You might have seen numerous ads on your TV where the beauty experts claim that the product they are promoting will give your skin the softness and youthfulness like those of a baby’s skin, and you might have wished you could have such a skin too. A baby’s skin is supposed to be the softest, most beautiful and the most delicate skin of all and hence it calls for the best care too.

But then, what is the best care for the baby skin? If you thought that just keeping your loved ones smeared in the lotions, creams and other baby skin care products will give him the right care, then you are grossly mistaken. These products can do the baby more harm than any good. Taken aback? Well. It’s expected. When you will learn about the negative aspects of this so called “Baby Skin Care” and compare them with the goodness of Organic Baby Skin Care, you will know why this Organic Baby Skin Care is the best skin care for your baby. Let us take a dive into the pool of facts then.

The Dark Side of the Moon: Are you ready to confront some bitter disheartening fact? Want to know what actually is packed in those attractive packs of so called baby skin care products? You will be scared! They contain nothing but some artificially flavoured and artificially coloured petroleum gel or mineral gel or mineral oil, mild detergents (in case of baby soaps and shampoos) etc. added with some antiseptic or antibiotic or disinfectant agents like boric acid etc. which again, are pure chemicals. Those who have been in a chemistry lab know very well that prolonged contact of these chemicals even with adult skin may harm the skin, leave aside the impacts on baby skin. They can neither make your baby look fairer, nor can they effectively defend the skin against infections. On the contrary, they can block the pores in skin, choke it, form an unwanted greasy layer on the skin to stick a lot of dust and microbes, get absorbed deep inside the skin and may cause irritations and may also dry up the skin. Worse, if they are ingested by the baby while licking skin. In such cases, they may cause stomach-ache, vomiting etc. These chemicals themselves are harsh enough for a baby’s skin to damage it. Here is a small list of some commonly used substances and the adverse impacts they have on the skin.

• Mineral Oil/Petroleum Gel – Corrosive, leaves skin dry, chokes skin pores and interferes with sebum production. May cause itches and irritations.
• Chemical Colours/Flavours – May cause itches and irritations. Harmful for eyes, skin and internal organs if accidentally ingested.
• Detergents/Soaps – Present in baby soaps and shampoos, these are some of the most harmful substances, how mild they may be. They are very harsh and very corrosive and cause severe damage to skin, eyes and hair; may dry up the skin and may even cause blindness.
• Anti biotic/Disinfectant/Anti Septic – You know very well that the substances which can kill microbes or can any terminate any biotic growth are nothing but poisons.
• Metal Oxalates/Metal Salts – Compounds of zinc, sulphur, lead and mercury! You can guess what harm they can cause.
• Tap Water – Often contains hard bleach and/or chlorine, both of which are highly corrosive.

The Ray of Hope: Where there is darkness, there is light following. So, as the consciousness is growing among the masses, Organic Baby Skin Care is making its way through. But before we proceed any further, we must understand that Organic Baby Skin Care (or simply skin care) is not just about using Organic Baby Skin Care products. Rather, it is about taking care of the skin the organic way or following an organic way of life; and skin creams, lotions or other cosmetics, be they organic or not, do not form an essential part of that. You can take an organic care of your baby’s skin even without them. Here are some substances which can help you out.

Organic Water: Okay! It may sound like I am joking and really there is nothing called organic water. I should rather say “Pure Water”. Natural fresh water without any traces of toxic chemicals like pesticides, fertilizers, fungicides, bleach or chlorine; is ideal for use on baby’s skin. Water is one of the most used substances on a baby (frequently used for bathing, cleaning, washing, drinking etc.) and so it forms a rather important part of your Organic Baby Skin Care. I know it is very difficult to find such water these days, as most people are dependent on chlorinated or bleached tap water which is already polluted from indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers etc. Use of packaged Mineral Water is out of question. So! That leaves boiled water. Boiled and filtered water is ideal to be used for babies. Since the carbonates, oxides, sulphates, chlorides and other chemicals are found least in boiled water (they evaporate during boiling); hence it can safely be used on a baby’s delicate skin.

Home Recipes for Organic Baby Skin Care: These things were in use in India and a few neighbouring countries for centuries. Things such as paste of lentils, turmeric, sandal, coconut water and oil, milk and milk cream, juice of Aloe-Vera, essential oils and other oils and herbal extracts gave excellent skin care and beauty treatment and are still of much importance. But only one thing has changed! That is, previously, these things were all organic and had no traces of toxic chemicals in them. But now, you can hardly call them organic. So, if you are using these things, please make sure that they have been raised organically and no artificial chemical fertilizers or pesticides have been used in them. If you cannot make them yourself (Nobody has time these days!), you can get them ready made. Those with an “Organic” tag on it will cost a few bucks more. You can also use boiled and smashed organic potatoes, apples, cucumber, egg whites and curd made of organic milk etc. for making organic baby skin care packs or recipes at home, because these things are readily available.

Ready Made Organic Baby Skin Care Products: They should be considered only when you have no other choice left for you. The ready made Organic Baby Skin Care products include organic lotions, organic skin creams, organic sun screen creams, organic massaging oils, organic soaps and organic shampoos. Here, you should act logically. There are some products which, despite having an organic tag on it, cannot be organic. Soaps and shampoos are some of them. If they are giving foam or surf, then they must be containing some alkaline compounds of sodium and/or calcium and detergents. They can just be some mild in case of baby products. If you study them carefully, you will seldom find a certificate of “Organic” from a recognized certifier on these soaps and shampoos. That leaves the other products. Unlike regular cosmetics, the Organic Baby Skin Care cosmetics contain organic natural ingredients such as organic bee-wax, organic shea butter, organic coconut oil, organic sunflower oil, organic essential oils, organic herbal extracts (as discussed above), organic milk cream, honey etc. You may trust these products if they are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from a recognized certifying agency.

What Not to Buy? I have told this thing before and I am telling it again. Please try to avoid the coloured products. More so, the bright or dark ones. Some natural ingredients used in these products may have their own colours, but natural substances or their extracts seldom have very bright colours and even if they do so, the colour does not last for long. It starts degenerating. So, there are chances that artificial colours are used in brightly coloured products. White or colourless products are best to pick. Please also check the type of package these products are packed in. The organic products should ideally be packed in organic or organically decomposable packs. Do not encourage those products that do not follow this, because even if the contents are organic, their packs will ultimately pollute the environment and this contradicts the sole motive of using organic products.

Reach out Your Hand: If you talked of Organic Baby Skin Care even two decades ago, you would get some strange reactions. And if you searched for these organic products in your city’s best cosmetic shop even five years ago, it could have given the shopkeeper some sweat. But situations are completely different now. You know what organic stuffs mean and so do most around you. So, it is no more difficult getting them in most places. You may just need to search a bit in shops, but that is worth the goodness of these products. You should also tell your friends the importance and advantages of Organic Baby Skin Care. This way you will not only help the babies, but will also help contribute towards a less polluted and cleaner environment, because these products (and even if you are not using any ready made product at all, just following some rules of Organic Baby Skin Care) do not use any chemical at all.

So, for the welfare of coming generations, let us give them an Organic Baby Skin Care. Bye!

The article is contributed by Aparup Mukherjee