Can pregnant women use mint shower gel?

Although mint is a very good Chinese medicinal material, it cannot be eaten by pregnant women because it can easily cause miscarriage if pregnant women eat it. Moreover, the scent of mint is very strong. Pregnant women cannot even smell the scent of mint because smelling too much mint will have a very obvious impact on the health of the baby. However, many daily necessities in life contain mint ingredients. Can pregnant women use mint shower gel?

Mint, whose local name is "silver dan grass", is a plant of the Lamiaceae family, that is, other dried whole herbs of the same genus. It grows mostly in mountain wetlands and beside rivers, with rhizomes growing horizontally underground. It grows mostly at an altitude of 2,100 meters, but can also grow at an altitude of 3,500 meters. It is an aromatic crop with special economic value. The whole plant has a green and fragrant smell. The leaves are opposite, the flowers are small, lavender, and lip-shaped, and small dark purple-brown fruits are produced after flowering.

Mint is one of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicines. It is a pungent and cool diaphoretic and antipyretic medicine, used to treat influenza, headache, red eyes, fever, sore throat, swollen and painful gums, etc. External use can treat neuralgia, skin itching, rash and eczema. Usually, mint is used instead of tea to clear the mind and improve eyesight.

Precautions for using mint

1. People with yin deficiency and blood dryness, hyperactivity of liver yang, and excessive sweating should avoid taking mint leaves.

2. Women during pregnancy should avoid using it. Because mint can inhibit milk secretion, breastfeeding women should not use it too much. And because mint is aromatic and pungent, patients with lung deficiency, cough, yin deficiency, fever and sweating should use it with caution. In addition, the ingredients in mint can easily evaporate and become ineffective due to heat, so it is best to add it after the water has boiled. It has the effect of refreshing the brain and stimulating it, so it is not advisable to drink too much at night to avoid causing sleep problems.

3. The elderly have weak resistance and poor body regulation ability. They are prone to catching colds when using mint shower gel. Moreover, blood vessels will contract after catching a cold, which can easily cause blood pressure to rise. Patients with cardiovascular diseases should use it with caution.

4. When using bath products containing mint, make sure your body feels comfortable and avoid catching a cold. The weak, pregnant women, and people with weak spleen and qi should pay special attention when using these products.

5. People with dry skin may also experience itching due to excessive dryness of the skin, but it is not suitable to use mint-type shower gel to relieve this itching, because peppermint oil is volatile and may aggravate the dryness of the skin, which will be counterproductive. If there are broken skin surfaces, mint can irritate the wound and cause pain.

To sum up, pregnant women should not use mint shower gel.