I tried it, being some what skeptical, and the first shower I took I thought my face was coming off. What was happening was all this leftover dead skin on my face and body was finally coming off. The baking soda absorbs the oil and other gunk (like facial creams and other crap people put on themselves), breaks up the skin, and after 5 minutes I just started rubbing it with my hands and a lot of dead skin came off. After getting out of the shower, my face was very radiant and clear.

The reason I decided to try it was because I suffered from sebhorraic (sp?) dermatitis for several years, which affected my scalp as well as cheeks. (They’d get red, itchy and flaky). Turns out this kind of dandruff is caused by a sensitivity to a skin yeast which is normally harmless to humans. The soaps and things I was using (along with harsh scrubbing) was just leaving my face dry with a thin layer of dead skin. I’d put on some facial cream, and this just caused an oily film of dead skin to form, which the yeast loved to munch on. Same for my hair (I have dry hair and skin). Since the baking soda dried out and whisked away all the dead skin the soap was actually CAUSING, the fresh skin underneath was clean and pure and no longer had this problem. I’ve been “dandruff” free ever since.

As for deodorant, I put about 1-2 tsps of baking soda in my hand while at the sink after a shower, run some water into my palm, mix it together with my hands until it feels greasy with only a little bit of graininess left. Then, I just rub it under my arms. You let it air dry, and for the rest of the day, the film of dried baking soda absorbs sweat, odor, etc. Works quite well. If someone has very bad BO, even after showering, then they could use isopropyl alcohol to mix the baking soda up while applying. And, as mentioned, they could mix in some essential oils and things to make it smell nice. (Personally, I don’t want my deodorant competing with my cologne.) Side note, I don’t recommend putting dry baking soda under the arms. It can start to chafe really bad, plus it doesn’t seem to stop sweat as readily as when the baking soda has been wetted down to make a film.

There was a show on NPR about natural remedies, and they said Milk of Magnesia works as an underarm deodorant / antiperspirant, too. I tried it, but wasn’t as impressed with it as I was with baking soda.

The bonus to the baking soda is that it’s very cheap (big box is about $2, and will last for several months). I use an old kefir bottle to put it in along with water for shower purposes. When I’m refilling my kefir bottle over the sink with baking soda, some will naturally fall into the sink. When it does, I just toss some lemon juice and rubbing alchohol into the sink to make a fizzy cleanser with the baking soda overspill, and clean the sink in 2 seconds. Baking soda really is a kick-butt necessity.