In this reply to comments to our Frontiers Article (B. Winter, M. Faubel, R. Vacha, P. Jungwirth Chem. Phys. Lett. 474 (2009) 241) we reiterate in detail on spectroscopic and computational evidence arguing against strong adsorption of hydroxide ions at or near the water/vapor interface. In particular, we stress that the putative strongly enhanced OH- layer within one or several nm from the surface would have been observable in our previously reported photoelectron experiments. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.