Pregnancy-Safe Skincare Products That Bring You Healthy, Beautiful Skin
Meet Versine - skincare products that you can enjoy, worry-free. Originally created with doctors and experts for hormonal and pregnant skin, Versine discovered their uncompromising formulas with gentle active ingredients can transform the look and feel of any sensitive and reactive skin. Every ingredient in their products have been vetted by experts and serve a vital function.
Versine was founded by Jennie Gao who wanted to know - why was it so hard to find effective and pregnancy-safe skincare products? After her struggle to find safe products, Jennie developed a high-quality, effective, multitasking skincare brand that is suited for all stages of life - including pregnancy and nursing.
Jennie joins us to share more about Versine, their safe ingredients and its mission to create pregnancy-safe skincare products that are simple to use, effective, and joyful.
Why was it important for you to launch Versine?
Because I personally wanted something like Versine while TTC, during and after my pregnancies, and it didn’t exist in the market. I was working as a domestic violence prosecutor and pregnant with my second child. The stress dealt a blow to my skin, and I discovered that it was very difficult to find skincare with science-based active ingredients that didn’t include hormone disruptors and other ingredients that you should avoid while trying to conceive or pregnant.
Motherhood often means sacrifices, but I wanted to retain a small part of our ritual from our previous life, without compromise. That means I really wanted something that was efficacious, a beautiful experience, and good for our bodies and the environment.
After wavering for quite a while, I took a leap of faith and founded Versine. By working together with dermatologists and an OBGYN, we made Versine completely safe for one of the most sensitive times in a woman’s life, while maintaining efficacy. We also made sure to streamline the ingredients, so one bottle of our serum contains a multitude of actives that can replace numerous products. We know (from personal experience) that moms don’t have time to layer numerous products or figure out the correct order to use ingredients.
What precautions should women take with their skincare routine during pregnancy?
There are so many differing views on this, and it really depends on your risk tolerance! Ingredients often on avoid lists include retinoids (especially oral ones), hydroquinone, high levels of AHAs and BHAs, arbutin, benzoyl peroxide, essential oils, fragrances, and chemical sunscreens.
Though it’s impossible to avoid altogether, try to stay away from endocrine disruptors like phthalates, which are often a hidden ingredient in fragrances. And just because something is “natural,” that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s safe. For example, recent studies have shown that lavender essential oil and tea tree essential oil may disrupt hormones in young children. Though the research is still new and requires further exploration on different populations, it’s food for thought.
We love that your products are pregnancy and breastfeeding-safe. What ingredients and processes do you use to ensure Versine’s products are safe for all stages of motherhood?
We work with dermatologists, an OBGYN and an aesthetician to vet all our products. Additionally, we stay away from any ingredients that have any increased risk profiles, including salicylic acid, phenoxyethanol, glycolic acid, even though not all sources agree on the risks of these ingredients. This is because I feel that pregnancies and new motherhood are nerve-wracking enough as is, and I really want to provide moms with a complete peace of mind.
Instead we use non-irritating ingredients that are universally agreed to be great for skin and the growing baby - like azelaic acid, niacinamide, stable Vitamin C, squalane, Kakadu plum extract, etc. We pack our serums with these key ingredients while leaving out “fillers” like fragrances to minimize chances of irritation and allergic reactions. We also use glass packaging, which is both recyclable, and is inert, so it doesn’t react with the ingredients.
Part of your mission is to minimize our environmental impact. What steps do you take with Versine to prioritize sustainability?
Our products are vegan, we don’t do any testing on animals and we use minimal packaging - only enough to protect our products. We don’t laminate our paper, and use glass bottles, so our products can be recycled in more jurisdictions. The only component that isn’t recyclable is our plastic pump.
We offset our footprint by planting trees and removing plastic bottles from our larger environment, when you purchase a product from us. So far, we have planted over 3,000 trees and rescued approximately 15,000 plastic bottles.
We look to multitask products so you can do more with less.
Learn more about Versine and their brand values, plus shop their pregnancy-safe skincare products through our marketplace.