JustaGuy is right... High pH 'saponifies' the lipid bilayer of skin cells - turning them into....
Soap! So your skin is turning into a surfactant by the alkalization of the skin (a good thing to keep in mind when you run out of
soap!). Watch "fight club" for details. Its totally different when it comes to paint surfaces, as the paint (hopefully) stays there and doesn't regenerate. The clear coat protectant is an oil/water emulsion in which the oils bond to the surface of the paint and the surfactant in it makes a stronger hydrogen bond polarization of the water ions which makes the water drops ball up. Depending on the type of surfactant used for that (i.e. a cationic surfactant) a lower pH will assist in the effectiveness of the surfactant and the oil surface - making the break more accelerated. The type of polymer and/or hydrocarbon chain length changes the water droplet shape and adhesion making the contact angle of the water droplet to the paint larger which makes the droplet easier to be blown off or gravity dripped.
