TikToker Daddy Brownn (@daddybrownn) is chock full of hacks, including many that involve the use of regular old baking soda. Have a stinky car? Grab a box of baking soda. Have foggy headlights? Rub a baking soda paste stuff all over them, and you’ll be seeing clearly at night again. Want raindrops to repel off of your car’s windshield? You guessed it. Baking soda can help with that, too.
However, Brownn says there’s another car-related wonder usage for baking soda. And that’s repairing car scratches. He demonstrates just how this works in a TikTok that garnered 1.8 million views.
“If you have scratches on your car such as this,” Brownn says as he squats down beside a red vehicle, pointing out a blemish in the car’s paint before continuing. “Watch this video. I’m gonna teach you how to get rid of it with a super simple method. All you’re gonna need for this is baking soda; some water; and some cotton balls, cotton rounds, or soft cloth. So we’re gonna make a paste using baking soda and water, and it’s gonna be one-part baking soda, to one-part water.”
“So I’m gonna do a quarter cup [of] water and then a quarter cup of baking soda,” he narrates as he begins combining the ingredients together to form the mixture.
He begins to swirl the water and baking soda together with his finger.
“And you’re just gonna mix this around until it forms a paste. So as you can see, you’re gonna get a little paste. … If the 50% water, 50% baking soda isn’t perfect, you can go ahead and add more baking soda,” he says, showing off the viscosity of the combination after just a bit of mixing.
He adds that you can also add more water. “Whatever you need to make it a paste consistency,” he says.
It’s at this point in the tutorial that he whips out the cloth/cotton balls that he referenced earlier.
“So you’re gonna take your … soft cloth or your cotton ball, and you’re gonna apply this to the scratch. You wanna rub it in little circular motions, and you’re gonna keep doing this until the scratch disappears or gets better.”
He applies the paste to the vehicle and gently rubs it around. He adds one caveat about the procedure, however. “This may not completely take out all scratches but it definitely helps,” Brownn remarks.
“Next, you’re gonna take a clean rag or a new cotton ball, and you’re gonna wipe it all off,” he says.
Right before the viewers’ eyes, the scratch is gone.
He then tries this hack on a different scratch on the vehicle. “I’ll show you again. Get some paste, wipe it on there in circular motions until it goes away. Then you take your clean cloth and just wipe it off,” he says, demonstrating again that the baking soda trick works like a charm.
“Look at that. … Scratch is gone. Comment and let me know how it works for you,” Brownn urges his viewers at the end of the video.
@daddybrownn Cant believe how well this takes the scratches out of your car!! #bakingsoda #car #cars #carsoftiktok #carslover #truck #trucks #trucksoftiktok #trucktok #hack #hacks #lifehack #lifehacks #diy #scratches #detail #detailing #homehacks #foryou #foryoupage ♬ original sound – daddybrownn
The TikToker, known for his hacks, added how impressed he was with the efficacy of the scratch removal technique in a caption for the video. “Cant believe how well this takes the scratches out of your car!!” he exclaimed.
Judging from the comments section of the video, it seemed like people were split on whether or not Brownn’s trick actually works. For one person, the method was a dud. “U are a magician. Cause it didn’t work for me,” they penned.
“Dude, just tried it and it worked soooo well!!! Thank you!” another said.
There are other folks who’ve discussed the wonderfully curative properties of baking soda on car scratches. A Dodge-Jeep-Fiat-Chrysler dealership listed several ways customers can fix a scratch—and baking soda combined with water was one of them. The dealership, like Brownn, recommended mixing 50% water with 50% baking soda. Their technique is nearly identical, too. “Apply it to the scratch using a soft cloth. Use a circular motion to rub the paste into the scratch. Next, remove it with a clean, damp cloth,” the dealership recommends.
The dealership recommended some alternatives to get blemishes out of cars, like using toothpaste to fill in and blend them out.
Brownn previously told the Daily Dot that his knowledge in chemistry is how he knows how to use baking soda for his different tips and tricks. “My goal is to teach people how they can get the same results (or better) using cheap and simple ingredients that are non toxic rather than buying name brand chemicals that are harmful to humans and pets,” he said at the time.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Brownn via TikTok comment for further information.
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