Effect of Soap on Skin Health

Soap is an integral part of our daily lives. Skin health depends strongly on the choice of soap products we choose. The more alkaline the soap the worse the effect on the skin. So, pay attention to their product profile first before dropping the option of soap for your skin.
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Skin is the first defense against all elements from outside the body, such as microorganisms, wind and pollutants. On the surface there are skin acid mantle structure. Acid mantle is a layer of acidic film on the skin surface that serves to protect the skin. This layer plays an important role as an integral part of the protective function of the stratum corneum.
Cleaning the skin with soap or detergent can cause a loss of acid mantle. Repeatedly washing the stratum corneum and alter the function of protection, including the pH of the skin. If the acid mantle becomes damaged, or missing acidity, the skin becomes more vulnerable to damage and infection.
Acidity Skin and Normal Skin Normal skin surface acidity is between 4 to 6.5 in healthy people, although varies from one skin with another skin. In a study in India carried out the measurement of skin surface pH of 55 brown-skinned (Indian) consisting of 30 men and 25 women aged 12-58 years in the forehead and behind the wrist. The average skin pH value forehead and back of the wrist is 5.51 + - 0.032 and 5.56 + - 0.040 for men. The value of women is 5.73 + - 0.032 and 5.84 + - 0,28.1. The study also found that the pH of the skin does not depend on age. Male skin significantly slightly more acidic than the female and the average value of skin pH in the forehead and back of the wrist did not differ significantly in men, whereas in women a significant difference of 5%.
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Factors Affecting the Skin Surface pH There are some skin and systemic diseases that increase the pH of the skin surface. Skin diseases are eczema, atopic dermatitis, xerosis, and lamellar ichthyosis. Systemic disease that is diabetes, cerebrovascular disease, and end-stage renal failure. Exogenous factors that interfere with the skin surface pH cleaners: soap, detergents, moisturizers, topical irritants, and topical antimicrobials (acne medication).
Acidity Effect on Skin Products Items are often used to keep the pH is cleaning agent (cleanser). There are three main categories for cleaning agents are soaps, synthetic detergents, and fat-free cleaning agents. Soap makes the skin more alkaline than synthetic detergents. Cleaners tend to give effect to the skin through several streets of disruption of bacterial flora and pH, moisture, and irritation.
In the skin there is acid mantle structure that protects the skin from bacterial and fungal infections. Mantel acid lactic acid and various amino acids from sweat, sebum free fatty acids, and amino acids and karboksilik pyrolidine of skin kornifikasi process.
Soap is marketed in the community has a pH value of 7 to 9.2 pH soap can increase the skin's surface. The more neutral and alkaline soap will make the skin relatively more alkaline, which invites the growth of Propionibacterium. Total Propionibacteria significantly associated with skin pH 14. Therefore it is better to use soap with a pH lower, especially for people prone to acne. Keeping the skin's pH is very important to control the amount of bacteria on the skin surface in patients with acne.
It has been mentioned earlier that the pH of cleaning materials, including soap to give effect to the skin moist. Gehring et al. reported that the emulsion various components with a value of pH 7.5 has a drying effect on skin than the same emulsion with pH 4.5. So the soap which has a high pH in addition to increasing the growth of bacteria Propionibacterium also increasingly making the skin dry.
Potential irritants of cleaning agent depends on several factors one of which the pH. Acid cleaners less irritating than the cleaners who are neutral and alkaline, and those who are vulnerable to dry skin is recommended to use acidic cleaners.