PH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline a substance is. It’s a scale from 1 (most acidic) to 14 (most alkanine) with neutral in the middle at PH7.
Water sits in the middle of the scale at PH7.
A heavily alkaline or acidic shampoo could further aggravate a sensitive scalp, so many people with fragile post chemo hair look for gentle, PH balanced shampoos. As the name implies, PH balanced shampoos are neither extremely acidic nor alkaline.
The outer surface of our hair is made of cuticles which are like overlapping scales. Alkali-based shampoos make these cuticles open and expose the outer surface of hair which is called cortex. When the cortex is exposed, hair strands are more prone to damage and breakage and become rough, dull, and tangled.
On the other hand, shampoos with slightly acidic components within the balanced PH level keep these cuticle scales closed, which helps in locking the moisture and natural oils of hair.
Alkaline shampoos wash away the natural oil of hair and so to maintain the balance, our scalp produces even more oils which can give hair a greasy look. But a PH adjusted shampoo helps in maintaining the natural level of oil and moisture making hair soft and shiny.
