Family

Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap Is ‘Burning’ Kids, Pediatricians Claim

Here are the facts about the alarming warning that’s gone viral on Facebook.

Updated

8 years ago

January 8, 2020

You might’ve already seen the new warning about Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap on Facebook. If not, here’s what you need to know: Premier Pediatrics, a family medicine practice based in Utah, recently went viral for a Facebook post that warned people about the popular kid’s product “burning” a young patient’s hands.

In the post, the practice wrote: “We had a patient come in today. He had used Crayola Bathtub Fingerpaint Soap and it BURNED his hands. Luckily only his hands. We’re talking layers of skin gone!”

Just one look at the post will tell you why it now has more than 37,000 reactions and 555,000 shares; the hand photo is absolutely horrifying.

But as Snopes reports, this claim remains unproven. Patient privacy laws make it hard to find out more specific details about the child’s injury — and thus make this claim difficult to verify. On top of that, it’s worth noting that not all parents and grandparents had a similar experience with their kids and grandkids after using the product in question.

While some people in the original post’s comments mentioned similar reactions happening to their kids or grandkids, many others reported no problems at all. The same can be seen on Amazon; while some negative reviews mention “rashes” and “hives,” others report no such issue. Some commentators have even suggested that the kids who did react may simply be allergic to something in the product.

Meanwhile, Crayola said in a statement to Snopes: “Thank you for making us aware of this incident. As the manufacturer for children’s products, safety, above all else, is most important to us. We share your concerns and are actively looking into this further.”

The bottom line: At this point, we can’t be sure whether this soap indeed causes burning, but it serves as a good reminder to always be vigilant about safety and to make it a rule to read ingredient labels carefully. When it comes to trying new products, you can never be too careful — especially with little ones.