Usually when we think of protecting our skin, other things come to mind instead of barrier cream. The most common way to protect bare skin is, of course, clothing. Nothing like putting on something to protect your body from the elements. You only need to look at the bio-hazard suits worn by workers at a chemical plant to see the impact clothing makes in keeping the skin away from harmful compounds.
Gloves are protective gear related to clothing which helps prevent our skin from soaking up or absorbing chemicals that might harm us. Besides these two, it’s usually hard to think of anything else that protects the skin. In fact, creams and other compounds we rub on our skin can help protect us from potentially harmful elements that can damage or harm our skin. Barrier creams are used in a wide variety of fields. From sports to industry to medicine, barrier creams help prevent infections, skin irritation, and chemical absorption. While it is perfectly understandable to question the need for barrier creams when highly sensitive gloves like nitrile and latext gloves exist, these creams do provide a key benefit that gloves don’t i.e. sensitivity.
The moment you put on or slip into material that acts as a barrier, your skin’s sensitivity is compromised. In the fields where it is used, barrier cream allows its users to do precise movements or actions that require lots of sensitivity. In other words, barrier cream steps in where latex and other sensitive gloves can’t do an adequate job. Another benefit to using barrier cream is that also allows for a wider range of movement than gloves. You can only do so much while wearing gloves. Barrier cream preserves manual dexterity and mobility.
If you are thinking of using barrier creams for your job or on your baby to prevent diaper rash, read the guide below to help you pick among the many different formulations available on the market for this type of cream. Due to the large demand for barrier creams, there are quite a large number of formulations. They sometimes suffer from manufacturing issues. Learn the most common problems so you can select better choices among your barrier cream options.
Watery Formulations in Barrier Cream
Many barrier creams involve using water-based media to hold clay or ceramic based compounds or elements that actually do the blocking. Not all manufacturers use the same media component to hold the actual barrier compounds. Some media ingredients are prone to run. As a result, if the barrier cream is not shaken or mixed for a long period of time, the cream becomes very watery. Avoid creams that have this problem because the blocking solution might not be in the right concentration when you apply it to your skin. You need an even concentration so you should choose creams that were manufactured with emulsifiers.
Cream Separation
Similar to the problem discussed with manufacturing glitches that sometimes result in watery creams, cream separation happens when the active blocking ingredient settles at the bottom and the top of the cream is more liquid. While not necessarily watery, the layer at the top is softer and more fluid than the layer at the bottom. This is a problem because if you use the top layer on your skin, you won’t be getting much protection.
