Hi Nature Queens,We have so many people telling us that they are going the natural route and just wash their hair with baking soda, and that baking soda is natural and better than any shampoos out there. This is such a misconception and we feel like we really need to explain why you should not wash your hair with baking soda!
Baking soda is not natural
We tend to think that everything we have in the kitchen (aka. safe enough to eat) is natural, but it is not true. Even though baking soda is a safe ingredient, it is not a naturally occurred compound. Baking soda is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Baking soda is made by mining trona (mostly in Wyoming and Colorado). Trona is then get processed to derive soda ash, C02 is then get added to soda ash to make baking soda.You can read more about baking soda here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate
Baking soda is not pH-balanced
Now that we know that baking soda is not natural, it isn't the reason why baking soda is bad for your hair. To understand its effects on our hair, we need to understand its pH. If you don't remember what pH is, pH ranges from 0 to 14, and it indicates whether something is acidic or alkaline. A neutral pH is 7.0 - the pH of distilled water.A common example of an acid is lemon juice, with a pH of 2 or 3. Sodium hydroxide, the chemical used in hair bleach and hair relaxer, is extremely alkaline with a pH of 14.0.
The average scalp has a pH level of 5.5, and the hair shaft has a pH level of 4.0, slightly acidic when in its natural state. For our hair and scalp to stay healthy, the pH must remain the same. Baking soda, on the other hand, has the pH of 9.0, extremely alkaline for our hair and scalp.
The effect baking soda has on our hair & scalp
Now we know that the pH of baking soda is far different from the pH of our hair and scalp, how does this affect our hair and scalp?To understand this, we need to understand the effect of the pH level on our skin and cuticles (the outermost layer of the hair). Alkaline (high pH number) opens our cuticles. This is the reason why permanent hair dyes and bleach are alkaline, it opens the cuticles so that hair dyes pigments can penetrate inside the hair shaft. Opened cuticles lose moisture easily, causing dry hair, and fail to protect the hair structure, leading to split ends, breakage, etc. Once the cuticles open, they don't always close up to its original states. This is the reason why bleaching and permanent dyes causes damages to your hair that are irreversible. This means that washing your hair with baking soda every day can be as damaging as bleaching or dying your hair regularly.
What should you do instead?
Do you know that even water (with a pH level of 7.0) opens our hair cuticles? This is the reason why it is so important to wash our hair with a shampoo that has a pH level similar to our hair, like Nature Queen shampoo. Not only Nature Queen shampoo has a similar pH-level to your hair, it is also gentle enough that it doesn't strip away moisture and the existing "good oil" our sebaceous glands produce.Nature Queen shampoo not only cleanse but also contain herbs that protect and detoxify our hair and scalp from environmental damages. Detoxifying your hair and scalp is so important because the styling products we use everyday along with dirt, environmental pollution clogs our follicles making it weaker and weaker, which makes your hair thinner, sometimes leads to hair loss. Our body detoxifies itself through sweat through the sweat glands, however, when these get clogged, it prevents our body from detoxifying itself. The herbal extracts in Nature Queen shampoo are known to:
1. Gently cleanse your scalp and hair follicles
2. Balance your sebaceous glands
3. Promote blood flow to your scalp to invigorate already weakened follicles.
These are the benefits that baking soda (even without the pH damages) cannot do.