Dry skin
PH-neutral soap helps to maintain the skin’s natural protective barrier
pH-neutral soap helps to maintain the skin’s natural protective acid mantle
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The natural acid mantle protects the skin. Dry and sensitive skin types need gentle care products. This is the only way to maintain this protective barrier. Read here why pH-neutral soap is recommended.
Very dry and sensitive skin needs special care that protects the skin from drying out. This is especially true for people who suffer from chronic skin diseases such as neurodermatitis. But people with dry skin can also get redness and dry skin in winter from dry heated 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. You can 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 acids and alkalis from one another and to determine the acid content. The 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 comes about through the body’s own acidic substances in sweat, sebum and horny cells. This so-called protective acid mantle protects the skin from external environmental influences, infections, irritation and dehydration. The term pH-neutral does not mean completely neutral in skin care, but rather skin-neutral. Products like creams or pH neutral soaps are therefore adapted to the pH value of the skin and are therefore slightly acidic.
What is the pH value 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 through hand washing – in order to maintain the natural protective function. That is why pH-neutral soaps must not attack the protective layer of the skin. Since the average pH value of human skin is 5.5, a pH-neutral soap should also correspond to this value. For comparison: normal soaps have a pH value between eight and twelve. The higher this pH value, the more water the product withdraws from the skin. Due to this fact, there is often no question of a pH-neutral soap, because it is not soap in the classic sense, but rather Skin cleansing products.
There are different manufacturers of pH-neutral soaps. You can often find such cleaning products in pharmacies, but also in well-stocked drugstores and on the Internet.
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