Ingredient · pH adjuster

Sodium Hydroxide

Sodium Hydroxide is a pH adjuster: it keeps the formula at the acidity it was designed for. Only adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.

Sodium Hydroxide at a glance

FunctionPh adjuster
Comedogenic rating0/5
Irritation potentialLow
Also listed asNone
How commonOn 3,965 of 21,918 product labels in Pori's copy of Open Beauty Facts

Is Sodium Hydroxide good for my skin type?

These ratings come from the same fixed rules Pori's ingredient scanner uses, applied to a typical profile for each skin type. Your own result in the app also weighs your scan results and concerns.

Skin typeRatingWhy
NormalNeutralOnly adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.
DryNeutralOnly adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.
OilyNeutralOnly adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.
CombinationNeutralOnly adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.
SensitiveNeutralOnly adjusts pH — none is left over in the finished product.

Is Sodium Hydroxide comedogenic?

It has a comedogenic rating of 0 out of 5 in Pori's ingredient database, so it's unlikely to clog pores. Ratings like this come from older tests on single ingredients, and a finished product with it isn't necessarily pore-clogging. A 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that finished products made with comedogenic ingredients were not necessarily comedogenic, so treat the number as a hint, not a verdict.

How do I check a product with Sodium Hydroxide?

Scan the barcode or photograph the ingredient list with Pori's ingredient scanner (a Pro feature). It rates every ingredient for your skin type, flags fragrance, pore-clogging and irritating ingredients, and gives the product an overall match score. It's a guide to ingredients, not a diagnosis, so see a dermatologist about any reaction.

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Ingredient data from Pori's ingredient database; product counts from Open Beauty Facts (ODbL). General information, not medical advice.