Baking Soda and Vaseline for Men: What the Evidence Says

A viral trick pairs baking soda with petroleum jelly and promises a boost for men. Here is what the sources say about it, and a separate measured glass of baking soda water.

Here's where this one goes wrong first: a viral ad recipe says two kitchen items, mixed and applied, change something about men's bodies. No study we found looked at that mix in people. This page checks the claim against the sources we could open, then gives you a separate, plain glass of baking soda water for anyone who wants a measured one. It has nothing to do with the viral mix.

What the baking soda and Vaseline trick claims

Search the phrase and the promise is vague: a paste of baking soda and petroleum jelly, or a baking soda drink, is said to boost size or performance. This page won't supply amounts or steps for it.

"Vaseline" is only the search term here. In the rest of this page, we use the generic name, petroleum jelly.

The Food Science / Lab Kitchen Note

Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Its pH is about 9, according to Acne.org, a consumer skin site and a secondary source. The same page puts skin at about 5.5.

Sodium is the number that matters for the glass. Two secondary pages, a commercial wellness page and a physician-reviewed health service, both state about 1,260 mg of sodium per teaspoon of baking soda. Our calculation, not a source figure: 1,260 divided by 4 is about 315 mg of sodium in 1/4 tsp (1.15 g). The FDA sets the sodium Daily Value at less than 2,300 mg a day and says Americans eat roughly 3,400 mg a day on average. So the glass is about 14% of 2,300 mg, since 315 divided by 2,300 is about 0.137.

The Arm & Hammer antacid label says to dissolve 1/2 teaspoon in a 1/2 glass (4 oz) of water, repeat every 2 hours or as a physician directs. Our glass uses half that powder in twice the water. It's a smaller dose than the label's single dose, and it's our recipe, not a medical dose.

Three versions, compared on sourced data

This is a comparison of published data, not a trial of our own. Where nothing is sourced, the cell says so.

The baking soda trick for men in the shower

A second version of the claim moves the same mix into the shower, sometimes as a rinse or a soak. We found no credible source for it. No study, no label and no health agency describes it, so there's nothing sourced to say about what it does or how long to leave anything on.

What we can say is limited to the ingredients. Baking soda is alkaline against skin, and the Acne.org summary says raising skin pH may impair the skin barrier and that baking soda is abrasive. That page speaks about skin and face in general, not about any other part of the body. Treat it as a general caution, nothing more.

Other viral tricks follow the same pattern of big promises and thin sources. See the baking soda trick, the baking soda horse trick and Vicks and baking soda.

What the sources actually show

Skin pH and petroleum jelly

On skin, the evidence is thin. Acne.org cites a 2019 randomized study, Mazzarello and colleagues, of sodium bicarbonate on plaque psoriasis that found no benefit. We read only that summary, so we can't give you the number of people in it, and psoriasis is not what this trick is about. It's the closest skin trial we found.

On petroleum jelly, Healthline says it is incompatible with latex and will weaken latex condoms, which may then break or tear. It also says petroleum jelly stays in the body longer than other lubricants and advises avoiding it for sex when possible. Healthline cites no study for this point, and we found no agency source repeating it, so read it as one consumer health site's advice.

The swallowing risks

The best-documented risks are about drinking, not applying. Al-Abri and Olson, Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2013 is a case presentation plus narrative review, built around one patient with long daily baking soda use. It reports metabolic alkalosis, low potassium, high sodium, irregular heart rhythms, muscle twitching and seizures, kidney failure in one long-term user, and gastric rupture from carbon dioxide. It says one teaspoon holds about 59 mEq of sodium and of bicarbonate. A single patient and a review can show what's possible, not how often it happens, and it proves nothing about the viral mix. For the wider list of effects, see baking soda side effects.

The sports dose is a different thing

Some pages borrow the sports idea to make baking soda sound serious. The ISSN position stand is a consensus statement for athletes. It names 0.2 g/kg as the minimum effective single dose and 0.3 g/kg as optimal, taken 60 to 180 minutes before exercise, and lists bloating, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain as common side effects. For a 70 kg adult, 0.2 to 0.3 g/kg is about 14 to 21 g (our arithmetic), against 1.15 g in our glass. The two aren't equivalent, and the sports figure is never the dose for this recipe.

Sold products and hidden drugs

Another risk has nothing to do with baking soda. In an FDA public notification issued January 19, 2021, the agency said a product sold for sexual enhancement contained undeclared tadalafil and sildenafil, the active ingredients of prescription drugs. The notice says these may interact with nitrates and may lower blood pressure to dangerous levels. We aren't naming the product. The point is that a "natural" kitchen trick is often followed by an ad for something sold.

Ubie Doctor's Note, a health information service reviewed by an internal medicine physician, calls the baking soda trick for men unproven and potentially dangerous. It says relying on it can delay diagnosis of heart disease, diabetes or hormonal disorders. That's a publisher's opinion, not a trial. Still, the delay point is worth keeping in mind.

Common mistakes

Heaping the spoon is the first one. Sodium rises with every extra grain, so level it with a knife.

The second is treating the glass as a stand-in for the viral mix, or the reverse. They share one ingredient and nothing else. Keep the jar of petroleum jelly away from the glass, the spoon and the counter where you mix.

The third is drinking it when you're overfull or alongside medicines. Antacid directions say not to, and MedlinePlus says to keep 2 hours between it and other medicines.

Substitutes and swaps

Storage and handling

Mix one glass and drink it. We found no sourced shelf life for baking soda water, so mix it fresh and pour out what's left.

Nutrition note

Values on the recipe card are estimates calculated from typical USDA FoodData Central values for baking soda and plain water, per glass. They aren't measured. The glass carries 0 kcal and about 315 mg of sodium, about 14% of 2,300 mg (our calculation). For other amounts, see how much baking soda in water and how much sodium is in baking soda water.