CVA Products Podcast

Decoding Skincare Labels: What's Hiding in Your Products?

• Trang Nguyen • Episode 2

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What Ingredients Should Families Avoid In Everyday Skincare?

Navigating the world of skincare can feel like walking through a minefield, especially for those with sensitive skin or parents trying to protect their little ones from harsh ingredients. This eye-opening conversation with Trang Nguyen, founder of CVA Products, cuts through the confusion and marketing hype to reveal what's really hiding in your everyday products.

Trang shares surprising insights about common irritants that many people don't suspect, including seemingly innocent ingredients like baking soda in bath bombs and the stark difference between kitchen baking soda and the type used in cleaning products. She explains why certain preservatives are necessary in liquid products while offering practical guidance on selecting safer alternatives. Her personal experiences with her daughter's severe skin sensitivities provide relatable context for families struggling with similar challenges.

The discussion takes a fascinating turn when exploring misleading industry terms like "hypoallergenic" and "dermatologist tested" - labels that offer little real protection for sensitive individuals. Trang offers practical advice for deciphering complex ingredient lists and shares her recommendation to seek out artisanal products from local makers who can directly answer questions about their formulations. For parents of babies and young children, her guidance on age-appropriate skincare is particularly valuable, including when it's safe to introduce scented products.

Whether you're dealing with your own sensitive skin, caring for a child with eczema, or simply looking to make more informed choices about what you put on your body's largest organ, this conversation provides accessible wisdom from someone who's been there. Ready to simplify your family's skincare routine with truly gentle products? Visit CVAproducts.com or stop by their Keller, Texas location to experience handmade natural care that puts sensitive skin first.

To learn more about CVA Products visit:
https://www.CVAProducts.com
CVA Products
121 Olive Street
Keller, TX 76248
817-915-1347

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the CVA Products Podcast, where sensitive skin finally gets the gentle care it's been begging for. Hosted by Trang Nguyen, founder of CVA Products in Keller, texas, a handmade skincare brand born from love, necessity and a mission to soothe. Whether you're a busy mom, a wellness-minded family or someone tired of playing ingredient roulette, this podcast is for you. From calming goat milk soaps to balms that tackle everything from diaper rash to dad's dry elbows, our products are clean, kind and kid-approved. Whether it's toddlers, teens or your own grown-up skin drama, we've got you covered.

Speaker 2:

From hidden irritants to misleading labels. Trang Nguyen breaks down the ingredients that sensitive skin families should steer clear of and why gentle doesn't always mean safe. Welcome back everyone. I'm millie, I'm co-host and producer. Back in the studio with train win, founder of cva products. Train, how's it going? I'm good. How are you doing well, doing well. This is such an important topic. What ingredients should families avoid in everyday skin care?

Speaker 3:

um, there's a lot of things, but like, like for my daughter, like people who have severe dryness, you should not use anything with preservative, like paraffin. Fragrant oil or synthetic alcohol tend to dry out your skin a lot faster. Perfumes perfumes there's different things. There's natural perfumes with just like oil and essential oil. They also call perfume, they they save. But there are perfume that you get at the retail store. Like me, I'm allergic to chanel. The moment that my mom or anybody spray chanel I would sneeze the whole entire day until that person go away, Because it's more like fragrant with something else that they add into it. It's just everybody's a little bit different SLS, which is sodium lauryl sulfate, which everybody should be avoiding because it's also trigger the skin to be like itching dryness. Believe it or not, baking soda is also. It's good to using laundry, but it or not baking soda is also it's good to use in laundry, but it's not good to use on the body. Bath bomb my daughter is severely allergic to bath bomb because of baking soda.

Speaker 2:

That makes sense. We put baking soda, you know boxes in our refrigerator to keep them dry and to keep the moisture out.

Speaker 3:

So I can see how baking soda would do that for Well there's two type of baking soda the kitchen one, where you're cooking and you're eating. They're safe. I don't know if you notice it, but when you go to a grocery store, why baking soda sell at the kitchen? Or to eating. In this baking soda that they have at the laundry area? It's the different baking soda. Yes, so like even when I do. My media is off topic so when I'm making my own laundry detergents, I don't get the baking soda from the laundry aisle because I have chemical in there, because I'm using the baking soda in the kitchen aisle because something you can consume which is less chemical in there. But that that's only for laundry, though. But in general, for people who have severe, sensitive skin, baking soda with citric acid. They're more like a natural preservative, but it's going to dry out your skin.

Speaker 2:

That makes sense. So those are the top ingredients that you see cause reactions in kids and adults. So can you explain the difference between synthetic preservatives and safer alternatives?

Speaker 3:

There's no safe alternative. To be honest, it's all bad. No Preservative you have to have preservative because skincare especially okay. Let me take soap as an example Soap and shampoo. Soap I'm talking about is a hard bar soap, traditional bar soap. You just make with oil butter and you add some scent in there. Naturally, you just add essential oil. So this it's just, and then you cure properly, so you don't need anything to put it in there like it's not gonna grow mold. Okay, shampoo is a little bit different shampoo. You have to make it from liquid standpoint because you have to add water in, and when you add water in, water can create mold bacteria. It cannot stand. It can stand for seven days if you make it at home. However, if it more than seven days, it's going to grow mold, regardless how carefully, how sanitized you, you know the makers is. So you have to add preservative in there. Preservative there's many different preservative out in the market. Some are going to be safe and some aren't.

Speaker 3:

I make my own liquid shampoo. I try not to add a lot, but I have to add it in there if I know. I cannot use more than seven day period to wash my hair or to my body because it's going to grow mold and mold and bacteria you cannot see from your eyes. Yeah, it only. It only can be lab test. You know, go to lab and test it. But certain preservatives I can't on top of my head. If you add it too much, long run it can cause cancer, and I some of them. I read into an article that's what they claim it to be. I'm not sure, but I always stay under a certain amount, like sometimes I'll'll use 0.5, but I have to have a minimum amount for my own safety.

Speaker 2:

How do families decode misleading labels like hypoallergenic or dermatologist tested?

Speaker 3:

You know what I went through that route. I used to. I like to shop is this way before I start doing this, I like to do anything on sale. We all do yes anything on sale and good brand, you grab them. I don't read ingredients because I don't understand all the name on the ingredient right you almost have to be a scientist to know what all those things are they?

Speaker 3:

they more like greek language to me. Until now. I still I only know certain things, but I don't know a lot of things unless they're using a normal. There's a normal name and there's a inc name or something like more like a greek language. But like I only know the oil, the butter I have to learn that. And then essential oil I don't think there's a different name for that. Um, but when I go buy something, the first thing I do it, I flip on the back and I look at the preservative. See what's on there in preservative, the only oh yeah, now we go, the preservative that come atop my head is pheno. Pheno is kind of safe but not safe. So, like I said, you know, long run it can trigger something to do with cancer if you drink a lot but you need phenol in liquid.

Speaker 2:

So use it very sparingly, very lightly. Don't use it often at all. So it's important to read those ingredients and then more naturally ingredients, the better. For you. Are there specific ingredients that are risky for babies and toddlers for you? Are there specific ingredients that are risky for babies and toddlers?

Speaker 3:

oh, I know they can't have honey before they're one. I do know that they cannot have um essential oil. Everything have to be unscented. So castile soap, liquid, castile soap with dr brown, soap with dr brown or brown, yes, they are safe. They are safe because I read into it. I can make the exact same thing. It's the same ingredients. So that's the only thing I say. They are safe. And baby supposed to be stay away from anything unscented until at least I think for for essential oil.

Speaker 2:

I would be like age three and up, I would be concealed a little bit maybe you would need an essential oil, because they're pretty much clean, so they don't necessarily. They don't need to, like, smell good or have a scent on top of them.

Speaker 3:

Well, yeah, sometimes it's bad time, kid bad time. They just want to have some sun. That's the only thing.

Speaker 2:

You just laugh in there to help them fall asleep, but not until they're three.

Speaker 3:

Yes, but you just have to be careful when you buy any scented for baby toddler make sure it's actually essential oil and make sure it's diluted. If it's undiluted or you don't know the percentages in there, it can be very, very harmful.

Speaker 2:

Great advice. So what would you say to someone who's switching to clean skincare for the first time, someone like me who wants to switch their laundry, their shampoo, their skincare over to clean for the first time, what advice would you give me?

Speaker 3:

I would say the safest way you can go and get your stuff is go to farmer market, because you can see all the artisan stuff out there, the soul. But still, um, ask, ask the, the, the makers, I, I always ask what do you have in there? Look at the ingredients die. You don't want dye in there. You don't want mica in there? Oh, there we go. Uh, mica is also not a bad stuff. Um, any dye is also bad. We all know dye is very bad. Yeah, you just ask question. But our artists in the farmer market usually a little bit better than retail store. But I've seen some stuff. Stuff started crawling into a retail grocery store, like Sprout. We have Sprout in my area, so Sprout sometime. They have clean ingredients. But you just have to read, know what you read behind the label.

Speaker 2:

that's all makes sense and hop on to cvaproductscom, right? Yes, thank yes. Thank you, trang, for helping us cut through the confusion and protect our family's skin. We'll see you on the next time on CVA Products Podcast.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning into the CVA Products Podcast, where we believe smoother days start with gentler skin. Ready to simplify your family's skincare routine, Visit cvaproductscom, text us at 817-915-1347, or stop by 121 Olive Street in Keller, Texas. Cva Products handmade natural care for sensitive skin without gambling.