Why are babies' skin so soft and smooth?

Scientists theorised that the secret to why babies have such soft skin lies in the white, milky substance called vernix that envelopes the fetus when it is in the womb but it is wiped off almost immediately after birth. And if you have seen newborns right out of the womb, it is inspiring but not quite a pretty sight to those of low tolerance.

This layer of vernix actually protects the fetus’s skin for those 9 months, from amniotic fluid so you don’t get a wrinkly prune when the baby is fresh out of the womb. Vernix is mainly composed of sebum and fatty acids and beauty companies have been researching how to incorporate this into beauty products to be marketed for the people who want to retain their youthful skin.

While the full potential and composition of the vernix is complex, its power can be seen from cases where premature babies often do not have the time to develop enough amounts of this protective coating and thus are more prone to having skin problems in future.

While of course there are other factors that would permanently change the way they look no matter what they started off with, like hormones, diet and all the things that come with aging, they are factors we can’t really manipulate to our favour. And while there is a beauty and grace that comes with aging, let us still hope that ethical beauty companies will one day be able to bottle up such essences.