This Is Why Kid-Friendly Skincare Is Just as Important As Your Own

Skincare for baby and kids? Absolutely. Why would you put anything on your baby's or child's skin that you wouldn't put on yourself? Thankfully, K-beauty offers plenty of kid-friendly skincare that is not only cute, it just may help you bond with your child. Contributing editor Coco Park explains.

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Think of all the amazing skin care products you’ve discovered that have made their way into your life. The same top-notch ingredients and formulations are also available for babies and children. Think about it: If you wouldn’t use the products that you currently use for your children, why should they? Take a look at the ingredients; I bet they’re either questionable or waaaaaay too basic for your precious angels. I know I had a similar revelation when it came to my kids.

When I started my journey into K-beauty, I had a toddler. I used the typical drugstore blah body washes and creams for her when she was wee and I was just then getting serious about my own skincare. I now have a big kid and a baby, and they both have full Korean kid-friendly skincare routines. The word “routine” is a bit rigid for what it actually is, which is just quality washes and lotions, but they each have a basket with their respective products in it just like my husband and I do.

For baby

For my 9-month-old son his lineup is very simple: SanDaWha Soft Baby Wash and SanDaWha Moisturizing Baby Cream.

SanDaWha Soft Baby Wash

You might already know that I’m a huge fan of the SanDaWha line for myself, and I’m also just as crazy about it for my kids. The baby wash sits out in my bathtub, and I have reached for it for myself more times than I’d like to admit. It’s wonderful. Taking a look at the ingredients, it’s easy to see why I love it both for myself and for my littles:

Water, Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate, Camellia Japonica Flower Water, Coco-glucoside, Glycerin, Coco-Betaine, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Sorbitol, Thujopsis Dolabrata Extract, Citrus Grandis (Grapefruit) Fruit Extract, Panthenol, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower/Leaf Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra (Licorice) Root Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Sodium PCA, Trehalose, Sodium Hyaluronate, Propolis Extract, Magnolia Kobus Bark Extract, Salix Alba (Willow) Bark Extract, Tocopherol, Ubiquinone, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Bisabolol, Ursolic Acid, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Camellia Japonica Seed Oil, Rutin, Citric Acid, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Lippia Citriodora Leaf/Flower Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Jasminum Officinale (Jasmine) Oil

And, very importantly for me, the smell is very nice. I am not a fan of cloyingly sweet baby powder scents that seem to permeate most drugstore baby products, and this is about as far away from that as you can get. The baby wash has a wonderful earthy floral garden smell. It’s very faint but very pleasing. This scent is in all of the SanDaWha baby line, which brings me to his next product.

SanDawha Moisturizing Baby Cream

I freaking LOVE this cream! My son has very sensitive, dry skin, like his Mama. So it’s fitting that my favorite skincare brand works just as well for him as it does for me. I can put this cream on his dry little legs, and he will stay moisturized all day long. Again, check out these ingredients to see the awesome behind the curtain:

Water, caprylic/capric triglyceride, glycerin, camellia japonica seed oil, propanediol, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, phosphatidylcholine, phytosteryl macadamiate, pentylene glycol, butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter, mangifera indica (mango) seed butter, olea europaea (olive) fruit oil, panthenol, xanthan gum, camellia sinensis leaf extract, chamomilla recutita (matricaria) leaf extract, thujopsis dolabrata branch extract, tocopherol, sorbitan caprylate, glycyrrhiza glabra (licorice) root extract, arginine, trehalose, aloe barbadensis leaf extract, betaine, bioflavonoids, brassica oleracea italica (broccoli) extract, squalane, bisabolol, rosa canina fruit oil, magnolia kobus bark extract, salix alba (willow) bark extract, centella asiatica extract, opuntia ficus-indica fruit extract, citrus unshiu peel extract, polygonum cuspidatum root extract, scutellaria baicalensis root extract, vitis vinifera (grape) skin extract, hizikia fusiforme extract, dipotassium glycyrrhizate, hyaluronic acid, dimethyl sulfone, linoleic acid, pyrus malus (apple) fruit extract, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf extract, silybum marianum extract, vaccinium angustifolium (blueberry) fruit extract, yeast beta-glucan, houttuynia cordata extract, portulaca oleracea extract, levulinic acid, rutin, astaxanthin, quercetin, aniba rosaeodora (rosewood) wood oil, jasminium officinale (jasmine) oil, lavandula angustifolia (lavender) oil, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) leaf oil

A lot of these ingredients are the same ones that pop up in the Blossom Jeju Pink Camellia Soombi Blooming Cream. Like, c’mon! Insane! Of course I want that level of amazing for my baby!

For summer, just the wash and cream are enough, but as the weather turns colder, I plan on adding the SanDaWha Natural Baby Lotion to the lineup, which I will layer under the cream. For babies who don’t have dry skin, you may be able to get away with just the wash and the lotion if you don’t feel your lil’ pumpkin needs a cream.

For your child

For my 5-year-old, her lineup has gotten a little more adult ... kind of.  In Mimi’s basket I have the following products:

SanDaWha Soft Baby Wash

Innisfree The Minimum Baby Lotion

Tony Moly Pokemon Kkobugi Body Cleanser

Tony Moly Pikachu Kids & Mom Toner

Tony Moly Pikachu Kids & Mom Emulsion

Tony Moly Pokemon Kkobugi Body Cleanser

As you can might expect with a 5-year-old, she’s very much into Pokemon, especially Pikachu. A combination of her watching me do my skincare routine every night and her love of all things cute prompted her to ask me for products of her own so she can do her routine along with me in the morning and at bedtime. Honestly, it a great way to start the day with her and wind things down at night. I also love the fact that she’s developing good personal care habits this early in life. This is the same child that will never fail to remind me to reapply her sunscreen when we’re outside — she’s got this stuff down.

She switches back and forth between the Pokemon cleanser (Kkobugi is the Korean name for Squirtle, if you’re wondering) and the SanDaWha one. She is at that age where the novelty of sharing a bath with Squirtle takes precedence over using the same body wash as her baby bro.

And I’m not complaining; it’s a solid body wash. It’s mild with a nice sweet floral scent that doesn’t linger and is made with lotus and aloe extract — a fair bit more exotic and luxurious than Johnson’s. I went hunting for the bottle to give it a whiff to nail down the scent and I couldn’t find it. Turns out she had it in her room on display with her dolls. I think that gives you a pretty good idea how cute the bottle is because this is a diva child who lives for aesthetic in her room.

Innisfree The Minimum Baby Lotion

After the bath, we use Innisfree The Minimum Baby Lotion. This is a watery type lotion, which is great because she doesn’t care for sticky textures. It’s unscented and has a very fast absorption time. This lotion serves us well; she has two swimming classes and gymnastics during the week, so there are a lot of showers to be had and her skin is none the worse for wear.

Pikachu Kids & Mom Toner and Emulsion

In keeping with her Pikachu love, she begged me for the Tony Moly Pikachu Kids & Mom Toner and Emulsion set. I didn’t hesitate because this Pokemon line that Tony Moly did has been nothing but excellent so far. I can’t think of a dud in the entire collaboration, which is sort of rare for cutesy collabs. The toner and emulsions are extremely mild, but that being said, be on the lookout for any signs of allergic reaction in your kids. You can have a reaction to just about anything so nothing is 100% safe, of course. However, I have had absolutely no problems with this set. The toner is veeeeeery light and mild. It has the slightest clean argumes scent and it sinks in immediately. Same for the emulsion: exceedingly light, same scent, same sink-in. They both feature pear extracts, cornflower, and lavender water. It gives just enough extra hydration to do something and nothing overly crazy. Honestly, it’s perfect for anyone age 5 through early teens, IMO. There is absolutely no residue or stickiness.

I want to personally thank whoever decided on the packaging for these things for putting them in shatterproof plastic bottles that only look like glass. My daughter is a lot of things, but careful isn’t one of them. These plastic bottles have saved me a lot of potential messes.

I also like that they have different illustrations on them. Although she can’t read, she knows that the Pikachu sitting down is the toner and the waving Pika is the emulsion, so she knows what order to do them in on her own. It’s a ritual I look forward to doing every day with her and it gives us our special bonding activity to do. I can’t wait till my little guy is old enough to join us at the sink.

I’ve heard arguments from other moms along the lines of “I’m not paying adult prices for children’s skincare,” but where is the logic in that? A child’s skin is just as precious and deserving of good ingredients as ours is, if not more so. I care about what goes into my children and what goes on them as well. With Korean beauty products for babies and kids, I’m getting the same great ingredients and effectiveness that I get, as well as the gentleness needed for sensitive young skin. I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

Do you use any kid-friendly skincare on your child? What products do you love?