10 Ways to Use Baking Soda for Your Body

I am delighted to be one of twenty bloggers featured in Arm & Hammer's Switch & Save Challenge. During the next five months, I'll be testing several Arm & Hammer products and sharing my experiences with you.

This post is a little different than my normal 10 ways posts. This time, I'm not working in the kitchen, showing my kids cool things, or washing baby clothes. I'm taking a break.

Did you fall out of your chair laughing?

I'm so sorry about that.

I'm not really taking a break. (Does any stay-at-home-mom take a break? I'm pretty sure the answer to that question is an emphatic no.)

Break or no break, there are quite a few things that you can do to pamper yourself with baking soda.

Cheap and pamper in the same sentence? I'm in.

10 Ways to Use Arm & Hammer's Pure Baking Soda for Your Body

1. Brush your teeth. Okay, this isn't pampering; it's necessity. But several people suggested it in the comments of my 10 Fun Uses for Baking Soda post, so I thought I should throw it out there. Sprinkle baking soda on your wet toothbrush and brush your teeth. It's that easy.
   Stay tuned for next week's post - I'm reviewing Arm & Hammer's Advance White Brilliant Sparkle Toothpaste. It tastes a whole lot better than plain baking soda!
2. Exfoliate your face. My poor husband works long hours outside in the heat of the summer. Hard hat atop his head, he sweats. A lot. With that kind of treatment, anyone would be prone to breakouts. He uses the same baking soda paste from above (3 parts baking soda to 1 part water) to exfoliate and cleanse his face and (bald) head. It is much better for his skin that the laundry soap he wanted to use.
   I'm so not kidding.
3. Soften your knees, elbows, and heels. I hope your heels aren't as rough and scratchy as mine, but if they are, you need a paste of 3 parts baking soda and 1 part water. It should be thick, almost as thick as a salt scrub. It will buff your rough skin away.
   If you do it before bed, then rinse, apply lotion, and wear socks all night, your feet will be smooth and silky.
4. Give yourself an at-home pedicure. Soak your stress away in a warm water bath. Dissolve ¼ cup of baking soda in almost-hot water and relax.
5. Freshen your hair. In a pinch, you can use baking soda as a dry shampoo. Sprinkle it into your hair, comb through, and re-style.
   Some people have stopped using shampoo all together, preferring to use a paste of baking soda and water during their shower. If you're interested, search for shampoo free or no poo (I know; it's the real term.) in Swagbucks.
6. Remove smells from your hands. Have you ever tried to remove the onion smell from your hands? Don't try to disguise it by applying scented lotion. All you'll have at that point are hands that smell oddly of onions and apples (or whatever your current favorite lotion smells like) at the same time. It's really unpleasant.
   Not that I know. I would never do something so silly.
   What I would do in that situation is to make a slurry of baking soda and water and scrub my hands with it. Onion smell, gone. I bet it would work with garlic smell, too.
7. Mouthwash. Dissolve one teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water. Rinse your mouth and spit. The baking soda will neutralize odors in your mouth, making your breath pucker-worthy in a few seconds.
8. Soften your skin in the shower. Make your normal shower wash (or liquid hand soap) work better and soften your skin at the same time by adding a few tablespoons of baking soda. You can either add a few tablespoons to the bottle or sprinkle a bit onto your soap when you use it.
9. Or take a relaxing bath. I mentioned in my 10 Ways to Use Baking Soda for Baby post that you can add a cup or two of baking soda to your bathwater for soft, smooth skin. If you want to go a step further, you can mix up a bath mix using baking soda and salt or baking soda and oatmeal or a bunch of other varieties. I found a plethora of bath recipes at this site.
10. Soothe stings. I swear I've already written this one in a blog post, but I can't find it. If I have, it's worth repeating anyway. You can use a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water to soothe bee and other stings. Last year, when Joe ran over the nest of yellow jackets with the lawnmower, he was bitten and stung several dozen times. We made a paste of baking soda and water and smeared it on every wound. It really works.
    Added after publication - The very day I published this article, poor Joe ran over another yellow jacket nest in our yard. More than 50 stings covered his arms, legs, and head. Again, we smeared a baking soda paste over the wounds. He said it didn't completely take the sting out, but it helped a lot.

Have you seen the rest of my 10 Uses For… series?

This is a sponsored post for Church & Dwight Co., Inc, the maker of ARM & HAMMER branded products, who is compensating me to try different products.