Use of Baking Soda in hygiene helps water quality?

[Brownout]

I am wondering what most people here think of the soaps, shampoos, and other personal hygiene products that people use.
A lot of these shampoos and hair conditioners look like toxic waste, and their ingredients are pretty interesting(not in a good way).

Anyway, I was looking at a box of baking soda, and it is mentioning using it as an skin wash and a hair wash, as well as an antacid. Now, this could be a dangerous assumption, but if people orally ingest this stuff, don't you think it would be better for water quality and human health than soap and shampoo that is filled with preserving agents and other odd chemicals?

Baking soda, is however made with an industrial process that involves its own downsides. But, I am thinking that it breaks down more easily in the environment than other products. I think it also raises pH?-could be wrong.

It's pretty inexpensive too, and comes in a cardboard box that can be made from recycled paper.

Just putting this out there as a discussion topic, wondering what you guys think and what the downsides could be to using it as a replacement to soap and shampoo. Oh yeah, I think it is an effective deodorant as well. So that is a whole lot of plastic waste that can be cut out of a household. It turns shower stalls very white too with a scrub brush. Some of you may think this is a silly subject to be raising in here, but I think it could make a big difference in water quality. Maybe I am too ignorant to the reality of what baking soda really is and how it is made. Thoughts welcomed. Thanks.

 

[littlelehigh]

Interesting topic in general but too simple for our edumacated minds in the 21st century. Would take a heck of alot of marketing $$$ to get Americans to consider it a viable alternative.

Although if our economy continues to spiral downwards many of us may be left with no choice.

 

[franklin]

Doesn't baking soda release CO2 when mixed in water? That's a dangerous greenhouse gas which will soon require federal permits for use.

 

[tomgamber]

Yes, but we make up for it by typing on here rather than speaking all this banter so it evens out.

 

[Brownout]

Eh, I think it is composed of carbon trioxide as well. I have replaced my shampoo with it and it sure does degrease well. I use it as a deodorant too, and it is very effective. I think they use it to clean deep fat fryers and it has some antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. Now how dangerous carbon trioxide is, I don't know.

Releasing carbon dioxide would be a slight downside IMO, I think the benefits of replacing the plastic of shampoo/conditioner/deodorant/possibly toothpaste would have quite significant benefits for the health of people and their water supplies. And then there is the liquid sludge that these companies put in these bottles that goes down our drains in such tonnage it boggles the mind.

Water is a pretty decent solvent alone. I mean toothpaste looks like a pretty big scam in my opinion. It's food residue, not cement we're trying to get off our teeth.

Just thinking aloud here. But as people attempt to greenify their lives, all these petro-chemicals cos are freaking out, because they are starting to realize that when people examine their products that they can replace them with simpler, cheaper base ingredients.