Sodium Carbonate is a grayish-white crystalline powder. Sodium Sesquicarbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate are white crystalline solids. Baking soda is another name for Sodium Bicarbonate. In cosmetics and personal care products, these ingredients are used in the formulation of bath, skin, and hair preparations.
The safety of Sodium Carbonate and related ingredients has been assessed by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel. The CIR Expert Panel evaluated the scientific data and concluded that Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Sesquicarbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate were safe as cosmetic ingredients. In 2005, as part of the scheduled re-evaluation of ingredients, the CIR Expert Panel considered available new data on Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Sesquicarbonate and Sodium Bicarboante and reaffirmed the above conclusion.CIR Safety Review: Concentrated solutions of Sodium Carbonate, but not Sodium Bicarbonate, are skin and eye irritants due to their alkaline nature. Highly concentrated solutions of Sodium Carbonate have a pH of greater than 11.
The cosmetic use of Sodium Carbonate at high concentrations is mainly limited to products designed to be diluted before use and in products where pH is buffered to near neutrality.
A review of the combined data from sensitization studies indicated that neither Sodium Carbonate nor Sodium Sesquicarbonate was a human sensitizer. The CIR Expert Panel did not consider testing for phototoxicity as warranted.
FDA: Link to Code of Federal Regulations for Sodium Carbonate
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...
FDA Link to Code of Federal Regulations for Sodium Sesquicarbonate
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...
FDA Links to Code of Federal Regulations for Sodium Bicarbonate
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRS...
Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Sesquicarbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate may be used in cosmetics products marketed in Europe according to the general provisions of the Cosmetics Directive of the European Union.
Link to the EU Cosmetics Directive:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/cosmetics/html/consolidated_d...
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives has not restricted the daily intake of Sodium Carbonate. http://www.inchem.org/documents/jecfa/jeceval/jec_2137.htm