About Our Pregnancy-Safe Ingredient Checker App

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Our Story

Little Bean app is a female-founded health tech start-up with a primary aim of facilitating easy identification of ingredients in beauty and daily consumer products that are potentially harmful to use during pregnancy. Through integration of word recognition software, Little Bean identifies ingredients of potential harm when a phone camera is pointed at the ingredient list of products, so you can determine whether a certain product is safe or unsafe to use while pregnant within just a few seconds

The idea to create this app came to our founder, Mirte Maas, during her first pregnancy. As a first-time mom to-be, she often found herself looking up each ingredient of a product individually, in order to determine whether it was safe to use or not. Clearly, there was a need for a platform that aggregates information on the safety of using certain cosmetic ingredients during pregnancy in one place and that speeds up everyday decision-making by allowing users to quickly and effortlessly call up the research relevant to the product of concern. At Little Bean, we’re committed to providing reliable information sourced from reputable outlets like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), European Medicines Agency (EMA), PubMed, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Our team collaborates to curate data on product ingredients, emphasizing peer-reviewed research studies and insights from healthcare professionals. We prioritize understanding how these components may impact pregnancy and in utero development, supplementing our findings with information on breastfeeding or conception when available.

"We want to take the stress out of deciding what skincare to use during pregnancy "

The Research

Due to ethical limitations in research on pregnant individuals, knowledge,
regarding the effects of many common cosmetic ingredients on pregnancy, remains limited to date and consists largely of findings from mouse studies, case- or retrospective studies. Direct cause-and-effect relationships are difficult to suggest and medical consensus on which ingredients are pregnancy-safe or – unsafe difficult to reach, resulting in, often varying, speculative recommendations only. We strive to continuously update the information available on the Little Bean app, as new research findings emerge.

Mirte Maas

Founder and CEO

Originally from the Netherlands, Mirte’s interest in skincare began when she was an international model. Having the clear, bright skin expected as part of her job while often jetlagged, frequent traveling, and frequent applications of a diverse array of make-up products proved challenging. Nevertheless, it lead her to seek the support of quality skincare products and jumpstarted her passion for this field. Little Bean app was founded in 2021 when Mirte was pregnant with her first child. With countless beauty products at home and a ton of ambiguous information online, she was having difficulty figuring out which of these products to include or exclude from her regimen during this time. Having recently graduated from Columbia University, she scoured the university’s online library and created a personal list of all potentially harmful ingredients that she would rather avoid. Even with this list in hand, it felt like an impossible task to identify all of the potentially harmful ingredients listed on product labels. That’s when Little Bean was born.

Victoria Wegener

Coordinator

After graduating with a degree in Clinical Psychology from UC San Diego in 2019, Victoria developed a passion for psychosomatics—the connection between mind and body—focusing on dermatology. As a rosacea patient, she faced the complexities of navigating the beauty industry, inspiring her to help others find products suited to their skin needs. Her experience on the global marketing team of an international beauty company gave her unique insights into product development and consumer marketing, deepening her understanding of consumer packaged goods. In 2021, she began a post-baccalaureate program in pre-medical sciences at UC Berkeley, aiming to empower others to make informed decisions about beauty products, especially during pregnancy, by evaluating formulations beyond marketing claims.

Kacie Barlow

Head of Content

Kacie is a nurse and holistic esthetician with a passion for creating, curating, and educating about natural skincare solutions safe for the entire family. Drawing from her medical background and love for ancestral traditions, she empowers others to embrace clean, non-toxic products and practices that nurture skin health without compromise. Kacie’s expertise and dedication to high-quality ingredients make her a trusted resource for families seeking effective and wholesome skincare options.