The importance of PH balance

The importance of ph balance was presented to me when I read Cathy Howse’s (Howse) book. With this knowledge in the back of my mind I went out and bought huge bottles of Kera Care ph balance shampoo (6) and conditioner (4.5). Since starting my healthy hair journey I completed veered away from those products. The reason is because of all the rave reviews on different products from other women with similar hair goals. Needless to say, these bottles went on the back burner for a long time. Now that I’m so far into my transition certain products are not working like they use to. So I’m in an in-between stage with products and to avoid pjism I went back to the basics.

After reviewing Howse book, again, and doing research I decided to revisit ph balance. PH is the measure of how acidic or alkaline a product is. The optimal ph balance for hair is 4.0-5.5 on a scale of 1-14: seven being neutral. All hair falls in range of 4.0-6.0 on the ph scale and is naturally acidic. According to Howse, “shampoos that lather a lot are too alkaline for our hair”. Additionally, alkaline products raise the hair cuticle and goes inside the hair shaft which is a no, no. Shampoos that are specific for damaged, color treated, or chemically treated hair is ideal and usually the correct ph for our hair.

As you know I’m addicted to you tube! During my research period Kim on kimmytube was researching herself on ph balance and the science of hair in general. She too read Howse book and found it very interesting. Kim made a concoction of her own ph balance leave in conditioner that she shared on her channel.

For the last couple of weeks, I put together my own leave in conditioner mix based on kimmaytube method. The measurements I used were not precise but these are the products I used: Cantu Shea butter leave in, aloe vera juice, coconut oil, and castor oil. This mix has a ph balance of 5 and the ph for the cantu Shea butter alone is 6. The results were very soft moisturized hair on the first day but dry on the second. Also, I noticed that the leave in mix left white clumps in my hair. So I went back to the mixing board and will give a review on my new leave in concoction soon. My goal is to have my leave in mix at ph balance of 4. Results on my new mix are coming soon!