Choosing a perfume that is perfect can be an almost impossible challenge, with so many choices on the market, for different seasons, lifestyles and personalities, but there is one aspect that may become more important when choosing a perfume for you, and that is the pH of your skin, i.e. your skin chemistry.
Knowing your skin chemistry in the form of pH level can help you use fragrances and formulas that work best with your skin and also narrow down the number of choices, making choosing your ideal perfume a whole lot easier.
The pH balance is a chemical measure of how acidic or alkaline a compound is, and this can be measured on the skin. The pH scale ranges from 0 (the most acidic, such as car battery acid), to 14 (the most alkaline, such as bleach), while neutral pH would be 7, which corresponds to water. Normally, human skin should have a pH tending towards acid, around 5.5, but this can vary.
HOW TO KNOW THE pH OF MY SKIN?
The simplest and most reliable way is to visit a medical specialist, such as a dermatologist who can evaluate the condition of your skin and even use different methods to assess the pH level of your skin. But if you want to save yourself a visit to the dermatologist, you can be guided by the type of skin you have, which can be seen with the naked eye.
Depending on the pH of your skin, it can present different conditions, for example, it is common that the most acidic skins, with a pH lower than 5, are drier and tend to redness and inflammation, while alkaline skins, with a pH higher than 6, are much smoother and hydrated.
If, on the other hand, your skin does not lean toward any of the above conditions, it is quite possible that your skin tends toward the healthier pH level, which would be around 5.5.
CHOOSING PERFUME ACCORDING TO YOUR pH
If you have concluded that your skin has an acidic pH, what happens when you apply a fragrance is that it does not adhere strongly enough, compared to other pH types on the skin. For this reason, it is recommended that you stay away from faint and subtle scents, as they will not stay on the skin long enough to be appreciated. It is recommended that you use intense scents, such as those that are sweet or woody, which is up to you.
If, on the other hand, your skin is alkaline, the good news is that your skin retains fragrance very easily, sometimes excessively, so high concentrations of fragrance may be too much for your skin, so it is recommended to use discreet and faint scents, which will stand out better than an intense scent.
Finally, if your skin is neither acidic nor alkaline, you are lucky, because you can take intense and faint scents and wear both, and they will work perfectly with your skin, so it will just be a matter of finding the fragrance that suits you best.