Does anyone know how to bring pH down in already made shampoo?

[jeanie353]

Recently, I thought I'd go from using baking soda, ACV and Rosemary rinse to a bottled shampoo since the ACV takes out hair dye. I was using a daily dye rinse from Walgreens but it has ingredients I don't like.

Anyway, I found a couple shampoos without sulfates or surfactants that I think are the culprit for making the top of my hair thin out some.

One (Herbal Choice Mari) is formulated with castile formed with saponified OO, no sulfates, no surfactants, etc. but the pH is at 7.

Bought another (Aubrey) made without any saponified anything, surfactant free but the pH is even a bit higher than the other.

I'd like to get it in the 5.0 - 6.0 range by adding something to bring the pH down. Aloe Vera does it for lotions but unsure if I should add that to the shampoo.

Does anyone know what I can add that might bring it down a bit? I've heard Citric Acid does it but I don't know if that is a good thing to do with shampoo.

TIA

[lsg]

Many shampoo formulas contain citric acid. Have you read Swiftcaftymonkey's blog "Point of Interest?" She has a lot of great information. In the following link, look under "With the body wash I made above with the polyglucose/lactylate blend" and Susan tells how she uses citric acid to bring down the pH in products.

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=citric+acid+and+shampoo

[jeanie353]

Many shampoo formulas contain citric acid. Have you read Swiftcaftymonkey's blog "Point of Interest?" She has a lot of great information. In the following link, look under "With the body wash I made above with the polyglucose/lactylate blend" and Susan tells how she uses citric acid to bring down the pH in products.

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=citric+acid+and+shampoo

Oh, thank you. I betcha that is where I heard (read) it.

Getting old isn't so much fun sometimes

[Christine Flapp]

I used citric acid, which you can probably get in an old fashion type drug store--if you can find one--but you have to be very careful using it because it can really alter the formula--I wasted several expensive shampoos trying to lower ph & nothing was satisfactory so I stopped playing chemist. Too much flattens hair, which looked dreadful, & you must wash again to remove. I used strips to ascertain what level I had lowered it to--it's a paper strip like you use to test the ph in a swimming pool.

[jeanie353]

I used citric acid, which you can probably get in an old fashion type drug store--if you can find one--but you have to be very careful using it because it can really alter the formula--I wasted several expensive shampoos trying to lower ph & nothing was satisfactory so I stopped playing chemist. Too much flattens hair, which looked dreadful, & you must wash again to remove. I used strips to ascertain what level I had lowered it to--it's a paper strip like you use to test the ph in a swimming pool.

Thanks Christine. I don't remember seeing any of the old time drug stores in awhile but will Google it and see. Otherwise, I've been wanting to make bath bombs so I'd order it and use the rest for those. These shampoos were expensive too so I don't want to ruin them. If I messed that up I'd be quite mad at myself. I'm using the type test strips like you mentioned using.

Well, now to decide if I should just leave well enough alone or try it. I never made it over to Swift's blog yesterday but planned on it this morning.

[TallTayl]

I would be concerned about 2 things:

First, when you add water (which you would need to dissolve the citric into solution) to an emulsion you challenge the preservative system of the pre-made emulsion. Even if you boil your water first, or heat and hold, etc. you are introducing something that was not intended by the manufacturer.

Secondly, depending on the preservative(s) used in the pre-made base you run the risk of negating the effectiveness of the preservative. Some only work within a given pH range.

If it's basically a liquid soap you may be ok since liquid soap is sort of 'self-preserving' at a higher pH. The texture may change (causing clumping, etc) as an unintended consequence.

[jeanie353]

I would be concerned about 2 things:

First, when you add water (which you would need to dissolve the citric into solution) to an emulsion you challenge the preservative system of the pre-made emulsion. Even if you boil your water first, or heat and hold, etc. you are introducing something that was not intended by the manufacturer.

Secondly, depending on the preservative(s) used in the pre-made base you run the risk of negating the effectiveness of the preservative. Some only work within a given pH range.

If it's basically a liquid soap you may be ok since liquid soap is sort of 'self-preserving' at a higher pH. The texture may change (causing clumping, etc) as an unintended consequence.

I'd thought I'd put 0.1 % of Liquid Germall Plus in since its for myself only and keeping it on the low side to not counter act with another preservative (if that even happens) but I don't see one. Herbal Choice Mari appears to be using Rosemary as the preservative and the other I'm not sure. The last ingredient is beta-carotene and that is the Aubrey. Actually, that is in both of them but not the last ingredient in Herbal Choice. There are a lot of other herbs in them...too long to list but I'm thinking they are using Rosemary.

I'd say the Herbal Choice could be looked at as an herbal soap since it does start out as saponified castile w/OO, jojoba and CO. Aubrey starts out with water (and I just found two surfactants), glycerin, and the rest do appear to be herbs. So they both could be looked at as herbal soap I guess.