Taking care of your skin is a fierce act of love toward your body and a way to practice self-care in your everyday life.
When you’re preggo, it may feel like all this self-love and self-care become a tad more complicated. For one thing, pregnancy-related hormonal changes can lead to skin changes like dryness, acne, or a darkening complexion (melasma). Additionally, many skincare products aren’t recommended for pregnant women. These two factors might mean that you have to change up your skincare products and alter your routine.
Pregnancy-related skin changes are common and a totally normal part of carrying a baby.
Whether you’re experiencing skincare changes or not while you’re growing babe inside of you, peep our finest tips below on how to safely engage in sweet, sweet self-love for your skin through all the trimesters.
Best Skin Care Practices for Moms-To-Best
Now that you’re pregnant, you can think of your skincare routine as a regimen for two. Of course, you’re not washing the baby’s face or putting lotion on them quite yet, but your baby can absorb whatever your body absorbs. When applying topical products to your skin, your body absorbs 2-5% of its active ingredients. That means that babe can also absorb some of those active ingredients.
Unfortunately, just because a skin care product and its active ingredients don’t bother us full-grown ladies doesn’t mean they won’t irritate the tiny humans kicking around inside us.
Every woman has a unique pregnancy, and your OB-GYN is your best source of info on what skincare ingredients might not be safe. However, in general, many experts recommend taking caution with:
- Retinol
- Retinoids
- Salicylic acid
- Phenoxyethanol
- Hydroquinone
- Neem oil
- Benzoyl peroxide
Don’t throw out your whole skincare routine, though! We’ve put together a guide that includes products with pregnancy-safe ingredients. From washing your face to balancing your pores to moisturizing your face for that delicious pore hydration, we’ve got you.
Let’s take a look at how you can cleanse, tone, moisturize, and sunscreen your way through pregnancy and rock a glamorously bright skin glow well past your fourth trimester.
Cleansers
To start off, we have to mention our Mama Beauty Line of pregnancy-safe skincare products. The Mama Beauty line can help support your skin changes and bring out that pregnancy glow.
When it comes to cleansers, it’s usually fine to continue using your regular facial wash as long as it does not contain one of the above ingredients that are unsafe for pregnancy. This goes for all of your skincare and beauty products — you may as well enjoy the routine you already have and try to keep it as consistent as you safely can with your original regimen!
Sometimes, you may have to make a switch, though. If this is the case, try a cleanser with azelaic acid or glycolic acid. These active ingredients are both pregnancy-safe options for acne treatment in particular.
Additionally, if you were previously using a salicylic acid-based face wash to help manage your acne, talk to your dermatologist. They may have specific recommendations on what you can use instead. Sometimes, they may even tell you that your facial wash has a low enough salicylic acid content that it’s safe to continue using during your pregnancy.
Toners
When it comes to toners, bakuchiol and vitamin C are powerful, skin-boosting, and balancing ingredients. Products with these active ingredients can help clear your skin, mitigate fine lines, and brighten your skin tone.
Our Brighten Up Serum is a great retinol alternative treatment with bakuchiol, nourishing oils, and gentle fruit extracts. As a brightening serum, it works to manage dark spots and wrinkles. It’s loaded with antioxidants that help hydrate and nourish your skin to give it a smooth texture and soft, glowing appearance.
Moisturizers
After cleansing and exfoliating, apply some moisturizer. Pregnancy is all about hydration. Most skin care moisturizers don’t contain harmful ingredients for pregnant women, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to continue using your favorite routine product. However, always double-check the ingredients (it’s smart to verify with your dermatologist, too).
There are a couple of additional moisturizers you may want to add to your skincare routine now that you’re preggo. One is our Belly Oil, which is a nourishing oil blend with calming botanicals that will help soothe your stretch marks from bump to boobs. Plus, it’s dermatologist and allergy tested and has a quick-dry formula so that you can put on a trendy maternity outfit soon after you apply it and seal in your skin moisture.
Our Nipple & Lip Rescue Balm is another flawless addition to your pregnancy and breastfeeding skincare routine. It’s nourishing and hydrating for those dry, cracked lips or those tender nips, and it also works well to soothe any dry areas (hello, overgrown cuticles or dry hands!)
Sunscreen
Sunscreen is such an important part of skincare, and applying a daily SPF as a physical barrier for sun protection can do wonders to keep your skin healthy. For the time being, you might want to put away chemical sunscreens with oxybenzone or avobenzone. Instead, perhaps opt for mineral-based sunscreens with pregnancy-safe active ingredients (like zinc oxide or titanium dioxide).
Our Sunny Mama Face Mineral Sunscreen is a great pregnancy-safe alternative that feels ultra-light when you put it on. Plus, it has a powerful broad-spectrum formula for all those ladies with sensitive skin out there.
Anti-Aging
Let’s be real—sunscreen is the absolute best anti-aging shield out there. However, there are additional anti-aging practices you can take on as part of your skincare routine, like extra hydration to help mitigate fine lines and hyperpigmentation.
Our Ultimate Glow Face Oil has rich hydrating ingredients, like hyaluronic acid and antioxidants, to nourish and brighten your skin throughout pregnancy and beyond. For the ultimate skincare act of self-love, try our Pregnancy Glow Bundle, which has our rescue serum and the glow face oil together.
Joy & Consistency: The Most Important Ingredients
When it comes to pregnancy-safe skincare, the most important ingredients are joy and consistency. As long as you enjoy your skincare routine, and stay consistent in the pregnancy-safe skincare products that you use, then you’ll be able to rock that pre-baby glow for both you and future mini-you.
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