Can children use facial cleansers? A review of 13 popular children's facial cleansers

Fans often ask us to review children's facial cleansers, but this topic has troubled the daily chemical researchers at Dad Review for a long time: Do children really need to use facial cleansers?

Many parents have different opinions on this issue and are firmly divided into two camps:

In fact, whether to use it or not is a personal choice. If you apply sunscreen on your child, the child sweats a lot, and the air pollution is serious... there is nothing wrong with using children's facial cleanser to wash their face.

But parents should note that children's facial cleansers usually need to be used when they are over 3 years old, and warm water is enough for normal cleaning. Also, children under 12 years old are not suitable for using adult facial cleansing products. In my country, in the supervision of the cosmetics market in my country, the supervision regulations for children's products and adult products are different.

The gentle cleansers we adults use may not necessarily meet the standards of children's cosmetics.

There are many choices of children's facial cleansers on the market, which is dazzling. In order to meet the needs of parents, this time we evaluated 13 popular children's facial cleansing products at home and abroad:

Based on the five evaluation dimensions of ingredient analysis, pH value, irritation, cleaning power and real-person trial experience, we finally recommend:

1. Ingredient Analysis When it comes to products for children, every mother is an "ingredient party". Compared with adults, children's skin is more delicate and their stratum corneum is not yet fully developed. Therefore, children's cleansing products should be safer and gentler, and try to avoid fragrances, pigments, irritating preservatives and surfactants.

Through ingredient analysis, we found that surfactants No. 4 and No. 8 are soap-based, which have stronger cleaning power. They may be irritating to sensitive skin and are not suitable for children.

Among the 13 children's cleansing products, only 3 are fragrance-free.

2. pH value The pH value of the newborn's skin surface is close to neutral. As the age increases, the pH value of the child's face gradually approaches that of an adult, and the pH value is slightly acidic (pH fluctuates between 4.5 and 6.5).

Although humans have the ability to regulate themselves, if they are stimulated by high pH for a long time, the skin barrier function will be reduced and they will be more sensitive to chemical stimulation. Therefore, the pH of children's cleansing products should also be slightly acidic.

The following are the pH value test results of 13 children's cleansers:

Except for No. 4, 7 and 8, other children's facial cleansers are relatively gentle and not very irritating.

3. Irritation Many parents do not let their children use children's facial cleansers because they are worried that they are too irritating. On the one hand, naughty children will not close their eyes and wash their faces. If the facial cleanser is very irritating and irritates the eyes, the children will be uncomfortable. On the other hand, children's skin is easily damaged, and their self-protection ability against external stimuli is relatively poor.

Image source: Visual China

In order to test the irritation of children's cleansing products, we chose an alternative experiment - the zein experiment.

Zein is not easily soluble in water, but after interacting with surfactants, its water solubility increases, and zein is relatively easier to dissolve in substances with strong irritation. In other words, the less the final precipitation, the stronger the irritation.

Excluding the 3 products with soap-based surfactants and high pH values, we conducted a zein experiment and counted the precipitation weight results of 10 products. The comparison is as follows:

Judging from the results of product sedimentation weight, the data differences are not big, indicating that the overall irritation of these 10 children's cleansing products is low and the performance is good.

4. Cleansing power Many mothers use facial cleansers on their children to wash off the sunscreen, and they care most about the cleaning power. We selected a pure physical children's sunscreen (SPF34+, PA+++) with good waterproof effect to test the cleaning effect of children's facial cleansers on it.

Test method:

Draw a 3cm*3cm test area on the upper arm, apply the sunscreen sample evenly on the test area at a standard dosage of 2mg per square centimeter, and let it stand for 10 minutes.

First, use a UV camera to photograph the test area, then squeeze a pump of facial cleanser (about 0.5g) and gently rub for 1 minute, then rinse with running water for 30 seconds, and then observe the changes before and after under the UV camera to compare the cleaning effects of different children's cleansing products.

By comparing the test results, the cleaning power of our samples is divided into three tiers: A-completely cleans off the sunscreen; B-moderate cleaning power, with a small amount of sunscreen residue; C-weak cleaning power, with more sunscreen residue.

However, we still recommend that for waterproof sunscreen products, it would be better to use children's skin care oil for cleaning.

5. Real-person Trial In addition to various analyses and tests, the experience of children is also very important. Children's cleansing should have a soft fragrance and not feel tight or slippery after washing. So we invited more than a dozen volunteers to try the product, and the following are their feelings:

Nowadays, facial cleansers are no longer exclusive to adults, and children also have their own children's facial cleansers. However, parents should not be too superstitious about the manufacturer's propaganda. They should read the product's ingredient list and choose reliable products for their children.

Not long ago, the government just promulgated the "Regulations on Supervision and Administration of Children's Cosmetics", which recommends that brands follow the principles of safety first, efficacy must, and minimalist formulas in the design of children's cosmetics formulas. I believe that in the near future, the market for children's skin care products will become more and more standardized, safer and more reliable.

In addition to the evaluation, we also have some suggestions for parents: