I never had the chicken pox as a kid. But I know what it’s like to feel intense itchiness, so much so that you want to rip off the top layer of your skin. Itchy, eczema-ridden hands are the worst. You try and try not to scratch, but it’s nearly impossible not to (especially when you’re sleeping). You wake up in the morning and you can tell that you scratched during the middle of the night. You apply steroid creams but they thin out the skin, so you’re told not to apply…

Do you ever notice the same ingredients appearing in lots of skincare products? Stuff you never noticed before? This happened recently with phenoxyethanol, a preservative that is often used as an alternative to parabens. Now it’s happening again with allantoin—I’m suddenly noticing it in lots of products that I write about on this blog. Allantoin is a white powder that has no odor, and provides conditioning properties to the skin, according to the National Eczema Foundation.

If you read my comparison of CeraVe baby sunscreen vs. adult sunscreen, you already know that I have a strange affinity for baby skincare products. I love the idea that baby products are designed to be tolerated by the most sensitive skin ever: baby skin. So could they be better for adults who have sensitive skin?