Pregnancy is a time for many disruptions, in the mother-to-come body as well as in her daily life habits. This deals also with cosmetic ritual. What precautions are needed? What are the peculiar needs of the skin that shall be answered? Some reminders and advice by the CosmeticOBS-L’Observatoire des Cosmétiques experts to live safely this precious period.
While the official definition of a cosmetic product states any substance or mixture intended to be placed in contact with the external parts of the human body, one may think that some substances it contains do not end their travel there: they can go through the cutaneous barrier and enter the human body.
Some of them, widely used in cosmetics, arriving in the future mother’s blood stream, may have a detrimental impact on the fetus and his health.
Thus, it is possible to list the ingredients to avoid during pregnancy, if only as a precaution, without forgetting the specific needs due to this period of the life, which cosmetics could answer.
Ingredients to avoid
In the blacklist of the cosmetic substances to avoid when pregnant:
• Endocrine disruptors
They are able to affect the hormonal system. Some of them mimic a hormone, or block its receptor. Others impair the transport, the production or the degradation of the hormones in the body. It is known they are especially harmful during the fetal development and in infants and young babies. Then, the development and the future functioning of the organs may be disturbed, with dramatic consequences, mainly on the sexual organs: deformities …
