When Choosing Kids' Hair and Body Care Products, Don't Only Focus on Ingredients—Packaging Standards Matter More

When Choosing Kids' Hair and Body Care Products, Don't Only Focus on Ingredients—Packaging Standards Matter More

When parents select kids' shampoo or body wash, they always carefully check the ingredient list to ensure it’s fragrance-free and non-irritating, yet they often overlook "packaging"—a hidden safety checkpoint. In fact, the standards for plastic packaging for products in the kids' hair and body care sector are far stricter than those for adult products. From material selection to design details, every rigorous requirement is rooted in safeguarding children based on their physiological characteristics and usage habits. Professional packaging plastic suppliers are the core creators of such high-standard packaging.

• Children’s Physiological Vulnerability: Demanding "Zero-Risk" Packaging

Children’s skin, respiratory, and digestive systems are not yet fully developed, and their tolerance to harmful substances is much lower than that of adults. This means plastic packaging for products used in kids' hair and body care must eliminate potential risks from the source.

• Zero Irritation for Skin Contact A child’s skin is only 1/3 the thickness of an adult’s, with a weak protective barrier. If plastic packaging for products contains trace harmful substances (such as phthalates or bisphenol A), it may cause redness, swelling, or itching when in contact with the skin.

Therefore, children’s hair and body care packaging must use "food-grade" materials. For example, bottle bodies are usually made of PP (polypropylene) plastic, which must pass dual certifications under the EU REACH Regulation and China’s GB 4806 standard to ensure no harmful substances leach out.

• Preventing Risks from Accidental Touch or Ingestion Children under 3 often treat hair and body care bottles as toys, which may lead to behaviors like biting the bottle or accidentally swallowing pump parts. Thus, children’s hair and body care packaging follows strict "anti-accidental ingestion design standards": the bottle thickness must be at least 2mm to avoid breaking and producing fragments when bitten; the snap-on design of the pump must pass a "10N pull test" (adult packaging usually requires 5N) to prevent children from easily pulling off parts; the bottle mouth diameter is strictly controlled within 3cm to avoid suffocation if a child puts the mouth of the bottle in their mouth.

• Specificity of Usage Scenarios: Packaging Must Adapt to "Kids’ Usage Habits" When children use hair and body care products independently, their movements are often clumsy and random. If the plastic packaging for products is not durable or reasonably designed, it will not only be easily damaged but also pose safety hazards. This requires the packaging to be upgraded in both durability and safety.

• Shock-Resistant and Leak-Proof Children tend to drop hair and body care bottles when picking them up, so children’s packaging must pass a "1.2-meter drop test": the bottle body is made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), a material with stronger impact resistance, which won’t deform even if dropped from a sink; the joint between the bottle cap and the bottle body is designed with a double-sealing structure to prevent liquid leakage after falling, avoiding children slipping on wet floors.

• Controlled Dosage to Avoid Waste and Irritation Children find it hard to control the strength when pressing the pump of hair and body care products. Excessive dosage not only causes waste but may also irritate the skin due to residual product. Therefore, the pumps for children’s hair and body care products have a "fixed dosage output standard": the single output volume is strictly controlled at 0.5-1ml (adult pumps usually output 1.5-2ml), and the pressing resistance is moderate—neither too loose (to prevent accidental pressing by children) nor too tight (to ensure children can operate it independently), balancing safety and convenience.

• Regulatory Requirements and Industry Consensus: Building a "Safety Defense Line" with High Standards Both internationally and domestically, there are strict regulations specifically for children’s hair and body care packaging. Even the printing ink on the packaging surface must use food-grade pigments to prevent children from ingesting harmful substances when biting the bottle. Domestically, China’s Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Children’s Cosmetics clearly stipulates that children’s hair and body care packaging must undergo an independent "safety assessment", which not only tests the materials themselves but also simulates "long-term usage scenarios".

• Tips for Parents: 3 Steps to Check if Packaging Meets Standards Faced with a wide range of children’s hair and body care products, parents can use simple methods to initially determine whether the plastic packaging for products meets high standards: Check Material Labels: The material (e.g., "PP", "HDPE") should be clearly marked on the bottle or packaging.

Test Texture and Design: Touch the bottle and pump—the bottle should be burr-free with smooth edges; the pump should press smoothly and dispense liquid evenly; the bottle cap should have an "anti-misopening design" (such as twist-to-unlock or push-to-pop).

 Inspect Detailed Workmanship: Check the connection of the bottle and pump—the bottle should have no obvious scratches or deformation. These details reflect the production craftsmanship of the packaging plastic supplier. High-standard packaging is an "invisible protective coat" for children.

Every strict standard for children’s hair and body care packaging may seem to increase costs for enterprises, but in essence, it’s a "proactive guarantee" for children’s health. After all, for children, the bottle and pump that never leach harmful substances and the pump designed to prevent accidental ingestion—these invisible details are the real "peace of mind code" for children’s hair and body care products.