Experiments in Baking

My Aunt Rayna is a smart, smart lady. She doesn’t have any credentials to flaunt or a fancy job, but if I ran a university, she’d get an honorary degree. On top of that, she’s thrifty – even more than me. As a stay-at-home mom, she kind of has to be.

But when she first told me about this acne treatment, I was skeptical. First, it’s just weird to put baking ingredients on your face and expect good results, right? Second, I’ve had bad acne for years, tried everything in the store, and can only ever manage to suppress some of it, not get rid of it altogether. Third, I’m just skeptical of such dramatic claims (she also told me oil of oregano is as good as antibiotics but I did my own research and decided it was probably bull).

Fourth, I didn’t want to smell like vinegar all the time. As much as I occasionally like the scent, it can make me sick after awhile. Brad just downright hates it, and driving my spouse away with my stench is not exactly a goal of mine.

But I was intrigued, and willing to be my own guinea pig. So I’m trying it. Since it’s an experiment, using potentially edible ingredients, I’m recording it here.

ingredients

• about a teaspoonful of baking soda
• about a 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar

In order to keep my face from smelling like vinegar all day, I do this right before I shower and then rinse my face really well in the shower.

First, I pull back my hair and wet my whole face. Then I smear the baking soda all over my face. Surprisingly, it spreads really well so I don’t need very much. It feels kind of like really gentle sandpaper – better than the St. Ives Apricot Face Wash that I sometimes use. After rinsing until I can’t feel the grit anymore, I pour a tiny bit of vinegar onto a cottonball and wipe it all over. It stings a little on my forehead but doesn’t bother me at all anywhere else.

I noticed a difference on the very first day. My face feels smoother and didn’t get as greasy as fast. The greasiness, when it does finally show up, is a lot more even. I have had a seriously confused face for awhile, with my forehead and chin getting really greasy while my cheekbones would be so dry, the skin was constantly flaking off if I didn’t moisturize it. But I haven’t had to apply any lotion, nor wash my face halfway through the day. Normally, two days without acne treatment would cause some major eruptions on my face but there doesn’t seem to be anything new. I swear my face is less red in general too.

And according to Brad’s sniffing test, the only vinegar smell is a really faint whiff if you are touching my face with your nose and inhale deeply.

At this point, I am cautiously optimistic that this might actually work.