By: Dr. Sunbin Song, PhD
Reviewed by: Dr. Gayin Lee, MD, Dermatologist
September 11, 2025

If your baby has eczema or sensitive skin, you’re not alone. Up to 25% of children develop eczema, and many parents struggle to find products that truly help. At Song Lab, we’ve spent years researching causes of baby skin irritation, and what we’ve found may surprise you.

The Song Lab Origin Story: Born From Frustration, Built on Science

Song Lab was founded by me, a skincare scientist, and my sister after her baby developed eczema. We discovered that no baby skincare brand truly avoids all common allergens. So we decided to create one. 

Song Lab is the first and only baby skincare brand we have ever come across that excludes the known contact allergens identified by the American Contact Dermatitis Society (ACDS), earning the label “ultra-hypoallergenic.” Formulating our products is not easy and it’s why each of our products takes 1.5 to 2 years or more of R&D development work and testing. But, we believe it is important and necessary work.

Why Baby Skin Is So Sensitive

A baby’s skin is thinner, more permeable, and more prone to allergic reactions than adult skin. That’s why skin conditions like eczema are so common during infancy. The good news is most children outgrow eczema by puberty. The bad news is that in the meantime, it can be incredibly frustrating to find products that don’t trigger rashes, stinging, or redness. In fact, an estimated 17% of children experience allergic reactions to skincare products¹. 

What Are Common Contact Allergens in Baby Skincare?

According to the ACDS Core Allergen Series and the “Top 100 Allergens” list, here are just a few ingredients frequently found in baby products that can trigger reactions:

• Synthetic and natural fragrances, such as linalool and limonene
  

• Botanical extracts and essential oils, such as lavender, ylang-ylang, jasmine, tea tree oil
  

• Certain preservatives, like phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate
  

• Select fatty alcohols and emulsifiers, like cetyl alcohol and lanolin
  

• Some “soaps”, like cocamidopropyl betaine

Song Lab designs our products without any of these known allergens.
(For the American Contact Dermatitis core allergens list, click here).

The Problem With “Hypoallergenic” “Clean,” and “Natural” Skincare Labels

Even the most popular skincare products labeled as “hypoallergenic,” “clean,” “natural,” or “baby” often contain well-documented common allergens that can trigger skin irritation. 

Researchers have begun to show that contact allergens are in nearly everything: 

• 90% of baby moisturizers contain contact allergens: 

• In 2021, researchers found 90% of the top 50 overall best-selling baby moisturizers contained at least 1 contact allergen 

• 66% were labeled “hypoallergenic”

• The most common allergens were cetyl alcohol (60%), fragrance (42%) and phenoxyethanol (34%)²

• 90% of natural products contain contact allergens: 

• In 2022, Stanford researchers found 90% of 1651 natural personal care products from major retailers contained at least 1+ of the 100 most prevalent allergens

• The most common allergens were tocopherol (48%), phenoxyethanol (47%) and fragrance (37%)³ 
  

Why Other Brands Don’t Eliminate These Ingredients

You might wonder why, if these allergens are so well documented, other baby skincare brands still use them.

Here’s why:

1. Cost and complexity: Safe alternatives are more expensive and harder to formulate.
   

2. Reliance on lack of awareness: Most parents don’t know what to look for unless they’ve seen a specialist.
   

3. Price expectations: Baby products are expected to cost less, even though baby skin requires more care.

Instead of reformulating, many brands simply remove fragrance, add a “baby-safe” label, and market it as hypoallergenic, even if the formula still contains irritants. Worse yet, some brands even deliberately add fragrance to their baby products to make them “baby fresh” or market aromatherapy benefits, such as lavender. 

The Science Behind Our “Ultra-Hypoallergenic” 

We formulated Song Lab products to be free of all allergens flagged by:

• The ACDS Core Allergen Series (2020)
  

• The Top 100 Allergens from the Contact Allergen Management Program (CAMP)
  

• The annual “Allergen of the Year” designations from ACDS

By excluding these ingredients, the risk of reaction drops from 17% percent to significantly lower. 

We Also Avoid Food Allergens in Skincare

Most people don’t realize that food ingredients in skincare like colloidal oats, coconut oil, or almond oil can increase the risk of food allergies in babies⁴.

Here’s what the researchers behind the Dual Allergen Exposure Hypothesis believe:

• Baby skin is meant to protect the body from intruders
  

• When babies develop eczema, they often have broken, leaky skin barriers that allow irritants inside the bod
  

• Regular skin exposure to food proteins and peptides through broken skin barriers can lead to the body tagging those foods as invaders
  

• When baby eats those foods, the body has already tagged it as an invader and mounts an allergic response
  

• In contrast, eating those foods early helps babies to build a tolerance by helping the body learn that these foods are non-threatening sustenance
  

That’s why we avoid:

• Oats and wheat
  

• Nut and seed oils such as almond, sesame, sunflower
  

• Coconut oil
  

• Bee products like honey or beeswax
  

• Milks, such as goat milk
  

“Processed” Isn’t Always Bad for Skin

Some skincare ingredients may sound “less natural” but are actually safer because they’ve been purified to remove allergenic compounds.

For example:

• We avoid colloidal oats but use beta-glucan, a soothing oat-derived polysaccharide
  

• We skip shea butter but include stearic acid, the main fatty acid found in it

For skin, purity matters more than how natural something sounds. Your immune system reacts to trace allergens, not marketing claims.

The Bottom Line: Healing Skincare Should Feel Good

All of this research and formulation science means nothing if the product doesn’t work or causes stinging and burning.

Here’s what real users have said about our first product, Soothe & Seal Ultra-Rich Cream: 

• “This is the only cream that has soothed my baby’s skin.”
  
  
• “My kid keeps asking me for the cream that doesn’t burn.”
  
  
• “It goes on really lux and it actually cleared up an eczema flare my daughter had after swimming”

Even adults with eczema are hooked: “I’ve been using it too because it feels so nice.” 

Shop the Only Truly Ultra-Hypoallergenic Skincare for Babies

We built Song Lab for families like ours, parents who want safer, science-backed skincare they can trust. With support from leading dermatologists, pediatric dermatologists, and allergists, we’re proud to offer the first ultra-hypoallergenic cream made for babies and children with eczema. 

References
1. Poster presentation at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) 2024 Annual Meeting by Maria Karim, MD. https://www.hcplive.com/view/preservative-surfactant-allergens-infant-skincare-products
2.   32853 Baby moisturizers: Prices, allergens, and marketing claims Rick, Jonathan W.Morgan, Austin G.De, Devea R. et al. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 87, Issue 3, AB22
3. Young PA, Gui H, Bae GH. Prevalence of Contact Allergens in Natural Skin Care Products From US Commercial Retailers. JAMA Dermatol. 2022 Sep 14;158(11):1323–5. doi: 10.1001/jamadermatol.2022.3180. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36103164; PMCID: PMC9475434.
4. Adomaite I, Vitkuviene A, Petraitiene S, Rudzeviciene O. Food allergens in skincare products marketed for children. Contact Dermatitis. 2020;83(4):271-276. doi:10.1111/cod.13645