Hair Tips An important fact of nature: hair and skin have a natural acidic pH of 5.5 to 6.5. An acidic pH balance protects your body from infection. Many hair products have an alkaline pH. Alkaline products, such as shampoos and conditioners, can damage your hair's natural acidic balance. To ensure your shampoo has an acidic pH, test a sample using litmus paper. Lower quality conditioners are composed largely of wax, water, colorants, stabilizers and perfumes. Better conditioners have a non-wax base that hair will absorb. For best results and maximum penetration, towel-dry hair before applying moisturizer or conditioner since water logged hair is not absorbent. Then, use the recommended amount of conditioner and leave on 3–5 minutes before rinsing.