There is a thin protective layer on the top of your skin right now.
It’s a mixture of sebum (your skin’s natural oils) and sweat from the sweat pores.
And not to worry, this doesn’t make your face sweaty – just soft to the touch.
This thin layer is your skin’s first shield against the environment, protecting it from harmful bacteria and fungi, toxins, pollutants, and oxidative damage.
That means you have a free anti-aging layer on your skin produced by the skin itself – every single day!
Washing, or even worse, scrubbing your face first thing in the morning is a very bad idea because it removes the acid mantle, leaving your skin more vulnerable and exposed to damages throughout the day.
In this article, I want to explain how to have healthy skin by supporting the optimal functioning of the acid mantle.
WHY IS IT CALLED ‘ACID MANTLE’?
Simply because it makes your skin’s surface slightly acidic, covering your skin like a veil.
The pH scale indicates how acidic or alkaline an aqueous solution is, where 0 is the most acidic and 14 most alkaline. Anything below 7 is acidic, and above 7 is alkaline. If your skin is healthy, it should have a pH of around 5 (generally from 4 – 5.9).
And this simple thing is VERY important for your skin’s health!
WHY DOES THE SKIN SURFACE NEED TO BE ACIDIC?
REASON #1 Harmful bacteria and fungi cannot survive in the acidic environment of our skin, they like it alkaline much better
The acid mantle boosts the immune system of the skin. It does so by creating an acidic environment in which foreign microorganisms cannot survive.
Additionally, the oily substances on our skin play a role in activating certain cells of the immune system, strengthening the local skin defenses. If the acid mantle is disrupted, the skin becomes more permeable to the pathogens and other irritants, which can result in a skin infection or irritation.
REASON #2 The acid mantle protects the skin cells underneath, promoting a strong skin barrier
The skin barrier is a very important concept when it comes to healthy skin. It is basically the top layer of your skin, consisting of dead skin cells (corneocytes), held together by a matrix of lipids (a ‘glue’ that holds the cells together).
This robust structure is what makes the skin so impermeable to many substances, keeping the skin healthy.
The acid mantle keeps those cells nice and flat, strengthening the barrier function.
Taken together, the acid mantle and skin barrier offer everyday protection from damaging environmental influences. This, in turn, has a major effect in supporting healthy and naturally youthful and radiant skin.
REASON #3 The acid mantle keeps the skin soft and supple by preventing water loss
Sebum, which makes up the acid mantle, is a mixture of oily substances that coat the surface of your skin. As oil and water don’t mix, the water has a hard time passing from inside your skin through the sebum layer on the top of your skin.
This traps the water inside, keeping your skin properly moisturized!
Skin’s natural oils are particularly good at that – they repel the water efficiently, and keep it where it needs to be – inside your skin.
REASON #4 Certain enzymes responsible for important skin processes, including natural exfoliation, are active only at pH ~ 5
Changes in skin’s pH affect the activity of certain enzymes in the skin, and consequently interfere with (at least) the following important processes:
- Skin’s normal exfoliation process (called desquamation).
- Breaking down the excess sebum in the skin
- Activation of enzymes responsible for the synthesis of epidermal lipids
- Restoration of the skin after a mechanical or chemical damage (wounds)
Natural exfoliation process is very important because it keeps your skin not only clear but also naturally smooth and glowing at all times, not just right after you exfoliate!
WHAT DISRUPTS THE ACID MANTLE?
1. Use of overly stripping products or those with a high pH
Soaps and facial cleansers with surfactants are the main disruptors of both the skin barrier and the acid mantle.
They may leave your skin feeling “squeaky clean,” but that really translates into “acid-mantle-stripped” feeling. Healthy skin can recover rather quickly – after several hours or so (some reports say even 24 hours).
Daily use of alkaline products, however, gradually wears off your skin and its ability to regenerate the new acid mantle.
2. Environmental assaults
- Sun exposure
- Extreme temperatures & winds
- Dry air
- Pollutants
- Air conditioning (causing dry air)
LONG-TERM DAMAGE CAUSED BY TOO HIGH PH OF THE SKIN
- The skin becomes too alkaline, which disrupts the important skin components, processes and defense mechanisms, making your skin dull and lifeless
- Chronic skin problems including acne, roughness, flaking, irritation, and dehydration
- Premature skin aging
- Alkaline skin leads to accelerated aging: more fine lines, wrinkles, dullness, and hyperpigmentation – faster!
A 2010 study published in the British Journal of Dermatology showed that after eight years, women with an alkaline outer layer developed more fine lines and crow’s feet and were more prone to sun damage than those with more acidic skin.
WAYS TO SUPPORT THE PROPER FUNCTIONING OF THE ACID MANTLE
- Don’t wash your skin with soaps (they are highly alkaline!) or harsh, stripping cleansers. Learn in my FREE online course how to choose a gentle cleanser!
- Don’t overexfoliate – 1-2x a week is more than enough in most cases. Beware of how many exfoliating products you actually use, like exfoliating toners, serums, etc.
- Don’t wash too frequently – Don’t wash your skin more than 2x per day, and 1x per day (in the evening) will often be enough
- Avoid harsh mechanical scrubs, which can cause tiny micro tears in the skin
- Avoid steaming your face frequently
FINAL THOUGHTS
As you can see, the acid mantle is very very important for the overall health and appearance of your skin. And yet, most of us are disrupting it every day with our skin care, without even knowing.
People whose skin’s pH is slightly acidic, between 4 and 5.5 (even 5.9) have overall healthier skin that is less prone to chronic skin problems and wrinkles.
I hope this made you appreciate the wonderful things your own skin does every day to keep itself in top shape! Let our skin care only support these processes, not disrupt them.
In radiant skin health,
Sara
REFERENCES
1. Korting HC, Hubner K, Greiner K, Hamm G, Braunfalco O. Differences in the Skin Surface Ph and Bacterial Microflora Due to the Long-Term Application of Synthetic Detergent Preparations of Ph 5.5 and Ph 7.0 – Results of a Crossover Trial in Healthy-Volunteers. Acta Derm-Venereol. 1990;70(5):429-57. 2. Mauro T, Holleran WM, Grayson S, Gao WN, Man MQ, Kriehuber E, et al. Barrier recovery is impeded at neutral pH, independent of ionic effects: implications for extracellular lipid processing (vol 290, pg 215, 1998). Arch Dermatol Res. 1998;290(7):405-. 3. Schmid MH, Korting HC. The Concept of the Acid Mantle of the Skin – Its Relevance for the Choice of Skin Cleansers. Dermatology. 1995;191(4):276-80. 4. Hillebrand GG, Liang Z, Yan X, Yoshii T. New wrinkles on wrinkling: an 8-year longitudinal study on the progression of expression lines into persistent wrinkles. Brit J Dermatol. 2010;162(6):1233-41. 5. Kronenberg M, Havran WL. IMMUNOLOGY Oiling the wheels of autoimmunity. Nature. 2014;506(7486):42-3.
Sparavigna A, Tenconi B, De Ponti I, La Penna L. An innovative approach to the topical treatment of acne. Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology. 2015;8:179-185. doi:10.2147/CCID.S82859. Singh S, Mann BK, Tiwary NK. Acne cosmetica revisited: a case-control study shows a dose-dependent inverse association between overall cosmetic use and post-adolescent acne. Dermatology. 2013;226(4):337–341.
Hi Sara. Thanks for the article! You mentioned that people should avoid steaming their face. Why is that? On other blogs I’ve read that facial steaming is good for getting rid of toxins on your pores and loosening dirt. Is that true? You also said to use products with slightly acidic pH (5.5) if you must use them at all (especially cleansers!). How do I determine the pH of my products? Thanks for your help!
Hi Bethany! Steaming the face for about 5-10min disrupts the acid mantle of the skin, which is why I would mostly avoid it. You can definitely do it about once a week, just as you would do exfoliation (which also temporarily disrupts the pH of the skin), but I wouldn’t count on steaming the face having much detox effect. To really achieve that effect, sweaty exercise is MUCH better, because it cleans the skin from the inside out, pumping blood to your skin and taking with it toxins and waste, along with many other benefits. Steaming the face alone will not do that (unfortunately!). Skin does feel softer, but that’s because of the boost of moisture from the steam on your skin. Bottom line, steaming is not so terrible for the skin:), but I also don’t see that many benefits in terms of toxins purge compared to sweaty exercise:)
Hi Sara! Is a pH of 3.3 too low? My skin is very dry/flaky so I wasn’t sure if this low pH makes it worse or helps? It’s the pH of the S.W. Basics Toner: at night I cleanse with rosewater/glycerin, use this toner, and then moisturize w/ jojoba/sweet almond oil). This skin routine worked for me for 8 months but since winter arrived, my skin has been super dry (it used to be oily). I tried switching to EvanHealy’s BLUE treatment line for sensitive skin, which is rosehip and jojoba oil, but my skin isn’t improving.
Hi Kristyn! Ph of 3.3 is indeed too low. It should be between 4 and 6 (just like the skin). This might sound weird, but I think you also need to cut back on oils to recover from the dryness. Oils high in linoleic acid, such as rosehip, might be too drying. Even using any oil too much might slow down skin’s own oil production, which will result in dryness. Try using less of them, and avoid washing your face and avoiding water on it (which is drying, too). For really dry acne-prone skin, I love Hemptouch products, see on my Recommendations page here: https://www.healthyskinglows.com/natural-skincare-acne-prone-skin/. They helped me a lot during the winter! Both the Ointment and the Nurturing cream. Also, I have a blog post on how to improve skin’s hydration levels here: https://www.healthyskinglows.com/10-natural-ways-lock-moisture-skin/. Hope that helps!:)
Thanks for replying, Sara! I’m nervous to use the Hemptouch products because they also appear to contain other chemicals, and also because although I have dry/flaky skin, I have breakouts on my chin. The EvanHealy treatment line I’m using for moisturizer is a lavender hydrosol (so lavender water instead of rose water) and then rosehip/jojoba oil to seal it in. I thought this would work since it’s a humectant plus occlusive but my chin seems even more congested with acne now, and still everything is dry, flaky, red, and dehydrated looking.
It’s just so odd, because I had totally clear skin for 8 months before this, using S.W. Basics skincare and eating my hormone-supportive diet (no sugar, dairy, gluten, soy, alcohol, caffeine, or processed foods), taking cod liver oil and probiotics–my skin was clear and not this dry/flaky. I know it’s probably because of winter but I can’t seem to find a skincare routine to support the seasons changing….
I understand. I think you need to cut out rosehip oil at this point, and see if using just jojoba will help, or you need to reduce it, too. I know dry skin can be very frustrating! I also find oats with honey to be very nourishing, you can try that! The recipe is this blog post:
https://www.healthyskinglows.com/how-to-heal-a-bad-breakout-fast/
. One other product that helped my dry winter skin is Moisturizing Mask by Tata Harper (I just got the sample), and it worked after only 2-3 days!