Did you know that understanding and maintaining your skin’s pH is important to your overall skin health? As you may be aware, the pH scale ranges from 1 to 14, with 7 considered “neutral.” The lower numbers are acidic, while the upper levels are considered alkaline, or non-acidic.
Fun fact: when we are newborn babies, our skin pH is neutral at 7! As we get older, it starts to become more acidic, with the general range between 5 and 6. This is ideal because with more acidity, your skin can combat harmful microbes and damaging free radicals that might increase the ageing process. Pretty cool right!? So how do we maintain it? Skincare can do just that!
Cleanser
The pH of oily skin tends to range from 4 to 5.2, while the pH of dry skin is typically above 5.5. Therefore, more acidic cleansers may help combat acne, and more alkaline-based skin care ingredients can help maintain healthy skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.
So whatever your skin type, make sure to find products that work with it! Obagi CLENZIderm M.D. Daily Care Foaming Cleanser is great for oily skin, while Obagi Nu-Derm Gentle Cleanser is perfect for sensitive or dry skin types.
If you haven’t yet found your perfect match, read our last blog post All About Cleansers!
Toner
Toners are primarily formulated to balance the pH level in your skin because cleansing can sometimes throw off that balance.
Applying a small amount of toner to a soft cotton ball or pad and gently blotting and wiping your face with it will remove excess oil and restore your skin’s pH balance.
The Obagi Nu-Derm Toner does exactly that! Recently featured on vogue.com as one of actress Maude Apatow’s skin secrets, where she says “it really works!”. If it’s good enough for Maude, it’s good enough for us all!
We hope you learnt something new! Skin pH is just one of the aspects in overall skin health, so do let us know what other topics you would like us to cover. After all, skin is the largest organ of the body! So let’s protect it.
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