make sure any baking soda you use for oral consumption does not contain any aluminum (some baking soda brands are apparently made to be used only for cleaning). Good luck everyone!

iii q.

4:43PM PST on Dec 5, 2011

wow - really useful!
ty

Sissi D.

9:41AM PST on Dec 5, 2011

I use lemonade with a quarter of a tea spoon of baking soda to make my body alkaline and destroy cancer cells

Fiona B.

3:22AM PST on Dec 5, 2011

I've used just baking soda and vinegar to wash and rinse my hair for nearly two years. My hair is softer, shinier and more controllable than it ever was with shampoo. I don't find it drying at all. Sometimes I use conditioner when I want to "flatten" it more.