You must have learned about the pH value of chemicals and elements in chemistry classes. You must’ve done an experiment where you place color-changing strips into different liquids/chemicals and observe how the strips change colors. Each shade represents a number on the pH scale from 1 to 14.
If the value in pH is below 7, the substance is acidic, and if the value is above seven, it’s alkaline. And if the color matches the number 7, the substance is neutral, just like water. Now, every skin and healthcare product has a particular pH value.
And here, you must ensure the pH value is in the accepted/allowed level in the pH scale. So what are face serum ingredients? WHat are the pH values for different products? These are questions you should be clear about. Also, choose the one face serum which says their product’s pH value is in the accepted/harmless range.
What is a pH value?
The pH is an abbreviation of “potential of hydrogen”. It describes the activity of hydrogen ions in water-based solutions. The pH of a chemical or solution is indicated by a numeric scale of 0 to 14 (<7 acidic, >7 alkaline, & 7=neutral). The difference between the pH scale might seem so little, but the effect of each pH number is far different from its adjacent numbers.
For, e.g.
1) pH of 4 is at least 100 times stronger than the pH of 6.
2) Lemon juice’s pH value is 2, which is acidic, and ammonia has a pH of 12 —highly alkaline, also known as basic (acidic and bases).
You can understand it better if you study the Ritcher scale, which is used to measure the earthquake’s intensity. Magnitude 4 and 5 will not cause much damage to the infrastructure, but a magnitude of 6 will make buildings collapse.
What is the pH of your skin?
It might be new for you; the uppermost layers of skin are acidic. It makes the skin compatible with acidic skincare serums and creams. Though the researches show different values for skin, the average value is 4.7.
Men’s skin is more acidic than women’s, and even though the pH value increases with age, it still remains acidic. The skin is neutral when one is born, and it slowly turns acidic in a few weeks.
How does the pH value affect your skin?
Continuously disturbing the skin’s pH could lead to or worsen many issues, including skin conditions like dryness and tight feeling from liquid/bar soaps (alkaline).
Many people use pH-balanced skincare products/serums to avoid these issues, but not all products follow or label the acidic or base level correctly. That’s why one must look for pH-balanced products, i.e., a value on a scale that falls right in the range of normal, healthy skin.
What is the pH value of a good skincare product?
Many use skincare products right after brushing their teeth in the morning. If the product is not sensitive enough to the skin, it may alter the skin’s natural pH and remove the acid mantle.
It causes the skin to lose water/moisture from the surface, causing dryness and scaling. Irritation and redness, and itching are the common results of this issue. You may be applying moisturizing lotion afterward, but the continuous alteration of the skin’s acidity will damage the skin in the long run.
So, next time you are shopping for skincare products, the first thing you must look for is what the face-serum products are made of, the ingredients that comprise the product.
The pH value of typical skincare products are listed below:
Product pH value
Toners: 5 to 7
AHA and BHA exfoliants: 3.2 to 3.9
Serum: 4 to 6
Retinol products: 4 to 6.6
Cleansers: 4.7 to 7
Sunscreen: 5 to 7.5
Moisturizers: 5 to 7
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