Biologist warned about the consequences of using baby shampoos for adults

Baby shampoos are designed for delicate baby skin, but adults often use them for themselves. On August 20, Yulia Drobysheva, chief technology developer of the Krassa brand and molecular biologist, told Izvestia about the dangers of using baby shampoos for adults.

According to the expert, SLES (Sodium Laureth Sulfate), an effective cleansing component, is rarely used in baby shampoos. Instead, it uses soft sulfate—free surfactants (Decyl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, etc.). Since adult skin produces three times more sebum than children's skin, most soft surfactants are unable to dissolve the dense sebum layer of adult scalp. As a result, the hair sticks together at the roots on the second day, itching and oily dandruff appear. In addition, baby shampoo is not able to remove polymers and silicones from hair after using varnishes, mousses or thermal protection. They accumulate, make the hair heavier, block oxygen access to the follicles, which eventually leads to dullness, loss, and split ends.

The expert also noted that baby shampoos do not contain keratin, niacinamide or other regenerating components, which are aimed at basic cleansing. Due to the lack of ingredients to combat dryness and brittleness, baby shampoos can ruin hair in just a week of use.

"Another reason to stop using baby shampoos is the excessive softness of the products: the formulas "without tears" exclude components that dry the scalp (for example, zinc, climbazole, salicylic acid). For adults with oily skin or dandruff, this is a disadvantage: shampoo does not regulate the microflora, allowing the fungus to multiply," the biologist warned.

Closer to the body: Russians began to buy beauty gadgets for home care

How much have sales of beauty products increased and what is the reason?

However, Drobysheva noted that it is still not as harmful as it seems at first glance.

According to her, using baby shampoos has a number of advantages: they do not cause the risk of irritation even in people with eczema or psoriasis, do not contain aggressive surfactants that violate the lipid barrier, pass much more safety tests and remove excess sebum without disturbing the natural balance, which is important for people with dry skin. heads.

According to the technologist, marketers are whipping up panic by prohibiting adults from using baby shampoos in order to encourage people to buy "professional" expensive lines, and brands artificially divide products into children's and adult products in order to stimulate sales growth.

However, the specialist identified cases when baby shampoo is really not suitable for adults. According to Drobysheva's recommendations, it is better to stop using baby shampoo if a person has very oily hair, and the scalp actively produces sebum, dandruff, psoriasis or other skin problems, as well as if the hair is colored. In these cases, it is worth choosing specialized products from adult lines.

On July 14, Irina Troitskaya, a trichologist and cosmetologist at SM-Cosmetology, said that split ends of hair are a fairly common problem faced by many women. So, the doctor named heat damage to the hair as one of the main reasons — frequent use of a hair dryer, irons and curling irons can lead to overheating of the hair and damage to it.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.