Teach Soap

Has anyone else encountered a problem competing with "pH balanced"skin care products? I've recently discovered a lot of anti-soapers if you will because of its basic pH. Their premise being because the sensitive skin of the face is protected by the acid mantle, skin care products should also be acidic. As a chemist, this irks me. By those standards you should never rinse your face with water because its neutral pH is more basic than the face. In reality, even treating your face with something acidic will still raise the pH because it disturbs the natural stasis of your face's free fatty acids, sebum, enzymes and bacteria. Or so it is claimed in published, peer-reviewed dermatology journals. Even after explaining this and debunking some other fallacies I'm still met with, "well that may work for you, but I would never recommend the stuff."

I have a difficult time when people take a fraction of the truth and claim that it is backed by science, but are completely opposed to any other, most complete, scientific findings. I try to be very conscious of how I explain things so I don't come off as abrasive, but do any of you have any recommendations on how to reply to such claims?

I've never had a potential customer ask about the pH or anything like that, but I have argued with a lot of soapers about the fact that having a high pH in soap doesn't matter since it's rinsed off and then our skin begins regeneration. I've seen so many soapers strive to get their soap's pH as close to 7 as possible.

Newer studies have actually shown that skin regeneration is delayed at neutral pH conditions and that our skin excretions pH levels are somewhere between 4.5 & 5.5, depending on where you live. But most pH "balanced" products are not 4.5 - 5.5, they strive to be neutral.

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Genny

If that's the case, there would be no chemical skin peels either. The only people that have mentioned this to me, I explained that the "balanced" products are made synthetically in a lab with chemicals and artificial surfactants. Real handmade soap will always have a higher pH as it's made with natural ingredients. Healthy skin benefits from using real soap as it doesn't strip the skin.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

A homemade soap with a pH 7 would be pretty useless... I don't know. The weird thing it's that said person also uses benzoyl peroxide on her face. Peroxides break down and release the free radical form of oxygen, not the same as the oxygen that makes up a portion of the air we breathe. It seams screwy to me that you would be okay with that but not a gentle, less drying cleanser that is cp soap. My skin has never been happier than when I started making my own soaps, and I've used prescriptions, the "pH balanced" cleansers, the supposedly gentler cleansers like CerVae... But never has my skin been as calm and clear then with a plain Jane, unscented, undyed bar of real soap.

There are many commercial companies with creative advertising that the general population believes. "pH balanced" is just a buzz word.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

When I was looking for pH strips to check my soaps someone told me the local health food store had some. When I went and asked, I was shown to a whole section of pH products. The clerk tried to sell me a few things and I told her I was only interested in strips with a full range scale. She tried to sell me pH strips that only went to 7 or 8, and I told her I needed the full pH scale. She had no idea the pH scale went past 8. I don't think she even knew that one end of the scale is acid and the other base.

I haven't come across anyone who is doing the pH fad of the hour thing yet, but in general I try not to argue with people who have beliefs based on the latest viral craze. It usually doesn't win them over because they don't trust any other sources except for the ones, usually on the internet, they've latched onto. If they ask me to, I will tell them what I know about the subject matter and refer them to reputable sources, but after that I switch the topic of conversation.

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Genny

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

What is the correct range for the ph to be

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.