How I Shop for Baby Skincare (As Someone Who Makes It)

Hi, Shinta here!

I'm a product development specialist who has spent years working across the global beauty industry — with Australian and international brands across Korea, China, Europe and the United States. Which means when I pick up a bottle of baby skincare, I'm not reading it the way most parents do. I'm not looking at the front of the pack. I'm flipping it over immediately.

Here's exactly what I look for — and what I'd encourage every parent to start paying attention to.

"The front of the pack is marketing. The back of the pack is the formula."

1. The base formula first

Before I even look at the hero ingredients, I check what the formula is actually built on.

For a wash, that means the surfactant system — the cleansing agents. A single surfactant system is a shortcut. A considered formula uses a blend of surfactants specifically chosen to clean effectively without stripping the skin barrier.

The difference matters enormously for babies with sensitive or eczema-prone skin, where the barrier is already fragile.

For a cream or balm, I look at the emollient base. What oils are being used? Are they lightweight and skin-compatible, or heavy and occlusive? For eczema-prone skin specifically, you want oils high in linoleic acid — like sunflower, grape seed, or rosehip — not heavier oils that can sit on the surface.

The base tells me everything about how much thought went into the formula. It's the foundation everything else sits on.

2. The actives — and whether they're actually doing something

Every formula has ingredients that are there to perform a specific function on the skin.

• Centella — barrier repair
• Zinc — calming inflammation
• Colloidal Oatmeal — soothing
• Licorice Root — reducing redness

What I'm looking for is whether those actives are the right ones for the skin concern being addressed — and whether they make sense together as a system, not just a list of individually impressive-sounding names.

A formula with five trending hero ingredients that don't work together isn't a better formula. A formula where every active has a specific job and works in combination with the others — that's what I'm building toward with BAEBY.

3. Fragrance — know what you're looking at

Fragrance is one of the most common sensitisers in baby skincare — particularly for eczema-prone and reactive skin.

That doesn't mean every product needs to be fragrance-free. But it does mean you should know what you're putting on your baby's skin and why.

"Naturally derived" fragrance components like Linalool, Linalyl Acetate, and Camphor can still sensitise reactive skin, even when they come from a plant source.

The word "natural" on a label doesn't automatically mean gentle.

At BAEBY, some of our products are fragrance-free for exactly this reason — for babies with sensitive or eczema-prone skin, we wanted to take that variable completely off the table. Others, like our [Watermelon Wash], contain fragrance — and that's a deliberate choice too, for babies whose skin isn't reactive and whose parents want something that smells beautiful.

The point isn't to avoid fragrance entirely. It's to know what's in the product and make an informed choice for your baby's skin.

4. The length of the ingredient list

Here's the one that surprises most people.

"A longer ingredient list does not mean a worse formula."

I hear this concern a lot — "why does it have so many ingredients?" — and I understand the instinct. There's been a huge push in the wellness space toward minimalism, and it's made people suspicious of complexity.

But here's what a longer ingredient list actually tells you: there are more ingredients doing more jobs.

• A base doing its job
• Actives doing their job
• Supporting ingredients doing their job
• Preservatives doing their job — safely keeping the formula stable so it doesn't grow bacteria on your baby's skin

A short ingredient list can be a sign of a simple, purposeful formula. It can also be a sign of a formula that simply hasn't invested in doing more.

What matters is not the number of ingredients. It's whether each ingredient is there for a reason.

That's the standard I hold BAEBY to. Every ingredient in every product is in there deliberately, chosen because of what it does for skin — not because it sounds good on a label.

What to look for — a quick checklist

✓ A considered base — blended surfactants in a wash, skin-compatible oils in a cream

✓ Actives that are right for the skin concern and work together as a system

✓ Fragrance — know whether it's there and why

✓ Ingredient list length means nothing — what matters is whether every ingredient has a job

What to do next time you pick up a baby skincare product

Flip it over. Look at the base. Check the actives. Look for fragrance — including naturally derived components. And don't let the length of the list tell you whether to trust it.

The front of the pack is marketing. The back of the pack is the formula.

Learn to read the back.

BAEBY is an Australian baby skincare brand developed by a product development specialist with years of experience across the global beauty industry. Every product in the range is dermatologically tested, steroid-free, and built for sensitive, eczema-prone baby skin.

Shop the full range at baeby.com.au