Beauty Mythbuster: Does Baking Soda REALLY Cure Under-Eye Bags?
I live, love and breathe for beauty hacks! It’s always great to discover new uses for well-loved products (holla, lipstick as eyeliner!), how to DIY your own products and how something as simple as a little tape can really improve your cat eye. The latest hack on my radar comes from YouTube vlogger Darshika Patel — using baking soda for under-eye circles.
The Kiwi beauty blogger claims that using a paste made of baking soda and water on her under-eye area cleared up her dark circles and bags in just five minutes.
Now, this hack seemed just a little too good to be true… and a cursory Google search told me that it could be dangerous to even try. So, rather than test this one out for myself, I asked skincare expert, licensed aesthetician and Stacked Skincare mastermind Kerry Benjamin whether I should get mixing or skip this beauty hack altogether.
“Hmmm… I’d be very skeptical and would not recommend doing this,” said Kerry. “I’d stick to products that are meant to be used on our skin, not to clean a kitchen sink.”
Kerry explains that while under-eye bags and dark circles are mostly inherited, they can also be from lack of sleep and allergies. “What you are seeing with dark circles is actually blood from under the skin,” she said. “Those who have dark circles tend to have even thinner skin under their eyes and using baking soda can cause damage to the skin barrier, likely creating a worse problem over time.”
And it doesn’t stop there, people: “Baking soda is alkaline, which makes your skin a bacteria breeding ground.”
Bacteria breeding ground?! Okay, we’re going with a definitive *no* for using a baking soda paste to get rid of dark under-eye circles and bags.
However, Kerry isn’t leaving us without a solution to this pesky skincare problem. She recommends using the Stacked Skincare’s Collagen Boosting Micro-Roller ($30) with the HA Hydrating Serum ($180) to help plump, firm and thicken the skin under the eye. The Clarisonic Opal ($185) will help drain the lymph nodes that cause the bags, and you should try to get at least eight hours of sleep ($FREE) every night.
So, a recap of today’s lesson: Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet.
What is your fave beauty hack? Share them with us on Twitter @BritandCo!
