What Should the pH be for Niacinamide? (Free Post)

There has been a ton of buzz with Niacinamide. So, I have been getting a ton of questions about how to formulate with it. The main questions was what pH should we formulate it to as there is a lot of contradicting information. I was going to make a series of formulations; however, I needed to address this first. Let's dive into it.

I want you to make an informed decision, so I have shared all the sources. Know that I am not the only one with this take. I encourage you to read thought all of them because they all give information to different pieces to the puzzle of this.

Re-packers and suppliers on their formulation guides have been saying that Niacinamide should be formulated at a certain pH range but ideally 6. This has led to a lot of people being confused on what the pH for niacinamide should be. The supplier must be right?

Well no, unfortunately they are also some of the worst when it comes to misinformation. It all starts with a study, a misinterpreted one, and then gets spread far and wide. Cosmetic Chemist, Stephen Ko, breaks this all down very well in his blog post. I am not really going to say much and encourage you to read it. A common theme is people not realizing the conditions in a study are not the reality of what we formulate in.

What people took from that is we have to be careful with the pH because Niacin. It is important to note that Niacin is a contaminant or impurity. All niacinamide has it. Regardless of what is in the formulation people can be sensitive to low pHs. Also there are people how cannot tolerate niacinamide period.

That begs the question, what is Niacinamide PC? It just has a lower concentration of Niacin compared to "normal" niacinamide. It is just marketing to make it seem easier to formulate with. If people are sensitive to niacin or low pHs then they are going to react regardless. It is also just significantly more expensive.

From all the searching, Niacinamide does to not need to be in that narrow of a range. It can be even formulated at a low pH; however, I am going to be making a post on blending active together. Just because you can does not mean you should. I am finding some formulators throwing everything at a formulation.

I am going to be tackling more of these topics because I am finding more and more of them. What we do is chemistry and people are forgetting that! We have to be careful with what we say. As you can see it can have a big impact on an industry.

Sources and References:

1. https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/niacinamide-and-low-ph-is-the-science-settled/
2. https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/niacinamide-question/
3. https://www.kindofstephen.com/can-you-use-niacinamide-and-vitamin-c-ascorbic/
4. https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/ph-options-for-face-cream-with-niacinamide/
5. https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/niacinamide-lactic-acid-in-1-formulation/
6. https://chemistscorner.com/cosmeticsciencetalk/discussion/is-a-ph-of-7-7-5-okay-for-a-tonic/
7. https://realizebeauty.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/using-niacinamide-in-an-acidic-formulation/

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• Stuck on something? Request a video, and I will show you how to do it. 
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• Input on next projects ;)
• Exclusive" What is Happening?" series
• Learn from my mistake as I detail some formulation issues that I run into and fix them. We all make mistakes.
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