Use baking soda mixed with shampoo to shampoo hair ...

United States
January 15, 2007 10:35am CST
One of my favorite ways to use baking soda, in addition to cooking or cleaning with it, is to add baking soda to shampoo when shampooing my hair. You don't want to add it to the whole bottle of shampoo though. Put shampoo in the palm of your hand and add about one tablespoon of baking soda and mix it. Then shampoo as usual. Only use the baking soda in your hair once a week though, because it strips hair of dirt, grime, oil, hairspray, and other unwanted things and could cause your hair to become too dry. This is excellent to use expecially if you have well water. After shampooing with the baking soda mixture and rinsing you will want to shampoo once again to make sure that all of the baking soda has been rinsed out. It helps to keep your hair healthy, more manageable, smelling fresh, and most of all it makes your hair feel even cleaner than it does without the use of baking soda. Do you have another suggestion on how to use baking soda other than using it in recipes?
9 people like this
58 responses
@lauriefnp (5111)
• United States
15 Jan 07
This is a really interesting tip! I know how "lifeless" hair gets when products build up. I think I'm going to try this today. Does it have any effect on coloring? I don't want to fade the color out, but I don't imagine that doing this once a week would be a problem.
3 people like this
• United States
15 Jan 07
It really works, it doesn't have any effect on coloring or permed hair, in fact the color looks richer and for permed hair it keeps the perm looking more like new. It also seems to give hair more body, and for hair like mine, which is extra fine, it helps tremendously.
2 people like this
• United States
15 Jan 07
Wow this is a great tip and since you say that it does not affect coloring I am going to have to try this. I get all kinds of build up on my hair with the hairspray that I use and am always trying to find something to actually clean my hair. Thaks for the tip. I will use this.
1 person likes this
• Pakistan
16 Jan 07
Wow this one is great information you have given.,i would definitly try this out today.but before that i want to confirm on thing that my hair are too weak and falling.i am afraid baking soda has any sidfe effects on hair strength because you said they make hair dry,means more weaker,am i gtting it right?
@nehakalley4 (1918)
• United States
15 Jan 07
Hey I never heared of this use of the baking soda, thats great but are you sure it will not cause any side effects Thanks for this advice
• United States
16 Jan 07
Yes I am absolutely sure that baking soda will not cause any side effects to your hair, otherwise I would not be using it myself. If a person were allergic to baking soda then they should not use it at all.
@korek222 (701)
• Poland
15 Jan 07
sounds pretty impossible you never heard about it:) well just joking around dont take it personally:)
1 person likes this
@clownfish (3272)
• United States
15 Jan 07
Hi! Thanks for the wonderful tip! I have well water. Sometimes my hair just doesn't stay clean looking for as long as it should - you know, the recommended "wash your hair every other day" for color-treated hair. I will give this a try! :-)
• United States
16 Jan 07
Hi! You are very welcome! I know that the baking soda will improve your hair, it has improved mine a lot and we are on well water too. There are too many impurities in well water and we do not want them resting in our hair, or our bodies either.
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
15 Jan 07
Thanks for the tip. I have well water so this should be very helpful to me. The only other thing I do with baking soda is I put a thin layer of it on the bottom of the cat liter pans before I put the liter in. It helps absorb some of the moisture and smell. I have many cats so this helps a lot.
2 people like this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are very welcome and since you have well water you will really enjoy using baking soda in your shampoo. Let us know what you think when you get the chance ok?I've heard that a lot of people use baking soda in their cat's litter boxes. If I ever get a cat I know I will use it in the litter box for sure.
@JC1969 (1224)
• United States
15 Jan 07
I grew up in the 70's and 80's and especially in the 80's, where we teased our hair high and worshiped Aqua Net hairspray, this was one of the ways we were able to rid our hair from the excess hairspray build up that didn't necessarily wash out all that easy. Another good use for it is to mix a bit with your body wash and it is a good for exfoliation of the skin.
• United States
16 Jan 07
Way cool, I'm not the only one that has used this. I grew up in the 60's and 70's and hairspray was the going thing to keep our hair where we wanted it ti be. The only thing that would take out all of that hairspray was baking soda along with shampoo. Remember the clear green 'Prell' shampoo and 'Tame' cream rinse back then? I gotta laugh, I used those everyday and now I don't think that 'Tame' cream rinse is around anymore. I'm not sure about 'Prell'.
• United States
15 Jan 07
I dont have any baking soda tips for you but I will try yours Thanks
3 people like this
• United States
15 Jan 07
You will definately love what baking soda does for your hair. Let us know what you think after you have tried it ok?
2 people like this
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
15 Jan 07
This is one I haven't heard of but am willing to try sounds better then adding white vinegar which I have done and will smell alot better also. I use baking soda alot. 1)I mix it with my tooth paste before brushing and it works wonders for dull yellow teeth. 2) I use it as a kitchen and bathroom cleaner Cleans tub easy dampen tub and sprinkle tub with baking soda and take dampened scrub brush and clean. 3) Put in 1/2 cup when washing the clothes. They will be brighter white. 4.)use it as a antacid for upset tummies. 5)sprinkle it on funiture for a few hours to overnight and then vaccum up .also works great on bed to refresh them. Hope some of these helped some.
• United States
16 Jan 07
Cool, thanks for all those tips and theres a couple of them that I hadn't thought of.
• United States
15 Jan 07
Thanks for the tip. You can use it to clean and bake with as you mentioned. You can also put it into a nylon, and keep it in a draw to keep it fresh.
1 person likes this
• United States
19 Jan 07
You are very welcome and thanks for your tip, good one. Thank you for your response too.
• Philippines
15 Jan 07
really? is that really effective? i'd like to do that cause my hair now is dry due to some chemicals use by my stylist.. sorry, i dont know any ohter way to use baking soda but sure enough you have given me idea! thanks.
2 people like this
• United States
15 Jan 07
Yes really, it is that effective. With all of the chemicals in hair products today the baking soda does remove all of those unwanted things that weigh down our hair and make it feel lifeless and limp. You will love what it does to your hair.
1 person likes this
@greengal (4286)
• United States
15 Jan 07
I hadn't heard this one before! Thanks for the tip will try it the next time I wash my hair. Interesting that baking soda can do wonders other than in cooking:)
• United States
15 Jan 07
You are very welcome;-) It's like the 'all purpose ingredient' for everything that we need for cooking and cleaning, isn't it?
1 person likes this
@irisheyes (4370)
• United States
15 Jan 07
Thanks for the tip. I also have fine hair and I'm definitely going to try that one..... The only thing novel I've ever done with baking soda is used it to line a tray and put open books on top to help get rid of the musty smell old books sometimes have. It seems to work best if you put the tray on a warm radiator.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are very welcome, and thank you for your tip on books. I hadn't heard about that one and I will try it.
@adnanmd2 (830)
16 Jan 07
I too dont have any new tips o baking soda but still i will try up yours and see whether it works or not... thanks alot..!!
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are very welcome and thanks for your response.
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
15 Jan 07
We had iron in our well water and the lady at the beauty shop told us of this tip years ago. We only use about a teaspoon though. Iron water turns your hair redish orange and it will even take the iron out so hair is the natural color. Now that we have city water, we still use it to keep hair care products from building up on our hair. I use baking soda for many things around the house. I have not had a clogged drain in over 9 years ( I know because that is how long I have lived in this new home) by adding baking soda in my drains followed by boiling cider vinegar once a week. I use baking soda in the bottom of the cats litter pan to help absorb odors there. I keep a box on the back of my stove to put out those little grease fires immediately.
• United States
16 Jan 07
Thats very good to know, I haven't tried it with the boiling cider and vinegar though. Thanks for your response and your tips.
• United States
15 Jan 07
that is great my 14 year old daughter will like to hear that. She is always trying new things. Baking soda uses 1. Cleaning drain pour baking soda, vinegar and follow with boiling water will keep your drains cleaned out. 2. Stone ware cleaner I love to use stone ware and you can't use soap on the stoneware to clean. Most of the time you only need to wash them off with water. But occasionaly I like to clean them good. throw some baking soda on the stone and scrub away it works great.
• United States
15 Jan 07
You daughter will love it! Thanks for more uses on baking soda, I hadn't heard the one about using it on stoneware and appreciate your post. That will come in real handy the next time I use my stone ware.
1 person likes this
@cuttyrish (2667)
• United States
15 Jan 07
thanks for sharing this tip, i would try this. i have tried using baking soda for my teeth but never thought that i can use it in my hair. Nice tip.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are very welcome, you will be pleasantly surprised.
@blueman (16509)
• India
16 Jan 07
never tried those stuff, i am quite satisfied with the shampoo i am using and they do smell good and promise to keep the hair healthy.
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Jan 07
wow, that's a great tip to keep hair healthy and baking soda is cheap so it won't burn a hole in my wallet, as opposed to some expensive beauty products out there
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
Thats very true about being cheap. I don't think the Beauty Product retailers and makers want the rest of us to know all this because it won't help their companies very well with sales. I believe the best remedies are the home remedies.
@82idiots (595)
• United States
15 Jan 07
Wow! Thanks! My hair is a grease pit. I'm going to try it.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are very welcome and thank you for your response.
@shambuca (2524)
• United States
15 Jan 07
what a great tip- thanks so much....I sometimes have issues with getting gel and hairsoray out of my hair, I will definately try this - thanks again.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
You are quite welcome and the baking soda will take out the gel and the hairspray.
• United States
15 Jan 07
Wow this is a really cool tip! But does this also help split ends?
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Jan 07
I don't think it helps split ends at all, I have some split ends and it hasn't helped mine. I guess the best way to help split ends is to cut them off?