How To pH Balance Your Natural Hair Products

pH ScaleIf you haven’t heard much about pH and how important it is to our natural hair, I’m going to give you a super quick, not so scientific explanation, I promise 🙂

There’s a ton of information out there that goes into great detail on this subject if you’d like to read more about pH.

Having a perfect hair day is all about balancing pH.  The pH indicator scale goes from 0-14.  The closer to 0 the more acidic (orange juice), 7 is neutral (water), and the closer to 14 (relaxers are 11-14), the more alkaline.

Our hair has a pH of 4.5-5 and in this slightly acidic state the cuticle is flat and hair is smooth, shiny and less prone to breakage.  So the key is if you can get the products you style your hair with to balance out around this range, it’ll mean the difference between dry or frizzy hair and perfectly moisturized hair.

It is not difficult at all to pH balance your own products, since many on the market fall outside of the acidic range we need for our hair.

To balance out your products, you’ll need:

  • apple cider vinegar (ACV) (pH of 3)
  • baking soda (pH of 9)
  • pH testing strips or pH digital tester

Here are a few on Amazon:

  1. test the pH level of the product, write it down
  2. if the pH falls higher than 4.5-5.5, add 1/4 tsp. of ACV
  3. if the pH falls below 4.5-5.5, add 1/4 tsp. of baking soda

Start off with small amounts and adjust the product as needed until it is within the range you seek.  That’s it!  This will be the most helpful in ensuring products that you buy OR make are pH balanced.

Let me know if you try this and how it works out for you!

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