The PH value: Sour keeps safe
Part II: Our acid mantle and its protective function
by Dr. Huong Nguyen | Editor: Dr. Sabine Nunius | April 29, 2022
The acid mantle - an invisible protective shield
The acid mantle is located directly on the surface of your skin. There it fulfills a number of important protective functions:
1) Balance of microflora
Even if it may sound unappetizing at first, your skin is colonized by bacteria. She absolutely depends on them! The bacterial flora on your skin prevents pathogenic microorganisms, i.e. pathogens, from penetrating your skin and spreading there.
Studies show that an alkaline value (8.0-9.0) weakens the balance of bacterial flora. The result: the pathogenic germs can spread more widely. An increased pH value is particularly unfavorable for skin diseases such as acne. Here the number of Cutibacterium Acnes (bacteria that is associated with the development of impurities and acne) increases sharply at pH values between 6 and 6.5. At pH values below 6, however, growth is significantly reduced and the skin is therefore less stressed.
2) Protection through antimicrobial substances
“Antimicrobial” - sounds highly scientific, but ultimately just means that a substance has the ability to kill or weaken microbes. These microbes can be, for example, bacteria that are harmful to your skin. Ingeniously, our skin is able to produce such antimicrobial defenses itself. This happens, for example, in the form of antimicrobial peptides (molecules made up of several amino acids). A rather acidic pH value facilitates the production of such substances, which are also extremely important for wound healing.
3) Strengthening the skin barrier
The acid mantle is essential for a resilient skin barrier. This is literally vital for our body's survival: On the one hand, an intact skin barrier protects us from excessive loss of moisture and, on the other hand, prevents harmful bacteria, viruses or substances from penetrating our body. If the skin barrier is weakened, this can have a noticeably negative impact on your overall health. You can specifically strengthen the resilience of your skin barrier using the acid mantle. Three aspects are particularly important:
a) Activation of ceramide formation
b) Regulation of keratinization processes
c) Rejection of old cells - we can support this process with a peeling. More on this in one of the upcoming stories!
Fact of the day
With Liquid Barrier, the pH value is completely missing. However, we didn't just forget it ;-) The lack of information is actually due to the fact that Liquid Barrier is an oil and not a water-based solution - so Liquid Barrier simply has no pH value, because that's all there is in aqueous solutions.
In a nutshell: The ideal pH value for your skin health
After this little excursion into the world of chemistry, we can say: The acidic pH value of the skin is useful and important for a whole range of protective functions of your skin:
• It offers an optimal environment for the (beneficial) bacteria resident on the skin surface and their enzymatic activities.
• It is a key factor for the barrier function of your skin and stimulates, for example, the formation of basic building blocks such as ceramides. Conversely, an increased (i.e. more alkaline) pH value leads to a weakening of the skin barrier and thus potentially promotes diseases such as acute eczema, irritant contact dermatitis, neurodermatitis, acne vulgaris and C. albicans infections or influences their severity.
the pH value in our products
What this means for you in practice: You can optimally support the health of your skin with care products that have a slightly acidic pH value. The term 'pH skin-neutral' means a pH value of 5.5 instead of 7. I rely on a pH value between 4.5 - 5.5 for the products I develop. The only exception: the peeling mask! It has a pH value of 3.0 - 3.5 - I'll tell you why that is in another story!
Exception number 2: Liquid Barrier. The pH value is completely missing here. However, we didn't just forget it ;-) The lack of information is actually due to the fact that Liquid Barrier is an oil and not a water-based solution - so Liquid Barrier simply has no pH value, because that's all there is in aqueous solutions.
Would you like to test the effect of different pH values on your skin directly? Then stop by the shop now!
The topic of acidity and pH is not yet over. In a later story we will look at how the acid mantle is structured - i.e. what makes it acidic in the first place. A little foretaste of it: fatty acids definitely have something to do with it!