Can Pregnant Women Use Skincare Products?
Pregnancy is a complex long-term process, the influencing factors are mainly focused on genetics, diet, smoking, alcohol, staying up late, etc., and skin care products basically have nothing to do with it, so pregnant women can completely use safe skin care products.
When it comes to safety, many people will ask.
Are natural, plant-based skin care products safer?
The answer is not necessarily!
In fact, many natural ingredients or plant extracts are risky. Chapter 2 of the current “Technical Specification for Cosmetic Safety” lists over a thousand prohibited ingredients for cosmetics, including many components of plant origin, which means that natural or plant-based ones are not as safe as one might think.
Do pregnant women need to use special skin care products for pregnant women?
The answer may be disappointing: there is no regulation that specifies “cosmetics for pregnant women”.
It is difficult to experiment on pregnant women to see the difference in their skin when using cosmetics – such research would be a violation of medical ethics.
Given the lack of basic research, how can we determine what kind of cosmetics are considered “maternity cosmetics”?
So-called “cosmetics for pregnant women” are often just brands talking about themselves and bragging about themselves. Of course, as the national regulatory system becomes more scientific and stringent, this self-branding phenomenon will gradually lose its place in the market.
Pregnant women should pay attention to these ingredients
Although “cosmetics for pregnant women” is a marketing concept, it is a good scientific question as to which ingredients pregnant women need to pay special attention to.
- ①Vitamin A acid derivatives
The first and foremost are derivatives of retinoic acid, including retinol, retinal, retinyl acetate, retinyl propionate, retinyl retinoate, retinyl linoleate, retinyl palmitate, and so on.
These ingredients have similar activity to retinoic acid drugs, and retinoic acid is not recommended for pregnant women, so be highly alert to retinoic acid derivatives.
- ②Essential oils and perfumes
The ingredients of essential oils and perfumes are very complex and volatile, and are easily absorbed by the body through the skin or respiratory tract, so there is a risk of long-term use.
- ③ Lipstick and nail polish
“Disease comes from the mouth, trouble comes from the mouth”, lipstick directly in contact with lips and food, its risk does not need to be said. Some people will use the finger painted with nail polish to grab food directly, nail polish may enter the body, bringing unpredictable risks.
- ④Dyeing and perming products
Hair coloring and perming products, they belong to the category of special cosmetics, subject to special regulation, and their risk index is higher than that of ordinary cosmetics.
As for the ingredients that are often hyped on the Internet, such as some compliant but irritating preservatives, chemical sunscreens, ethanol, salicylic acid, residual dioxane, etc., the vast majority of panic information about cosmetics among pregnant women comes from these ingredients, and in fact, regular production of cosmetics is generally safe and secure.
So there is no need to be overly anxious, believe in science, and then relax and enjoy the “painful and happy” process of pregnancy.