Description of Neutralizing: the enormous variety of ingredients that can be used in both Personal Care and Cleaning formulations does not make for easier formulating. To make it more difficult, all these ingredients have different properties, some of which do not matter to the formulation. However, in many applications, the pH is a crucial property, a pH too low or too high does not make for a good product. The solution to this problem is a neutralizing agent. These ingredients can be both alkaline or acidic and are used to bring the pH of the final product closer to 7, the neutral pH. Neutralizing agents often also have other properties that make them more (or less) usable in certain applications, for example emulsifying, conditioning, or hair straightening. Glyoxylic Acid 50 is an example of a neutralizing agent used in personal care products.