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Joanna M. African Author
Joanna M.
Hair
09 / 2020

6 Reasons to Use Baking Soda on Natural African Hair

Baking Soda on Natural African Hair

Is baking soda safe for natural African hair? If yes, what are the benefits of baking soda for natural hair? Find out more.

The beauty of our natural hair is, no doubt unquestionable, but maintaining it is something completely hard. It gets even harder to maintain when your natural African hair starts growing longer. Because of that, so many of us have come up with various tricks and formulae they believe will help your hair grow while also ensuring that the quality is great. One such trick is using baking soda on natural hair.

Although some naturalistas have turned to egg yolk, lemon juice, and a whole lot more to use in washing their hair, while most of these can sometimes get tricky, a quick trip to the kitchen where you can get baking soda can help in taking care of your natural hair in many ways. Here are reasons why baking soda may be the best for your natural African hair:

1. It is cost-effective:

A very good reason why you should use baking soda is the fact it is not expensive, yet very effective. In fact, the main reason why many people turn to their kitchen for baking soda instead of shelves for shampoos is because of the money involved.

A very good shampoo will normally cost you so much and it may still not even serve its purpose. If that happens, you will only be left with no option than to run to another different shampoo product again. As you do this constantly, money is being wasted. But baking soda doesn't cost much to get even as it delivers the same benefits you get with the shampoo or even more.

2. It doesn’t have as many chemicals as the shampoo:

Another reason to use baking soda for your natural African hair is that all these modern-day produced shampoos have so many that expose your hair to a lot of things ranging from hair loss to baldness.

Of course, baking powder is also used in washing your floor and making the bathtub sparkle just as some chemicals in shampoo such as Sodium Laureth Sulphate. Nonetheless, baking soda is safer in many ways than what you get with shampoos; that is why you can use it for baking.

3. It keeps and leaves the natural hair clean:

You know all these other hair care products (shampoo and conditioner) can leave other stuff in your hair that can cause dandruff or even lead to hair breakage. Also, they have the potential of changing the hair from its natural state by taking away the color over time and making it hard for a new one to grow. But when you mix baking soda and water together, it will help you to remove oil buildups, soaps and other unhealthy ingredients in your hair. However, after removing the unnecessary buildups, the baking soda softens the hair and keeps it shiny and clean.

4. Removes dry skin and dandruff from scalp:

Baking soda is always powdered except when mixed with water. And because of its powdery form, it acts as an excellent exfoliate. As you spray the powder into your hair and massage with your fingers, it helps in removing dry pallets of skin and dandruff from your scalp. So if you really want to keep your natural black African hair free from dandruff, you'd definitely consider using baking soda.

However, because of the PH level, do not use the powder as it is considering that it has a PH level of 9 while your national African hair has a PH of 5. What you may want to do is to mix it with water and then that will reduce the PH level.

5. Maintains hair oil:

Since shampoos ordinarily strip the hair of all its natural hair oil and give more room for the scalp to produce too much oil. You can trust baking soda to help you regulate it.

6. Softens the hair:

Another good reason for you to consider using baking soda on your natural black African hair is the fact that it keeps the hair soft. It is a natural conditioner with no additives like other shampoos. When you use it on your hair- it cleanses it and eliminates all dirt. It can also help you to loosen up the curly patterns in your hair.

Baking soda is good for those of out there who love your natural black African hair. It will help you to keep your hair neat, clean, shiny and soft. But don't use it frequently, give it a time frame for usage.

How to use baking soda for your hair

Also known as sodium bicarbonate, there are ways that one should make use of baking soda because although it can be safer than most shampoo out there, it can also have its problems when abused or used carelessly. Here is how to do it:

Dilute the baking soda with a lot of water: There are those who may tell you to only put little water in mixing the soda, but that will not be able to reduce the acidity of the baking soda. Hence, you need to add in much water to break it down. Instead of making a paste of it, only use a 16-oz bottle of water to mix with a teaspoon of baking powder. This may still be strong for some

Pour some of it on your head, massage it in, and then leave it for two minutes. Make sure it does not stay for longer than two to three minutes on your head, and once you are done, you will want to rinse it properly because you do not want the residue up there.

After that is done, it is advisable that you get apple cider vinegar (ACV) to rinse your hair. It has a PH of 3, which means that it can help in neutralizing the baking soda rinse you have used.

Finally, how does your hair react to it? The most important thing is to listen to what your hair says after using the baking soda rinse. We all have different hair types as such one’s hair may react completely different from that of another person. Therefore, check to see if it is causing any problem and if it is, you have the options of either diluting it some more or even cutting it off completely.

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