The 50-Cent Secret to Great Skin

Back in the day, fifty cents was enough to buy you a gallon of gas. Then it became enough to buy you a candy bar. Nowadays, two quarters can barely get you three minutes on a pay phone— if you’re even able to find a pay phone! Fortunately, there is one tool for great skin that fifty cents can buy you.
 
A strip of litmus paper. Yes, you read that right.
 
Here’s a high-school chemistry class refresher: A pH of 7.0 is neutral (like water). Lower pH indicates an acid; higher pH indicates a base. Most cleansers in the U.S. market have a pH of 9.5 to 10.5, with soaps having a higher pH than most gel or foaming cleansers. The problem is that the healthiest pH for skin is between 4.0 and 6.5 in healthy people, depending on the exact area of the skin. The skin has a natural acid mantle that provides protection called “barrier function.” This acid mantle works best when the naturally acidic pH of the skin is maintained somewhere between 4.0 and 6.5.
 
When subjected to basic cleansers, the acid mantle becomes denatured, taking several hours to restore itself. During this period, skin becomes more prone to damage and infection. Studies have shown that using a cleanser with an acidic pH of 5.5 results in less than half the acne-causing bacteria P. acnes than a cleanser with a neutral pH of 7.0. What’s more, the skin also becomes a breeding ground for microorganisms during this vulnerable period, leading patients to wash their face again, resulting in a Catch-22 of clean skin.
 
For those with dry skin, it’s even worse to use a non-acidic cleanser. pH increases from just 7.3 to 7.4 have been shown to exacerbate dry skin conditions like eczema, contact dermatitis, and atopic dermatitis. Whether or not dry skin causes heightened pH or the other way around makes no difference: when it comes to choosing a cleanser, slightly acidic is always best.
 
So avoid the mistake of using an acidic cleanser, buy some litmus paper, and check yours out today! If you find that your cleanser is in fact basic (pH above 7.0), I would recommend switching to a synthetically detergent (syndet). Developed in the 1950s, syndets are widely available made from a variety of petrochemicals (derived from petroleum) and/or oleochemicals (derived from fats and oils) and typically have a pH of 5.5 or lower. I personally like La Roche-Posay Lipikar Syndet. 

Read more from Nicki at Future Derm, or to ask her a question about your skin issue, visit her Facebook page.