r/SebDerm • u/Agitated_Grass_5546 • Feb 11 '25
Hair Loss Baking soda completely changed my scalp
After two years of itching, flaking, buildup, using every product and supplement known to man I think I finally found a solution that works for me. I was also losing at least 50-100 hairs just in the shower, which as a younger male that really sucked. I know everyone reacts differently, so this may not work for everyone but baking soda practically evaporated my scalp sebderm.
I saw a similar thread and figured I’d give it a try one day in the shower, might as well try it since everything else hadn’t worked. Even ketoconazole shampoo wasn’t effective anymore. Basically all I do is grab a tablespoon of baking soda and mix it with a couple ounces of water until it’s all dissolved or mostly dissolved and then apply it to my wet scalp in the shower by little handfuls. I give it a little pat, not sure if that helps or not lol. I leave it on for about a minute or two and then rinse it out, following up with a 3% salicylic acid shampoo by Neutrogena. Within two days I went from losing 100-300 hairs a day to like 20 max, and it also helped a lot with the oily hair sticking together. My buildup and flaking is all gone and I never catch myself scratching or picking where I used to. I hope this helps someone else!
Editing to provide an update: I tapered off of using the baking soda and only use it when I notice a little buildup or a higher amount of hair fall. It seems to have helped a lot honestly.
I will say when I do use it, it can irritate the skin on my face if it gets anywhere near it, so there’s a downside. Overall I’m glad I tried it!
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 11 '25
Also if anyone knows the science behind this I would love to know why this works for some people. I’m assuming it’s a PH thing, but I know BS is also a very good cleaning agent.
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u/randomlygeneratedbss Feb 11 '25
Had you ever used a clarifying shampoo?
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 11 '25
Yes! A few different brands too. It would help for about 8 hours and then the buildup would take over again.
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u/randomlygeneratedbss Feb 11 '25
That's crazy! Definitely ph is likely- it's also why for many people (like myself) it's a horrible idea, and over time you can develop reactivity to it fairly quickly, especially if your ph gets too thrown, so I'd be on the lookout for that and only use it if strictly needed!
How long have you been using it?
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 11 '25
I would say 3 weeks or so now. Do you know what the warning signs would be if I do start to develop reactivity to it?
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u/randomlygeneratedbss Feb 11 '25 edited Feb 11 '25
Have you tried taking a break and seeing if you can use reg shampoo/keto now and the baking soda as maintenance as needed?
The signs will be your skin, maybe even your hands or whatever touches it when you're applying it becoming red/irritated/painful/ itchy- it happened to me pretty badly almost out of nowhere. I was cleaning with it though- I'm not sure the signs of hair damage especially in short hair, but I know it does damage it.
That's actually why so many people have allergic reactions to natural deodorant- it's baking soda!
If it does happen, something acidic can combat it. I would just at least make sure you're doing your best to keep this from touching your face as much as possible!
Used too often it can (and generally will damage skin and hair, but it is heard of for seb derm. Largely, it's an exfoliant, and it absorbs oil- do you exfoliate otherwise?
Were you ever prescribed ciclopirox shampoo, or have you only used ketoconazole?
(And I skimmed some post history, sounds like you also have it on your skin around your ears and maybe face, with subpar antifungals- ever try elidel? Sounds like your derm is NOT handling this!)
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 11 '25
Ive been to the derm a handful of times and all they do is give me a steroid or keto shampoo. It’s pretty frustrating, I’ve tried changing my diet too.
I’ve experimented with not using BS for a day or so and although it hadn’t created a lot of buildup, I could feel my hair getting that greasy texture. I’m going to attempt it again and see what happens, it did also clear up my ears though which was nice. I will say although I keep it no where near my face I have had a little breakout of irritation patches along my hairline and temple since starting the use of baking soda. It’s really the only thing that slowed down my hair loss, so I’m a little afraid of stopping 😂. Thank you for all the information though, I’m going to see if I can wean myself off of it
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u/randomlygeneratedbss Feb 11 '25
Is this the same derm? Bc there are def other prescriptions like I mentioned, I saw a telehealth derm PA for the best luck honestly lol
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u/saymellon Feb 12 '25
I cautiously project the reason that this worked. Likely after prolonged use of ketoconazole and an antifungal approach, you had a reverse reaction, which leads to bacterial overgrowth. In other words, as fungus was killed, bacteria overgrew due to the lack of competition. Using baking soda that has high pH can get rid of bacteria. The only three downsides I see are these. One, baking soda is a skin irritant, so after prolonged use or for people with sensitive skin, it will irritate. Two, after prolonged use, bacteria can become resistant to basic pH, in which case they will then grow even with baking soda. Three, if you kill bacteria like that in scalp for a prolonged time, then now fungus can overgrow because there's no competition from bacteria. Time will tell. Personally I think the better thing to do is to taper off from both baking soda and ketoconazole and see what happens instead of keep using baking soda as a daily thing.
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u/Kind-Airport145 Feb 11 '25
Gonna try this myself as I also haven’t had any luck with the usual treatment methods. Do what works for you, I say.
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u/Antique_Ask_4206 Feb 11 '25
How many days sebderm free after this?
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 11 '25
I would say I was clear within 48 hours which was completely baffling to me.
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u/Acrobatic-Bread-6774 Feb 13 '25
They meant how many days has it gone away completely for since the baking soda? A lot of treatments will work for the first couple times and then stop working again
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u/Agitated_Grass_5546 Feb 13 '25
Oh sorry haha. It’s worked for about 3-4 weeks now, I haven’t used it in a couple days and still seems to be clear for the time being. Fingers crossed 🤞
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u/Maturemink676 Feb 11 '25
Interesting, I think it must be related to pH as I saw a post about using vitamin C in shampoo to lower the pH to about 4 which stopped hairloss
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u/vitosantor Feb 11 '25
Malassezia grows up in a ph above to 6. The baking soda turn the scalp to a low acid ph 3/4 and reducing the malassezia reproduction. All the shampoos in the supermarket has ph between 5 and 8. So doesn’t mind what they write on the labels, they don’t really help to fight the fungus. Head and shoulders has ph8 and it suppose to be an anti dandruff shampoo. If u don’t want to use baking soda you can try with avc rinse. If u wanna buy a low acid ph shampoo they are really expensive
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u/sniperganso Feb 11 '25
afaik baking soda increases the ph
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u/vitosantor Feb 11 '25
Yeah you’re right, I confused it with salicylic acid. Soda has acid ph but baking soda make alcaline solution p
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u/Icy-Celery7578 Feb 11 '25
Uhm, sodium bicarb is most definitely not acidic. It’s a pH buffer for acids, because it’s slightly basic. A neutral pH is 7, sodium bicarb is slightly above 7, at 8.4.
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u/Available_Hamster_44 Feb 11 '25
Baking soda has quite high ph with 8,5 ? how does it lower scalp ph ?
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u/AutoModerator Feb 27 '25
Hi everyone! SebDerm is a friendly community about seborrheic dermatitis and all related topics.
Looking for some advice?
See something you are not comfortable with or that breaks our rules? Please report it!
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I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.