This week is National Cosmetics Safety Awareness Week. With the overall aim of improving the general public’s awareness for the safe use of makeup, the initiative is taking many forms in different parts of China, from online blogs to forums with dermatological experts.
To give the initiative its real name, China Science Popularisation Week on Cosmetic Safety (全国化妆品安全科普宣传周) this year runs from 25-31 May. With children using make up at younger ages these days, the awareness week has sought to improve adults’ knowledge of the dangers therein.
Bao Jun, Chief Dermatologist of Gulou Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical College, has been taking part in the Popularisation Week by giving advice on how to use children’s cosmetics correctly. Bao pointed out that some functional ingredients are added to adult cosmetics, which can cause irritation to children’s skin, and as a result should not be used casually.
By the time a child reaches the age of 1, their skin’s integrity is close to an adult’s, but the similarities end there. For example, children’s cuticles are thinner and the water content of their skin is higher, while its pH value is more acidic than in adults. This is why it is not recommended to use makeup on young children. If a child’s skin easily becomes dry, moisturising skin care products can be used but only with great care.
Bao also said that the skin of infants under 6-months old is delicate, and it is more likely to display adverse reactions to sunscreen. Therefore, such young children should not use sunscreen products, and should instead avoid going out during periods of strong sunlight (10am-2pm) or wear a hat, use an umbrella or light-coloured, cotton clothes to ward off the sun.
For infants aged 6 months to 2 years, clothing should still be the main way to protect them from the sun, although infant sunscreen products of SPF10/PA+ can also be used, preferably in cream form.
This year’s activities have also sought to further improve the populace’s ability to identify counterfeit and low-quality cosmetics. The public are reminded that there exists a telephone hotline for the reporting thereof. Anyone suspicious that they have purchased fake cosmetic products can call 12315.
Elsewhere, the safety awareness week has addressed topics such as the safe application of make up and provided public welfare courses that promote cosmetics science knowledge at multiple levels.
