Baking Powder--not Soda--for Texturizing?

[Cecilia]

On a whim I tried baking powder as a dry texture/dry shampoo product, and wow!! Stuff is awesome! But I cannot find any info on the web or on this site about using baking powder, only baking soda.

The baking powder seems to have the perfect balance of smoothness and grit. Question: is it okay to use this on my hair and scalp? Any chemists or scientists out there who could advise? Or, just anybody?


A side note: I spent nine dollars for a teeny bottle of Big Sexy Hair Powder and it was worthless. The only good thing about that purchase was I filled the cute container with the aforementioned baking powder, and it dispenses the precise amount.

[Nadine <3]

Never tried baking powder, but I don't see how it could hurt. I find cocoa powder and corn starch give my hair texture as well.

[molljo]

This site (http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/baking-powder.htm) talks about the science of baking powder (although I'm not a very sciencey person, hopefully someone with a better knowledge base can chime in). It talks about how baking powder is a combo of an acid, a base, and a filler. Personally I think the filler is doing most of the work, here, since the site said they tend to use cornstarch, a popular diy dry shampoo. I'm really curious to see what happens when you go to wash it out, since baking powder needs to get wet to work. Will your scalp start bubbling? Will it damage your hair at all?

[jeanniet]

Baking powder is baking soda, with the addition of cream of tartar and I think something else. I'm not sure how harsh it is chemically when dry, but it is quite abrasive. Have you tried plain cornstarch?

[Panth]

Agreed: baking powder is baking soda plus one or more acid salts, plus a filler (usually mostly cornstarch) for bulk and to absorb moisture and thus keep the other components dry.

Baking soda is a bad idea on hair, because if/when it gets wet it's alkaline, which (over time) will cause irreparable chemical damage to the hair. I suspect the principle ingredient that is making it a good dry shampoo is the cornstarch. Many people use cornstarch alone (or cocoa powder, if you have dark hair) very effectively as a dry shampoo. I suggest you try that instead.

[yahirwaO.o]

Yeah never mess with proper baking soda in your hair. Baking powder could be more gentle, still cornstarch or cocoa powder are much safer.

I use baking soda as a foot deodorizer and works like charm, but in hair terms is a big no! Now I know some people have different reactions to diffent things, my foot are just fine with that application and if baking powder works for you with no problem, then by all means use it.

Cocoa powder works so fine on my hair and gives a lot of grip when doing things with it.

[Rosetta]

Baking soda is a bad idea on hair, because if/when it gets wet it's alkaline, which (over time) will cause irreparable chemical damage to the hair.
That's interesting, because many here seem to use it regularly to wash or to clarify, and it's frequently recommended as a "no-poo" method...

[Hurven]

If my hair is really greasy and I don't have the time to wash it, I use baking powder as a dry shampoo. I try to avoid it because I've heard that it's damaging for the hair. But yes, it's a great texturizer. :)

[Panth]

That's interesting, because many here seem to use it regularly to wash or to clarify, and it's frequently recommended as a "no-poo" method...

Erm... not quite.

Many people here (specifically) used to recommend it because it was a craze (much like Mane&Tail or the oil shampoo method or any of the other crazes that periodically sweeps through the LHC - once you've been here a while, you begin to notice that such things happen ;) ). Many of the "pro natural" sort of types elsewhere continue to recommend the so-called "no poo" (baking soda / apple cider vinegar) washing method ... buuuuut, if you look, you'll see that they pretty universally have short hair (BSL or shorter, often SL and shorter) and the vast majority of the people talking about it have used it for 6 months or less. There are very, very few people who use it successfully long-term (i.e. years) and even fewer who have long hair and of those many have "bomb proof" sort of hair (i.e. coarse, straight and thick - very hard to damage).

As far as I'm aware, the use of baking soda as a clarifying wash came out of a reaction to people saying that it was too harsh to wash with -- if it's too harsh for everyday washing, it must clarify, right! Well, actually, no experiments here (http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2014/07/can-you-wash-your-hair-with-baking-soda.html) and here (http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2014/11/caucasian-hair-cleansing-shikakai.html) suggest that baking soda is actually a fairly ineffectual cleansing agent. However, any highly alkaline solution will cause protein (and hair is keratin, which is a protein) to denature and become chemically damaged. It's the same effect as relaxers (which are also based on an alkaline solution), just that relaxers are generally a much stronger, more concentrated alkali and so damage more quickly. With baking soda, it's the cumulative effect that's the issue (and the abrasiveness ... but that's a whole different issue).