Have you ever wondered why some shampoos make your hair soft and shiny while others make it scary?
Do you look at peoples’ perfect manes and feel silent rage because nothing you do seems to calm the frizzies?
Do you battle brittle strands, boofy curls, an itchy scalp, dandruff, greasiness, brassiness, hair loss, tangles and generally hard-to-manage hair?
There’s actually a pretty simple explanation that, for some mysterious reason, isn’t often talked about.
It’s called pH.
PH is vital for maintaining the lustre and loveliness of your locks, but what even is it?
A short pH primer
You’ve probably heard of pH: it stands for ‘power of hydrogen’ and is a measurement of how acid or alkaline something is.
The scale goes from 0 – 14 and the smaller the number, the higher the acidity.
Your stomach acid has a pH of between 1 and 2, oat milk lattes have a pH of around 5, and household bleach comes in at 12.
Why does pH matter?
The pH of any given thing is really important for how it functions.
The skin barrier, for example, is weakly acidic to inhibit the growth of bacteria and retain moisture, nix free radicals and maintain elasticity.
Your stomach is acidic to kill pathogens and break down food, unlocking its nutritional value.
And your dog’s gut is a pure acid bath, allowing them to gobble bones and bits of who-knows-what from the side of the road without batting an eyelash.
How does pH affect the health of your hair?
Your hair and scalp have an optimum pH of around 4.5 to 5.5.
At this slightly acidic pH, the ‘acid mantle’ of your scalp (a thin protective layer of fats and amino acids) wards off infections, like fungal dandruff, and keeps everything hunky dory.
When it comes to your cuticles (the outermost layer of each hair strand) pH is super important too. It’s literally a make or break situation.
Think of cuticles like elongated pine cones, with lots of individual sections that can either lay down flat or be raised and spiky.
When the pH of your hair is too alkaline, the cuticles lift up, open out and become porous, with a rough texture that lets in moisture and leads to frizz, breakages, dullness, tangles… you get the gist.
Alkalinity also interferes with keratin, the main structural component of your hair and the smooth sheathing that protects it. In overly alkaline conditions, keratin breaks down and your hair becomes susceptible to tangles, splits and fuzziness.
What causes alkaline hair?
Many things we do in the name of beauty, like bleaching, dying or chemically straightening hair, increase its alkalinity, opening up those pine-cone cuticles and causing all kinds of strife.
It’s not that these treatments are ‘bad’ – you rock those platinum bangs! – it’s just that they’ll throw out your pH balance, so you’ll need to correct it.
Remember: an optimum hair/scalp pH is slightly acidic, which leads to smooth, sealed cuticles, lots of shine and healthy keratin production.
It’s really that simple.
Who needs to worry about pH?
Curly birds and bros need to be especially mindful of pH because if your cuticles open up, rather than lie flat, your sweet ringlets will become more like a poodle post blow dry. Fluffy.
Folks who wash in hard water (as opposed to rain water or filtered water) also have to be extra mindful of pH. Hard water contains lots of dissolved minerals such as calcium and magnesium… which sound good in theory but can actually cause build up and alkalinity, triggering all of the issues we’ve been discussing.
So that’s why your hair can vary wildly from shampoo to shampoo, shower to shower, day to day. A pH imbalance may be at play.
Bees have your pH sorted
We’re pleased to tell you that our brand new range of shampoo and conditioner bars are pH balanced, designed to match the natural acidity of healthy hair.
Because they err on the slightly acid side, they promote smooth, sealed cuticles that shine with health, resisting tangles and breaks while offering the optimum pH for keratin production and protection. They work first wash, even in hard water.
You can read more about how our new bars differ from our original bars, or shop the pH balanced range.
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