Sodium Bicarbonate
Part of our Ingredient Glossary — educational information about raw materials we may use in our products. We don't sell raw ingredients.
Sometimes the most effective skincare ingredients are hiding in your kitchen pantry. Sodium bicarbonate, better known as baking soda, might seem too simple for serious skincare, but this humble white powder punches above its weight in bath and body formulations.
Chemically, it's nothing fancy - just sodium, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen arranged in a way that makes it mildly alkaline. But that simple alkalinity is exactly what makes it so useful. Your skin's natural pH hovers around 5.5 (slightly acidic), while sodium bicarbonate sits at a pH of 9. When they meet, interesting things happen.
In bath products, sodium bicarbonate acts as a water softener, neutralizing the harsh minerals in hard water that can leave skin feeling tight and irritated. It also provides gentle exfoliation - much milder than salt or sugar scrubs - making it perfect for sensitive skin that needs dead cell removal without the sandpaper treatment. The fine crystals dissolve gradually, buffing away rough patches without creating micro-tears.
We use sodium bicarbonate in our bath bombs and soaks because it creates that satisfying fizz when it meets citric acid, but more importantly, it leaves your skin feeling soft and smooth. No fancy marketing needed - just basic chemistry doing exactly what it's supposed to do.
