This post is part of a series on Natural Skin Care. To view more posts in this series, click here.
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.
| Natural Skin Care: Baking Soda for Blackheads |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon water (or enough to make a paste)
- a little organic apple cider vinegar (as toner)
Instructions
- Splash your face a few times with warm water to open up your pores.
- Mix the baking soda and water to form a paste.
- Apply the baking soda paste to your face, concentrating on the blackhead areas (usually the T-zone).
- Leave the paste on your skin for at least 1 minute.
- 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.
- 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, use a little organic apple cider vinegar 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.
.jpg)