Our skin is an amazing barrier against the world. It fights off any infections and protects us from the sun's harmful rays. We must keep it healthy and look after it, so it can stay on top of its game. The easiest way to keep your skin in tip top condition is to clean and moisturize.
Skin is different on all parts of your body because each part has a different job. For example, the skin is very thick on our feet, there are more glands on our underarms and our fingertips have more nerve endings. The genital area is for having sex and going to the toilet, so this area is full of glands which make oil, sebum and sweat. It’s got lots of elastic tissue and a good immune system too. It’s important to look after your intimate skin so everything can keep working as it’s supposed to.
pH-perfection
Believe it or not, but all of our skin is naturally acidic including the genital skin. pH indicates how acidic our skin is and it’s the thin layer of oils on the very top layer of the skin that make sure the surface is at the correct pH. If your pH rises, it can damage cells, cause infection and the skin can become red and dry.
Some soaps and liquid soaps are strong detergents which have an opposite pH to our skin. They are alkaline, so they react with all our natural oils. Every time we clean ourselves with a soap that’s not pH-balanced we are getting rid of the natural moisturizing factors, so eventually our skin starts to play up. This becomes even more important to consider when cleaning intimate skin because the pH level is even lower down there. The skin on your body has a pH level of around 5.5, whereas intimate skin has a pH of around 4.5, making it even more prone to irritation from shower gels and soaps that are not pH balanced.
Keeping skin happy
Looking after skin's natural pH is the key to skin harmony. Cleansers don’t know the difference between the oils containing dirt and the good oils, so gets rid of all of them which causes dryness and irritation. The best cleansing products are soap free, pH-balanced to the right level and moisturizing.