Why pH matters?

You’ll often hear us talk about the pH when talking about our hair and skin products. We are usually referring to the pH of your body, compared to the pH of our skincare products. Why does this matter? 

First off pH stands for, Potential Hydrogen, it tells us how much hydrogen is in liquids—and how active the hydrogen ion is. The pH scale is from 0-14. Above 7 being basic and below 7 being acidic.

The pH of your skin, and hair sits around a 4-6. That is the happy place where your skin doesn’t have a rash or that itchy, irritated feeling, also when your hair follicles stay closed and gives you that natural shine we all desire.

In our deodorant bars you’ll notice we highlight that we do not use baking soda. For all my sensitive skin folks who have had that awful armpit rash, you understand it. But to explain in more depth. Baking soda sits at a pH of 9, the more basic pH level of baking soda is what kills (smelly) bacteria living on the skin.

But, baking soda causes this reaction to happen very quickly (think about putting baking soda and vinegar together). Which, for sensitive skin then causes the irritation, your skin doesn't have time to react to this change.

What is our solution? Magnesium Hydroxide. Magnesium hydroxide has around the same pH as baking soda, maybe even a bit more basic of 10-11. So why doesn’t it cause irritation? Magnesium hydroxide is a slow reaction time vs baking soda. So, even though it is still causing a change in pH levels, your skin has more time to adapt and not be irritated by the change. Still killing bacteria through the reaction process though. It’s a win-win for everyone! We love our deodorant, and hope you do too!

For our shampoo bars. We use ingredients to make sure our bars sit with a pH of around 5 to keep your hair and scalp happy. Have you ever used a soap bar in your hair only to been left with greasy, frizzy combo? This is because soap sits around a pH of 9-10. This unbalance leaves your scalp irritated and your follicles open, eventually leading to breakage and damaged hair. 

By having a pH balanced shampoo bar that matches your head and hair’s ideal pH level (4-6), it leaves you with closed follicles and lush, healthy hair that is easy to manage with less products and a happier you! This is also why you will never find SCS or SLS in our hair care as these ingredients sit with a pH around 7-11, far too basic for your scalp! pH balanced shampoo = soft, shiny, healthy hair!

For soap, we like keeping it at its 9-10 pH level, because it’s important to kill those germ breeding bacteria. Keeping the pH basic is what kills bacteria and keeps you clean and healthy. We all know washing our hands is important to keep the germs away and the playing of pH levels is what is doing it. Along with surfactants that break up oil and water to grab dirt away from the surface… but that’s for another day. Know that soap is for more than simply smelling and looking pretty, it’s keeping you healthy too!

So, now you know why pH matters so much to us in our hair and skin care products. We have formulated and tested our personal care products to make sure the pH levels sit where we want them to be for your health and happiness!

Did you know these facts already or was this something new for you, did we miss anything you think is important? Let us know in the comments below!