Turn to Learn – Moms got schooled at Johnson’s School of Gentle

What is the first thing that you notice on the label when shopping for a baby care product?

1. Expiry date?
2. How to use?
3. Ingredients?

How often is it that we actually bother to look at what goes inside the products? According to research, 3 out of 4 moms check everything BUT ingredients on the pack. Well, that’s what is most important! And that was the entire theme of the very informative event planned by Johnson’s. The ‘School of Gentle’ was designed to educate moms on reading the labels and understanding what goes into The New Johnson’s products. ‘Turn to Learn’ was our motto for the day.

The School of Gentle by Johnson’s Baby India

The event was planned on the 5th of July at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai as an experiential journey for moms. We headed towards the conference room armed with our cute pink school bags and ID cards. Our timetable prepared us for the day. We were to have 4 classes which I will tell you about as the day unfolds.

1. Chemistry of Gentle

We first headed to the Chemistry class set up in a separate room to learn about the chemistry aspect – what actually goes in Johnson’s products. Ram Shukla, senior director at Johnson & Johnson R&D department explained to us only the most purposeful ingredients made their way into Johnson’s baby products. Every ingredient in the products is safe and that means NO formaldehyde or parabens.

We further learned about the ingredients by making our own Johnson’s Top to Toe wash!

Lessons Learned: 

•  Johnson’s Baby maintains complete transparency in mentioning every ingredient on the product label. 
• Only the most essential and safe ingredients go in.

2. Sense of Smell

Everything about using Fragrance in baby products was made clear to us in this class. The classroom, made to resemble a garden, was aimed at telling us whether fragrance is necessary and safe.

Lessons Learned:

• Fragrance gives the products a feel-good factor and help mother and baby bond well.
• Johnson’s baby products have fragrances that are highest standard IFRA certified and are pure, mild and gentle

3. Gentle Laboratory

In the third classroom, Robert Kwon, associate director of Johnson & Johnson Asia Pacific R&D team, talked to us about how Johnson’s listens to what Moms want and incorporate their feedback. Hence, the new Johnson’s is gentler and better. And how do we know this? We tested Top-to-Toe wash and Johnson’s baby Lotion!

Lessons Learned:

• Top-to-Toe wash rinses off easily and leaves no residue on the baby’s skin

• Baby Lotion is non greasy and easily gets absorbed into baby’s skin

Biology of Gentle

In the final classroom, Dr. Preeti talked us through some of the most cutting edge research in the infant skin microbiome area and why it matters for baby’s growth and development.

Through a fun activity, we painted a picture of the skin microbiome and learned all about balance and diversity.

Lessons Learned:

Johnson’s products are perfectly pH balanced for babies’ skin.

Greenwashing & Label De-Coding

An enlightening talk by James Kennedy was one of the most important part of the School of Gentle event. It was aimed at simplifying products labels. We received simplified explanations for chemical names of ingredients that sounded confusing.

We were also made aware of the ‘Greenwashing’ technique used by many brands to sell their products. For e.g. some brands mindlessly use the terms ‘organic’, ‘preservative-free’, ‘all-natural’ etc to mislead consumers into buying their products.

Q&A

The Johnson’s team then threw open the stage for an interactive Question and Answer session. They satisfactorily answered every question about the safety and usage of Johnson’s baby products.

Their transparency about what they use and their simple, sure and meaningful answers to each of our concerns was highly appreciated by all the moms in attendance.

The ‘School of Gentle’ was such an eye opener and a very creatively designed and managed affair! Well-timed tea and lunch breaks, DIY activities and interactivity throughout the event kept us engrossed at all levels. Through the different classes, we demystified common myths and  fear of chemical formulations. The emphasis of the event, of course, was on ‘Turn to Learn’ – which simply means that YOU MUST turn the bottle and read the ingredients that are mentioned in there. And all of us left with this valuable advice planted firmly in our minds. I would like to urge all you moms to start reading and make an effort to understand the ingredients in your baby care products! Trust me, it matters most!