I haven’t had the best luck with facial scrubs as they tend to irritate my super sensitive skin. However anytime you exfoliate, your face is going to look better without several layers of dead skin dulling your complexion.
Luckily I’ve found baking soda to be very effective for several reasons; for one it’s really easy to always have on hand and secondly, it exfoliates without irritating my skin.
Some of the coarser textured scrubs scrubs I’ve tried like cornmeal have irritated my skin, a little and so I found myself avoiding them. However, not exfoliating leaves a buildup, and I always notice my skin doesn’t look as good over time with all the playing outdoors.
After many years, (over a decade now) of experimentation I’ve found 3 facial treatments I rotate between from week to week. First up my everyday go-to treatment is the Oil Cleansing Method which is lightly exfoliating and perfectly moisturizing. Secondly to this treatment I use both this Baking Soda Exfoliation and my Pineapple Facial 1-2x per week to keep my skin glowing without any buildup.
DIY Baking Soda Exfoliation
What to do:
Place a tablespoon or so of baking soda in the palm of your hand, add a little water to make a loose paste and begin to massage into your skin with gentle circular motions (don’t rub hard or ‘scrub’ vigorously you don’t want to damage your skin). You only want to rid yourself of the outermost layer of dead skin, and never to damage the new layer underneath. This process should never hurt, if it’s hurting try using less pressure.
Tip: Use your ring finger on the delicate skin closer to your eye, (in the cheekbone area).
As always, if you notice any discomfort rinse off immediately. Facial treatments are an individual thing so you can always try this on your hands first to see how you might react. I know a few people who use this now and no one has had any problems, but it is always good to proceed with caution.
And finally one last tip: baking soda is by far my favorite of these treatments to travel with because it’s the easiest. Let’s face it, traveling with fresh pineapple isn’t going to happen, and depending on how confident you feel about your container, the oil you need to oil cleansing could be a potential disaster in your suitcase!
Can i mix it with some oils like olive oil
I’m not sure if it has the same effect when mixed with oils since I’ve never tried it. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help, but I hope you’ll let me know how it goes if you have anymore questions!
Hey Ijeoma, That’s actually my go to mixture (with Olive oil). I’m gonna try with water and see if there’s any noticeable difference.
Thanks so much for your tips, I’m definitely going to try it out with oil since I’ve always done this with just water!
Can another liquid besides water be used for this? I was thinking about using rose water or witch hazel instead.
I’m sure you can use a different liquid in place of water, but I’m definitely not trained in the chemical reactions that happen when you combine things like that, so I can’t give you a definite answer on which liquids would be ok.
I love this for my face, I have very sensitive skin as well as uneven tone. But it does brighten my face and makes it so soft!!!! I’m mixed black and white .
I’m so glad to hear you’ve been liking this facial treatment! Since you have sensitive skin, you might like my Pineapple Facial as well since it exfoliates without any kind of abrasion and it’s great for evening out skin tone. 🙂
Hi there I am so excited I found your blog page, I really found you
by accident, while I was browsing on Bing for something else,
Nonetheless I am here now and would just like to say thanks for a incredible post and
a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read
through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to
read more, Please do keep up the fantastic job.
Thanks so much Rolando, I hope you enjoy the recipes and posts! 🙂
I’ve never thought of using Baking Soda as an exfoliator before because of how harsh and rough it is! However after reading your method I probably will give it a go! Cheers
Facial scrubs including baking soda are only rough if you use too much pressure! Be sure to be extra gentle the first time around until you get the hang of it! 🙂
Coconut oil is comedogenic – much like olive oil and lanolin so if you suffer with blocked pores already – anything from blackheads to full blown acne this oil is not for you. I have sensitive blocked skin and only use two products. Cosmedix Benefit Cleanser and macadamia nut oil. It is light and very close to the natural sebums in your skin and it also absorbed. Apricot Kernel is the best for blocked skin but I find it to be a bit greasy in summer. Good Luck.
Jojoba oil is also a good choice because it’s very similar to that of our own skin. I think you might like it, it’s very light and might work for you in the summer months! 🙂