What is Skin pH? And Why you should be concerned about it?
Skin pH has been neglected for so many years, but when we talk skin science it plays a crucial role from maintaining that healthy supple glow to preventing premature ageing. Here are four tips to build a smart skincare that addresses pH levels.
If you think pH has become the holy grail word for the beauty gurus, you aren’t mistaken. In fact, it’s been a minute since we didn’t talk about skin chemistry and believed in the power we have within our very own skin to protect and nourish it.
From skin expert YouTubers like Hyram to the biggest brands have been talking about maintaining the skin’s natural pH and how some products can disrupt this essential Barrier affecting your glow.
Like we always say and believe, it doesn’t take much to maintain a SKINtilliating beauty regime, all it takes is to be rightly informed. Now let’s talk science:
Why is pH level important for my skin?
pH or potential Hydrogen refers to the acidity or basic nature of a solution. The pH scale range from 0 to 14. 7 is neutral pH and anything below 7 is acidic, anything higher than 7 is basic in nature.
The number of Hydrogen molecules determine its nature. Simply put: Higher Hydrogen presence is lower pH, making it acidic in nature and lower Hydrogen presence makes it higher pH, giving basic results. It might be surprising to know that human skin scores a ‘not-so-basic’ 5.5 on the pH scale. So in nature, it’s acidic.
This acidic nature is very important for our skin because it is the first line of defence towards those ugly acne bacteria and all sorts of organisms that can potentially harm your skin. Not just destroying the bad guys, skin pH takes care of the good guys too, lactic acid bacteria found in skin and even in our gut make up for the larger part of the microbiome of a human body. These are essential to our overall health and have been proven to do so.
Here are four tips to incorporate in your routine to achieve the optimum pH and maintain it:
Use Products With pH 4.6–5.5
Using right cleansers
How many times your skin felt like Sahara desert when you wash your face with a cleanser? That’s like every night in our teen years.
These products rip off all the natural oils from the skin which in turn hampers the skin microbiome. Using a pH friendly cleanser or toner specially designed for different skin can solve this problem.
Products for sensitive skin
Skins with the problems such as rosacea, eczema or acne are sensitive and handling them with care is the need of the hour. Even normal skin needs to be addressed here, according to a study conducted by Greg Hillebrand, PhD. Her patients with a pH level that was more than the standard value (7 is the neutral pH level) were more prone to wrinkles and fine lines than those with the right pH level.
H2O for the rescue
Recently a lot of debate has been going on whether to use tap water or sparkling water. Tap water has a pH of 7 which is higher than skin’s normal pH. This sounds quite reasonable although sparkling water might not be the solution here.
Oh the inquisitive minds, never stop asking questions do they? We have your answer. The problem with sparkling water is that most of them have apH of around 3–4 which is way too acidic than our skin needs.
Using sparkling water every time you wash your face, it’s like using a chemical peel twice a day! No one wants that, no one advises that. On the other hand, fresh tap water has a neutral pH that is gentle to skin, it’s neither acid nor a base. It's just the perfect yin-yang wash for you.
Using Micellar water
still if finding fresh water is a problem micellar water comes in handy, it has been noticed that regular tap water might get contaminated with heavy metal ions which is not desirable to your skin pores. Micellar water acts as an excellent cleanser. It cleanses out your pores allowing your skin to breathe and absorb products well.
You are what you eat
It's all about balance, and this applies to your diet too. “When your body is functioning at its best, your cells are able to maintain healthy blood pH easily,” explains Nutritional Therapist and Founder of GP Nutrition Gabriela Peacock.
Change is the only constant
Making small changes might get you started. Additional to a green vegetable, fruits enriched diet change regular morning tea with green tea it’s more alkaline and neutralizes your body with all the added benefits. also Apple Cider Vinegar is a superfood when it comes to pH aware diets.
Dr. Dendy Engleman, A dermatologist, New York-based, recommends
“one superfood that can be the best solution to bring back our body’s pH to the normal level. It is apple cider vinegar: its antifungal, antiviral properties help fight the bacteria, which are the main reason behind the formation of the dreadful pimples. Smooth, soft skin can also be well-achieved, thanks to the apple cider vinegar’s acetic properties.”
Eating lots of kale, carrots, cabbages, green juice can be beneficial, these are alkaline in nature and the reason to add them to your diet is that for most of us acid-based diets. Foods like meat, egg, fish, caffeine tend to make our diet a little acidic in nature. So we need to cut that with alkaline food. its all about the base, but don’t go having bottles of carbonated water now, that’s not smart.
Keep hair in check
it's not all about the face and neither body. The most neglected part of our skin is the scalp and using the right products can save on those expensive hair spas which, let’s be real do absolutely nothing.
Many cosmetics companies consider sulfates to be perfectly fine for use in “natural” shampoo. Not only can these substances cause negative reactions in people with skin sensitivities, but sulfates’ alkaline makeup can also disrupt your skin’s natural pH levels.
Maintained scalp pH has been shown positive results to get rid of Dandruff and hair loss. So next time you go shopping doesn’t fall for that perfume because that’s BS.
All we can say is talking about pH and it’s importance in skin health and overall body health was overdue for most part and now that we’re finally discusssing it let’s not get mis informed. Above is a video where Dr. Arpitha Komanapalli, M.D. talks about pH balanced diet in further detail.
If Chemistry was never fun for you, don’t worry no surprise tests for you, instead, you can more questions in the comment section down below.
