What is Magnesium Hydroxide?

Magnesium Hydroxide is a versatile product that can be used in many ways in DIY personal care products. It masks odours and gives you an even complexion!

Making your own deodorant? Then use our Magnesium Hydroxide (Ultrafine). It is ground much finer, so it does not feel gritty on freshly shaved underarms. This coarser variant is suitable for all other applications.

Benefits

Protects dry skin

If you have sensitive, dry skin, a skincare product with Magnesium Hydroxide as an ingredient can help soothe and protect the skin.

Balances acidity

With a pH of 10.3, Magnesium Hydroxide is an alkaline product that can balance a DIY personal care product containing many acidic ingredients. Magnesium Hydroxide raises the acidity level, making your product more suitable for people with sensitive skin that becomes irritated easily.

Keeps your products dry

Magnesium Hydroxide molecules absorb water molecules, in other words, the molecules absorb moisture. By incorporating Magnesium Hydroxide into DIY powder products, such as powder deodorant, foundation or eyeshadow, you prevent your product from clumping. Your product retains its fine structure, making it easy to apply evenly to the skin.

Evens out skin tone

Magnesium Hydroxide makes products less transparent and gives them covering properties. Products designed to even out the skin and mask skin imperfections therefore often contain Magnesium Hydroxide. Think of foundation, concealer or eyeshadow. The great thing is that Magnesium Hydroxide makes your product less see-through without making it thicker: the texture of your product remains more or less the same and it does not feel heavy on the skin.

Camouflages odours

Magnesium Hydroxide neutralises body odours and, combined with ingredients such as Arrowroot Powder, Shea Butter and Coconut Oil, can help you stay fresh-smelling for longer without irritating the skin.

How do you use it?

Incorporate Magnesium Hydroxide into skincare products such as DIY deodorant, day cream or body lotion. It is not advisable to use Magnesium Hydroxide undiluted on the skin.

Are you making a deodorant cream or stick that you apply to the skin? Then choose the ultrafine variant, which spreads much more smoothly.

What makes it so special?

Magnesium Hydroxide is a completely natural product with many beneficial properties. Initially it was widely used in the cosmetics industry for its moisture-absorbing properties, but more and more benefits of magnesium hydroxide are being discovered. That is why you are encountering it more and more often as an ingredient in natural personal care products, such as deodorant or day cream.

pH value of Magnesium Hydroxide

Magnesium hydroxide is often used as a replacement for baking soda in deodorant. Like baking soda, it has an alkaline pH (around 10). However, it works in a different way on the skin.

Magnesium hydroxide hardly dissolves in water. This means it stays on the skin as a protective powder layer and reacts less quickly with moisture or oils. As a result, the pH of the skin changes less strongly than with baking soda.

Magnesium hydroxide has a larger particle size than baking soda. As a result, it penetrates the skin less easily and stays more on the skin surface. This helps to minimise skin irritation.

Rather than drastically deacidifying the skin, magnesium hydroxide works by neutralising odours. It captures acids without disturbing the skin's natural balance.

So what is the difference with Baking Soda?

Baking soda has a pH value of around 8-9, which is also much higher than the pH of the skin. When baking soda is used in a deodorant, it is usually added as a fine powder and does not fully dissolve in a formula without water.

However, once baking soda comes into contact with moisture, such as sweat or natural oils on the skin, a small reaction occurs. This locally raises the pH on the skin, which can lead to dry skin, irritation and damage to the skin.

Baking soda usually has a smaller particle size, making it easier to penetrate the skin. This can increase irritation, especially in people with sensitive skin.