Susan asks…In an attempt to save some money and guarantee myself a well formulated, fresh vitamin c serum, I am considering mixing philosophy’s Vitamin C powder into Bobbi Brown’s Intensive Skin Supplement serum. I was wondering if you can tell me by looking at the ingredients if the resulting mixture will be in the correct ph range to be effective (2.5 – 3.0 is what I’ve read is optimal) for the vitamin c to work. I know I could DYI, but I would rather not, and the last time I tried to buy Skinceuticals, the three bottles I tried were yellowish upon opening, so they went right back to the store.
The Left Brain responds:
Unfortunately there’s no way to predict the pH of a product just from looking at the ingredients. That’s because the pH is determined in part by the amount of the ingredients used. The only way to know for sure is to measure it and the easiest way to do that is to use litmus strips. You can buy them on Amazon.com for less than $10 so it’s probably a good investment if you’re serious about mixing your cosmetics.
FYI, here are the ingredient lists for the products Susan asked about:
Philosophy turbo boost vit. c powder
Ascorbic Acid, Panthenol, Zinc PCA, Copper PCA, Camellia Oleifera Leaf Juice, Dipotassium Glycyrrhizate, Arginine, Cysteine, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice
Bobbi Brown Intensive Skin Supplement
Water, Butylene Glycol, PEG-8 Dimethicone, Methyl Gluceth-20, Glycerin, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Sucrose, PEG-60 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Fruit Extract, Acetyl Glucosamine, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Morus Bombycis (Mulberry) Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Caffeine, Sodium Hyaluronate, Acetyl Hexapeptide-3, Ceramide 2, Linoleic Acid, Retinyl Palmitate, Betula Alba (Birch) Extract, Cholesterol, Isopentyldiol, Caprylyl Glycol, Xanthan Gum, Oryzanol, Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Metabisulfite, EDTA, Disodium EDTA, BHT, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben
If you’d like to check the pH of your products you can buy Litmus strips
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Make sure you don’t get Litmus Strips, get Universal Strips as the link goes to.
Litmus Strips come in either Red or Blue and will only tell you if something is acid (Blue papers will turn red) or alkaline (Red papers turn blue).
Univeral strip contain a number of indicating dyes which change colour at differnet pH so whill give an indication of what the pH is.
Is there any way to lower the ph in a cream or lotion? Maybe blowing air into it with a drinking straw (the air from the lungs contain carbon dioxide)?
Thanks Alchemist! I used the term litmus strips because I thought our non-chemist audience would be more familiar with it but you’re right to correct me.
Ann: why do you want to change the pH of the product? You might end up destabilizing it.
Loving this article! I recently purchased new lipstick and will be looking at it’s PH Levels. Thanks for this info.
Miss Bee, Lipsticks are either solid waxes or solid water-in-oil emulsions so you wont be able to measure their pH at all
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