Did you know you can use baking soda for blackheads? Make this super easy baking soda paste to exfoliate your skin and get rid of those pesky blackheads!
Last week, I shared with you my no-soap facial cleanser: The Oil-Cleansing Method (OCM). Honestly, I didn’t expect that post be so popular, mostly because it’s been discussed so many times by so many other blogs! But it just goes to show time and time again, it’s the post that you never expect, that are the ones to take off. 🙂
So this week, we’re tackling blackheads. Yeah, I said it – black. heads. We all have them. We don’t like to talk about them. But they’re there, nuzzled ever so comfortably in our pores. Some more visible than others. And honestly, they’re more annoying than harmful when you really think about it.
Crunchy Betty gives a pretty good run down of what exactly those little black things are:
Blackheads are just pimples that don’t have skin over them. That’s all they are. Because there’s no skin, and they’re exposed to the air, the top layer of gunk in your pores oxidizes and turns that darkish black color. (Source)
Alright, easy enough. So now that we know what they are, let’s get to the real point of this post and talk about how were going to get rid of those bad boys once and for all – or at least as best as we can.
I present to you, the cheapest, homemade skin exfoliant/blackhead warrior:
Baking soda! Yep, that good old box of baking soda that we talk about so often here at Nature’s Nurture. The box says it’s for baking, cleaning, and deodorizing, but I’d like to add yet another use for this stuff: exfoliant.
This stuff is awesome at not just scrubbing away dead skin cells, leaving your skin soft and smooth; it’s also an excellent contender against those nasty, pesky blackheads. And because baking soda helps neutralize your skin’s pH, your skin will start to produce less oil, and eventually, with regular treatment, your blackheads will be a thing of the past!
So here’s the super easy “recipe” for fighting black heads with baking soda. There are also some helpful notes at the bottom with extra tips and pointers to help make this method work better for you. And finally, I’ve included some other sources, which provide some extra information on fighting blackheads.
Baking Soda for Blackheads
Equipment
- 1 Wash cloth optional
Ingredients
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp water (or enough to make a paste
- apple cider vinegar (dilute with water to use as toner afterwards)
Instructions
- Mix the baking soda and water to form a paste.
- Splash your face a few times with warm water to open up your pores. Or wet a wash cloth with very hot water and drape it over your face until it cools down. This helps open up your pores to loosen up the dirt and impurities.
- Apply the baking soda paste to your face, concentrating on the blackhead areas (usually the T-zone).
- Gently massage (don't rub too hard!) the paste into your skin to exfoliate and loosen up dead skin, blackheads, and any other dirt lurking underneath the surface.
- Leave the paste on your skin for at least a minute.
- Rinse off the paste with warm water.
- Give your face a final splash with cold water to help restrict the pores, preventing more dirt from entering.
- To help bring your skin back to its natural pH, apply a little diluted apple cider vinegar to a cotton pad and apply to your skin as a toner afterwards.
Extra Notes
- If you are allergic to baking soda (or have sensitive skin), your skin may become irritated and red after using baking soda. Please take extra precaution, and stop using it immediately if you feel you are damaging your skin.
- Splashing your face with warm water beforehand is very important, as it helps open up your pores to loosen the dirt and impurities. For extra pore-opening action, you may wish to do a mini-facial steam for a few minutes. Just hold your face over a pot of boiling water while draping a towel over your head to keep the steam in.
- Although this post is about blackheads, I still use this all over my entire face, because it’s just such a great exfoliant! I used to use the St. Ives Apricot Scrub, but it’s been replaced with simple baking soda.
- I use this just once a week, which is perfect for a good deep cleaning at the end of a long week.
More Resources
- 5 Natural Ways to Remove Blackheads by Crunchy Betty
- Could Jojoba Oil Be Your Cure for Blackheads? from Holistic Health Herbalist
- How to Remove Blackheads Naturally by LifeSanity
- Pore Refining Mask with Egg Whites by The Sprouting Seed
- Garlic and Oatmeal Scrub for Blackheads by Holistic Saffron
- How to Get Rid of Blackheads Naturally by Health Ambition
Could I use any moisturizer after this? Ex: Cetaphil, since that’s all I have 🙂
I usually use a few drops of a moisturizing oil, like argan, jojoba, or rose hip oil.
I used to love using baking soda paste to remove whiteheads and blackheads. However, with continuous use of this paste (once a week), I started realizing that my nose and chin area started getting darker than the rest of the face. I have stopped using this paste 🙁
Oh no, I’m sorry you’ve experienced that, Noorie! Have you noticed the skin discolouration improving since you stopped using the paste?
This blackhead remover recipe made my face break out and now I have a rash all over my face and it burns really bad so I decided to put cold water all over my face and I got acid burns from the apple cider vinegar thanks for making my face burn really bad.
Oh DeAnna, I’m sorry your skin didn’t respond well to this. I hope you feel better and find what works best for your skin type soon!
Since I put it on my nose, is it suppose to burn? xD
It’s definitely not supposed to burn! Remove the paste, rinse off, and probably see a dermatologist for more guidance. 🙂
It is the acid in the apple cider vinegar and no it is not suppose to burn.
I love the baking soda and acv method but can you recommend a in between cleanser method as my skin is oily
Have you looked into the Oil Cleansing Method at all? That’s pretty much all I use, if and when I actually need to cleanse my face.
Toothpaste is very effective for pimples. Just a dot. Leave on overnight. I learned this from the travel books when i was backpacking in the third world. I think it works similar to baking soda.
Sarah can i believe this and try??????Is it true???????
Can this be used as an all over body scrub? do I need to acv afterwards too? Just curious. Cant wait to try this!
I probably wouldn’t use this on the whole body. Instead, you could use a sugar or salt scrub to exfoliate and moisturize the body. Here’s a simple recipe: https://naturesnurture.co/homemade-coconut-lavender-body-scrub/
can we use it with moisturizer if yes then how?
Hey! I really like your post. I have a question. Will the blackheads will just disappear or you have to do something after you do the baking soda treatment??
They won’t disappear right away. It will take several treatments for them to be cleaned out of the pores, depending on how severe each case is. But definitely use a toner afterwards, like diluted lemon juice, to balance the skin.
Thank you for the idea! I’ll definitely try it! I use baking soda in my cleaning routine, I didn’t know that I can use it also for my skin!
Best regards!
St Paul’s Carpet Cleaners Ltd.
Awesome!!! Worked great!!!! Any tricks on growing your hair out?
Vitamins that are for hair and nails are rlly good
Baking soda is amazing for me, I have a lot of blackheads and pimples, and I tried baking soda. First I wash my face with lukewarm water to open the pores and I used Johnson’s soap, and wash again with water, then apply baking soda mixed with water until it dries. And wash again with cold water let it dry then after few minutes I used cotton balls with eskinol classic white (facial deep cleanser) see the cotton u will see all the dirts.. Don’t forget to apply moisturisers after. Better to use before bedtime. 🙂 God Bless
Hi,
Is there such thing as white heads?
I have a lot of those around my nose and chin area. Do you have a recipe for that?
thanks
I just tried this and my skin felt softer and cleaner, but I didn’t notice a huge difference in pore size or that the blackheads were gone… will it take more than one try to work? And how often should this paste be applied? Is once a week good, or even twice a week?
Great tips though, thanks!
I try to do this about once a week. Anymore than that and the baking soda may be a bit irritating for the skin. And you definitely won’t notice a difference in blackheads after just one time. It took me a good few weeks before I noticed anything. The instant soft and clean skin made it easy to keep using it though. Good luck! 🙂
the simplest & quickest way i’ve pulled black heads out of my face was to press sticky masking tape over my forehead/nose-wherever black heads were_ waited about 15 minutes- pull tape off_ look at tape & it’s covered with little oil/dirt/black head slugs. it worked better than expensive pore strips
I will try your idea tonight before I go to bed.
I am going to try this tonight! hope it works for me, my skin is horrible! I only joined this website today and im so impressed! Woohoo 😀 😀 😀