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So pH-neutral soap supports the maintenance of the skin’s natural protective barrier
pH-neutral soap supports the maintenance of the skin’s natural protective acid mantle
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The natural acid mantle protects the skin. Dry and sensitive skin types require gentle care products. This is the only way to maintain this protective barrier. Why pH-neutral soap is therefore recommended and is not actually called soap.
Very dry and sensitive skin needs special care that protects the skin from drying out. This applies in particular to people who suffer from chronic skin diseases such as neurodermatitis. But even people with dry skin can get redness and dry skin in winter due to dry heating air and frequent hand washing. In order not to attack the natural protective acid mantle of sensitive and dry skin types, it is worth using a pH-neutral soap or a pH-neutral skin cleansing product. Read below what pH-neutral means and what parameters pH-neutral soaps should have.
What does pH neutral mean?
The so-called pH value is essential for a pH-neutral soap. pH is the abbreviation of the Latin term “potentia hydrogenii” and means something like hydrogen ion concentration. Put simply, the pH value is used to distinguish between acids and bases and to determine the acidity. Human skin also has a pH value. It is in the slightly acidic range and averages around 5.5. For comparison, water has a neutral pH of seven. This slightly acidic value is caused by the body’s own acidic substances in sweat, sebum and horny cells. This so-called acid mantle protects the skin from external environmental influences, infections, irritation and dehydration. In skin care, however, the term pH-neutral does not mean completely neutral, but skin-neutral. Products such as creams or pH neutral soaps are therefore adapted to the pH value of the skin and are therefore slightly acidic.
What is the pH of pH neutral soap?
The idea behind pH-neutral products for the skin is that the natural pH value of the skin should change as little as possible, for example by washing your hands, in order to maintain the natural protective function. For this reason, pH-neutral soaps must not attack the protective layer of the skin. Since the average pH of human skin is 5.5, a pH-neutral soap should also match this value. For comparison: Normal soaps have a pH between eight and twelve. The higher this pH value, the more water the product draws from the skin. Due to this fact, there is often no talk of a pH-neutral soap, because it is not soap in the classic sense, but of skin cleansing products.
There are several manufacturers of pH neutral soap. You can often find such cleaning products in pharmacies, but also in well-stocked drugstores and on the Internet.
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