Today’s link love question comes from the blog “Ask an Esthetician” which you should do as soon as you’re finished looking at our site.
AAE asks…I was wondering what The Beauty Brains thought about the idea that you need to use toner after cleansing in order to restore the skin to its proper pH. I’ve come around to thinking that this is an outdated beauty idea, but I would love to hear your take on it.
The Right Brain responds:
I think “outdated” is a good way to explain it!
What is skin toner and does it restore pH?
Traditional toners consist of witch hazel extract in alcohol (ethanol) which can be drying and irritating to skin. Does this mixture restore skin pH? Well, your skin pH is a result of the skin’s acid mantle, a mixture of sebum (skin oils) and sweat that form on the surface of your skin. This acid mantle keeps the pH of your skin at about 4 to 4.5. A slightly acidic pH protects your skin from becoming infected by harmful bacteria. When you wash your skin you strip away this acid mantle because cleansers are very good at dissolving oils. However, this is not really a problem since your skin will regenerate the acid mantle in just a few hours. Toners don’t impact the regeneration of the acid mantle and are therefore unnecessary. They may feel refreshing but you don’t need them for the sake of pH balance.
Image credit: neweyes.atlblogs.com
If you’re in the market for an alcohol-free skin toner look no further! Well look a little further because you have to scroll down to our Amazon link. But if you buy anything through this link you’re helping to support the Beauty Brains. Thanks!
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
hey beauty brains!
what if I don’t want any kind of toner (or is there any benefit to a toner that doesn’t countain alcohol?) but still would like to show some support? Is there a paypal link or something I’m missing on this page? (I’m a poor but grateful visitor of your service and wouldn’t mind treating you to at least as much as a round of coffees after gathering quiet some helpful information on here!)
thanks
@Arina: Thanks for much for the kind words about our blog. It’s people like you that make this all worthwhile. We don’t have a “Donate Now” button (although maybe we should! It would be nice to be able afford a cup of coffee!) Even if you don’t need toner, though, you can support us by buying ANYTHING through the Amazon link in this post. Once you click through to Amazon from our site, they recognize that you were referred by The Beauty Brains, so even if you don’t buy the product in the link and you search for a book, or music, or whatever, we’ll still get a little something from the transaction.
Thanks again!
Ask an Esthetician is such a great blog! Wow!
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