Every day we use personal care products like shampoos, soaps, and lotions. We trust that these substances will clean and beautify us without giving us rashes. The scientists who design shampoos and face creams need to make sure their products work without making us break out in hives.First of all, you need to understand pH. The pH scale is a measurement system designed to show the concentration of H+ ions in a solution. An ion is an atom that has either a positive or negative charge. H stands for the element hydrogen, and because the H has a + next to it, we know it is positively charged. The more H+ ions a substance has, the more acidic it is, and the lower the pH. For instance, lemon juice tastes sourer than orange juice. This is because lemon juice has more H+ ions, making it more acidic. The pH of lemon juice is around 2. Orange juice is also an acidic substance, but less so, because it has less H+ ions and its pH is around 3. Acidic substances all have pH values below 7. A neutral substance on the pH scale has a pH of 7. Pure water has a pH of 7. Substances that have low H+ concentrations are called basic substances. Unlike acidic substances, basic substances don’t taste sour, they taste bitter. If you have ever accidentally gotten soap in your mouth, you have tasted a base. The pH of soap is around 10. Of course, you aren’t going to do any tasting in this experiment. The pH of any basic substance is above 7. The strongest bases have the highest pH. For example, oven cleaner, which you should never get on your bare hands, has a pH of 13. Another concept that is important in the design of personal care products total alkalinity. Alkalinity is the measure of the capacity of a liquid to neutralize acids. Personal care product designers sometimes add alkaline compounds to products to help remove H+ ions and make the products less acidic. One familiar example of an alkaline compound is baking soda. Alkaline compounds usually work by picking up the extra H+ ions and making new compounds.

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