A lot of people complain about thin or thinning edges/hairline. A small tip, which may go some way in helping to keep edges thriving is to use pH, which simply put is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a substance.
The scalp has an acid mantle, meaning that it is covered by “a very fine, slightly acidic film on the surface of the skin acting as a barrier to bacteria, viruses and other potential contaminants that might penetrate the skin”1. This means that for the scalp to thrive, it should be at a pH of about 4.5 and 6.2. Luckily, the sebaceous glands secrete this acidic film so it occurs naturally.
When we wash our faces, we use an alkaline soap or cleanser. A lot of times, when a barrier of some sort, such as a shower cap is not used, some of this soap or the resulting foam lands smack on the hair line and will stay there until rinsed off…if rinsed it off properly.
This disturbs the natural pH of that area of the scalp. Think about it this way: When we shampoo, we are exhorted to rinse out every trace of shampoo on our scalp hair and then condition or use a herbal rinse to leave it in an acidic state. The reason is to help maintain that acid mantle.
Tips:
- Wear a shower cap so that your hair line does not make contact with soap/cleanser. You can also wear anything that forms a barrier between your hair line and your face.
- If you can’t wear a shower cap, make sure that you rinse off soap around the hair line thoroughly.
- Spritzing on an acidic liquid, between shampoo days, will help. An example is Aloe Vera. (You get super moisturized hair as well as an added benefit).
Reference:
Monika-Hildegard Schmid-Wendtner; Korting Schmid-Wendtner (2007). Ph and Skin Care. ABW Wissenschaftsverlag. pp. 31–. ISBN 978-3-936072-64-8.
