A brief history of borax It disinfects, whitens and fights mould and mildew. It also kills ants. Many DIY cleaning recipes featured borax as an eco-friendlier option to petroleum-based ingredients found in conventional cleaning products.
Borate compounds also exhibit potent antibacterial activities, and their use in various fields has increased in recent years [12].
Borax can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea if you ingest it by itself, and large amounts can lead to shock and kidney failure. It's banned in U.S. food products. It also can irritate your skin and eyes, and it can hurt your nose, throat, and lungs if you breathe it in.
Borax: Helps to clean and deodorize. Use on wallpaper, painted walls and floors. Use it with your detergent to remove stains and boost cleaning power. Vinegar: Helps remove stains, wax build-up and mildew.
Using borax, vinegar, and baking soda regualarly will help with cleaning and disinfecting and, when used often, they're able to keep hard water stains from building up in your toilet bowl.
Clean the toilet bowl: For tough toilet grime buildup, use one cup of borax in the toilet bowl, and let it sit overnight. Use a toilet brush the next morning to scrub away the grime, rinsing by flushing right after.
Shower cleaner – Borax can be used like Comet. Sprinkle it on a damp sponge and scrub down your bathtub and shower. Soft Scrub – Mix 2 parts borax to 1 part dish soap, and you've got homemade soft scrub!
Due to its highly alkaline nature, it might cause skin irritation. There are also reports of adverse reproductive and developmental impact on the foetus. Its use in the long term is not recommended as there is a possibility of causing renal dysfunction as the borax accumulates in the body.
Don't mix it with acids or store it with acids. I've been using it for a few weeks now and it's really very good indeed. It's quite safe if used correctly, it's effective and it's fairly cheap.
Borax (sodium tetraborate) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) aren't the same thing. They're both salts, and they're both popular as “green” household cleaning agents, but borax has a pH of 9.5, compared to baking soda's pH of 8. This makes borax considerably more alkaline than baking soda.
In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned borax as a food additive. Borax is not safe to ingest. According to the NLM's Toxicology Data Network, borax is easy for the body to break down when either inhaled or swallowed.
Borax, also known as sodium tetraborate, is a mineral that naturally occurs when a lake bed evaporates. While generally considered non-toxic in the form of borax (not to be confused with boric acid), it is recommended you avoid eye contact, ingestion or prolonged skin contact.
"Borax can cause burns, especially when you touch it multiple times," she says. "When you're mixing it up, Borax can get in the air and irritate your airways. If kids put their hands in their mouths by mistake, it could be toxic."
1. Make an all-purpose cleaning spray. To create an all-purpose spray, dissolve 2 teaspoons of borax into 4 cups of hot water, then mix with 1 teaspoon of dish soap and 4 tablespoons of vinegar. Use this to clean countertops, appliances, windows, and more.
Borax is significantly more alkaline than baking soda. Borax has a pH of 9.5 vs. 8 for baking soda. That might make it more effective in certain situations, but it also makes it a harsher cleaning agent.
To remove offensive smells like mold, sweat, and cooking odors from clothes, create a presoak solution of one-fourth cup of borax per gallon of water. Submerge the stinky laundry and let it soak for at least 30 minutes. Wash as usual.
When applied around the foundation of your house, borax will keep ants and spiders from entering your home. Sprinkle it on the weeds and vegetation in driveway, walkway and sidewalk cracks. Caution: Borax is toxic to plants, so make sure you only sprinkle it on vegetation you want to kill.
Borax acts as a buffer and raises the pH of the water to a slightly basic solution, right around a pH of 8. Don't use Borax at the same time as vinegar or you'll just create a nice little acid-base reaction and make salt.
But first, some history: In the 19th century, borax was an ingredient used in ceramics and gold mining, but it was also touted as a cure-all for everything from dandruff to epilepsy. First found in dry lakebeds in Tibet, it was transported in ancient times along the Silk Road.
Unfortunately, borax is, in fact, toxic to both dogs and cats. And although it's considered natural, borax can cause harmful side effects in pets—and humans.
Borax powder helps kill insects, spiders, and mites. It's even used as a fungicide and helps control mold, fungi, and weeds. This type of pesticide has been around for quite a while. First registered in the U.S. in 1948, over 189 pesticide products have boric acid or one of its sodium salts in them today.
Borax is a compound used to make glass, and is found in many cleaning products. If ingested, borax can cause stomach upset and irritation in pets. In high doses, it can even cause injury to the kidneys.
Both baking soda and Borax are effective because they are alkaline and abrasive. But Borax has a higher PH than baking soda, making it a slightly harsher but arguably more effective cleaning agent.
Bonus: Use Borax as a Spot-Treatment
If you just have a small stain on one piece of clothing, you can use a small amount of Borax and water to do a “mini-soak” before you wash. Using dedicated spoons for your Borax, mix 1 tablespoon of Borax with 2 tablespoons of water.