pH Balance and Skin Care

What is pH?

Acidic and basic are two extremes that describe chem­i­cals, just like hot and cold are two extremes that describe tem­per­a­ture. Mix­ing acids and bases can can­cel out their extreme effects, much like mix­ing hot and cold water can even out water tem­per­a­ture. A sub­stance that is nei­ther acidic nor basic is neutral.

The pH scale mea­sure how acidic or basic a sub­stance is. It ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neu­tral. A pH less than 7 is acidic and a pH greater than 7 is basic.

Pure water is neu­tral, with a pH of 7.0. When chem­i­cals are mixed with water, the mix­ture can become either acidic or basic. Vine­gar and lemon juice are acidic sub­stances, while laun­dry deter­gents and bar soaps are basic or alkaline.

The skin pro­duces both sebum and sweat, which cre­ate a bar­rier on the sur­face of the skin cer­tain forms of bac­te­ria and microor­gan­isms, and it may be a fac­tor in the nat­ural skin shed­ding and renewal process. The pH of the acid man­tle varies between 4.5 and 6.2. Skin care prod­ucts should be below the skin’s pH of 4.5 — 6.8 to have max­i­mum effects on the skin.

Very strong acids, such as sul­fu­ric acid, can pro­duce chem­i­cal burns that basi­cally destroy the epidermis. Likewise, highly alka­line sub­stances, such as lye, can also pro­duce inflam­ma­tion and in some cases, chemical burns.

pH adjusters or buffer­ing agents are fre­quently added to skin care prod­ucts. These addi­tives keep pH at the cor­rect level to pro­duce the desired effect, while keep­ing the prod­uct safe and non-irritating to the skin.

0     1     2      3     4     5     6     7     8     9    10    11   12    13  14

←                                     ↑                                     →

Increas­ing Acid­ity       Neu­tral                Increas­ing Basicity

Alpha Peel 40%                  =              pH 1.8

Cocoa Cola                          =             pH 2.5

Skin                                      =             pH 4.5 — 6.0

Max­i­mum results are achieved when the pH is between 1.8 — 6.8.