My ENT a few years back gave me explicit instructions to use a nasal rinse morning and night. I've been using those little packets you can buy from various stores, but since the contents are literally baking soda and salt, I've decided to try my hand at making my own saline rinse solutions. Getting the ratios right is a touch difficult, so what follows are my notes so far.

TL;DR: Current least irritating solution is 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda and salt with 8 ounces of water.

Kosher Salt and Baking Soda: Suggested recipe from the internet, 3 teaspoons salt to 1 teaspoon baking soda. Mix ingredients, then 1 teaspoon of the solution to 8 ounces of boiled (water that has been boiled).

Results: very irritating, uncomfortable. unsure whether kosher salt, baking soda, or solution not properly dissolved.

Sea Salt vs Kosher salt, no baking soda. 1/2 teaspoon to 8 ounces of boiling water each, waiting for each to cool. test results: sea salt produced no irritation, only a strange sensation mildly akin getting sea water up my nose. kosher salt produced a very minor irritation. Only 1 trial performed.

Sea salt vs Kosher salt, baking soda added. 1/2 teaspoon of either salt and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, 8 ounces of boiling water each, waited for solutions to cool. Mixing procedure notes: water fizzed up when poured over the solutions. used small white ceramic bowls, both solutions appeared milky white, sea salt solution to a greater degree. unsure if lighting issue, reflecting of the ceramic bowl on the liquid issue, or some other unknown variable. Test results: sea salt + baking soda solution produced very minor irritation, slightly greater than the irritation produced from kosher salt alone. Kosher salt + baking soda solution produced a greater amount of irritation, less than the suggested formula from the internet.

More trials on each needed. More types of salts needed. Salts used: sea salt from the sea salt grinder sold by Aldi's, kosher salt walmart brand. baking soda used: walmart brand baking soda. Salts to experiment with: canning salt, other brands of sea salt.

Wikihow suggests 1/4 teaspoon or 1/2 teaspoon of salt and equal amount baking soda. 1/2 teaspoon was tested, possibly do additional tests for 1/4 teaspoon. Internet recipe performed with Kosher salt and produced significant irritation, however, previous experiments showed Kosher salt on its own was noticeably more irritating than sea salt, possibly test internet recipe with sea salt to compare.

Prior to these tests, I created 8 cups of saline solution following 2.5 grams of sea salt to 8 ounces (1 cup) of water, as per I believe wikihow's instructions. Accidentally added more salt than called for due to scale powering off after a brief period of neglect. Stored solution in a large glass mason jar in my bathroom's... uh, pantry section I guess. My bathroom has a pantry without a door. Don't ask me, I rent this place. Anyways I used the solution to refill my nasal bottle, but after some days I noticed feeling slightly ill after using the solution. Unsure if infection caught from external circumstances or if solution became contaminated while use. Did not record time it was present in my bathroom for, or precisely when the solution began to produce strange symptoms after use. Upon preparing to use the last amount of the solution, noticed white particles floating in the liquid, unsure if undissolved salt or some other matter. Either way storage in this manner is likely not ideal but very convenient. Unsure how to proceed with storage. Store dry solution possibly, and partition out with boiled water as needed? Less convenient, especially since I go through 8 ounces of saline solution in about 2-3 days (4-7 uses). Attempt the large mason jar strategy, but store elsewhere? Humidity and heat from showers may have accelerated bacterial growth, perhaps storing in a drier, colder place may help. Storing in fridge is ideal but consumes a lot of space, maybe smaller reserves are ideal (2 cup mason jars are plentiful, replenish the nasal rinse device and store maybe 2 jar reserves in fridge for later use).

Nasal rinse device: Niel Med's squeeze bottle. Been using it for a while, directions instruct disposal of bottle after a month of use but that's dumb and wasteful, just clean the bottle with soap and water every once in a while, or bleach it if concerned about bacterial growth.