Mothers know best and that means knowing the best and safest baby care products for your new bundles of joy! Baby skin is very different than an older child’s and even more different than an adult’s which is why it’s so important to have a good understanding of what ingredients are soft and gentle enough for baby’s skin. Let’s check them out!

As I explained, baby skin is very different from adult skin. Here are just a few of the differences and difficulties of baby skin care:

Differences:

• Newer, immature structure of the stratum corneum 30% thinner
• Moisturization is often disrupted
• Looser structure of the skin
• Less sebum production to provide moisture
• Higher amount of hair follicles per cm

Difficulties:

• Less protection = more fragile skin
• Higher risk of toxic effect of ingredients
• Slower response to balance pH

Because of the differences of skin, the difficulties that baby care faces is making sure that it provides the necessary benefits, while also being gentle and safe enough for babies’ skin.

How to choose ingredients for safe baby care

1. Look to use multifunctional and essential ingredients, ideally efficient at low dose, so you can reduce the total number of ingredients in your product and avoid risks of interference and reactions.

2. Search for ingredients that are well-known and widely used in baby products that have been on the market for years with no negative tolerance feedback

3. Look for excellent tolerance on sensitive skin: on top of having full toxicological dossiers, Seppic screens the tolerance of its ingredients with innovative models, especially on an “immature” reconstructed human epidermis model. It helps to assess the tolerance of the finished product. Read more on the method here (opens new window)

Our top ingredients for safe baby care products

3 essential ingredients to create minimalist, soft and safe formulas

Montanov™ 202: a green polyvalent emulsifier that creates glossy emulsions, with a light skin feel. Biomimetic, it forms lamellar structures in the emulsion similar to the stratum corneum lipids to help reinforce the skin barrier. INCI: Arachidyl Alcohol & Behenyl Alcohol & Arachidyl Glucoside

Sepinov™ EMT 10: a versatile polymer with thickening, stabilizing and texturizing properties. It creates supple textures with a non-sticky touch, good playtime and satiny after feel for a moment of softness and comfort between baby and mother. INCI: Hydroxyethyl Acrylate & Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer

Aquaxyl™: a restructuring and moisturizing active ingredient made from natural plant sugars derivatives to provide the moisturization that baby skin needs. INCI: Xylitylglucoside & Anhydroxylitol & Xylitol

Want to learn about our other baby safe ingredients? Ask us in the chat about our beneficial and sensory ingredients for baby care!

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Some References

• “Barrier Function and Water-Holding and Transport Properties of Infant Stratum Corneum Are Different from Adult and Continue to Develop through the First Year of Life”, G N. Stamatas, J. Nikolovski, M. A. Luedtke, N. Kollias, and B. C. Wiegand, Journal of Investigative Dermatology 128, 1728–1736, 2008

• “Infant Skin Microstructure Assessed In Vivo Differs from Adult Skin in Organization and at the Cellular Level”, G N. Stamatas, J. Nikolovski, M. A. Luedtke, N. Kollias, and B. C. Wiegand, Pediatric Dermatology Vol. 27 No. 2 125–131, 2010

• “Infant epidermal skin physiology: adaptation after birth”, J.W. Fluhr, R. Darlenski, N. Lachmann, C. Baudouin, P. Msika,C. De Belilovsky, J.P. Hachem, British Association of Dermatologists 166, p483–490, 2012

• “The Infant Skin Barrier: Can We Preserve, Protect, and Enhance the Barrier?”, L.S. Telofski, A. P. Morello, M.C.Mack Correa, G.N. Stamatas, Dermatology Research and Practice, Volume 2012, Article ID 198789, 2012