Everyone talks about the “glow of pregnancy” which is true for some women but not all. Most women experience an increase in acne and other skin issues due to their fluctuating hormone levels. It’s important to invest time and effort in good 7 Popular Skincare Ingredients for Your Skin, and Pregnancy because it helps you feel better about your appearance and yourself.
It also helps you remember that self-care is important because a lot of new moms focus completely on their babies, to the extent that they neglect their health and wellbeing. Here are a few must-haves to include in your pregnancy skincare routine:
- Pregnancy-Safe Sunscreen
Your body undergoes a lot of changes during pregnancy including changes in hormone levels which can make your skin far more sensitive to sunlight. It is estimated that over half of all women develop melasma during their pregnancies. Melasma or the “mask of pregnancy” causes dark patches to appear, typically on your cheeks and forehead.
It is believed that the increase of estrogen, progesterone, and melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) are the root cause of the problem. However, exposure to sunlight can cause these patches to darken and become more visible. Using sunscreen daily will help to protect your skin from the harsh UV rays of the sun.
Not all sunscreens are safe to use during pregnancy as some of them contain chemicals such as oxybenzone or homosalate which are known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). As the name suggests, EDCs can disrupt hormone function and could have adverse effects on your baby’s development. A review of the best pregnancy-safe sunscreens by independent experts will help you choose a sunscreen that suits your skin type and meets your needs.
- Gentle Cleanser
Most of us don’t bother to read the label on our beauty products mainly because it’s usually a long list of chemicals that we haven’t even heard of before. Cleansers have a lot of additional chemicals to improve the shelf-life of the product or to improve the texture or fragrance.
These added chemicals do not have anything to do with the effectiveness of the facewash and some chemicals could even be harmful. For instance, chemicals like phthalates and parabens are best avoided even though there is no concrete evidence to prove that they will harm your baby.
However, animal studies indicate that these chemicals could theoretically impact your baby which is why the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that you avoid beauty products that contain these chemicals.
- Hydrating Moisturizer
All of us have heard about the dangers of BPA (bisphenol A) in packaged food but few people know that the same chemical is often used in moisturizers. Moisturizers contain oils that attract mold which is why BPA is added to them because it is an effective preservative and can extend the shelf-life of the moisturizer.
However, BPA in moisturizers could be particularly harmful since it is not washed off for several hours which increases the amount that is absorbed by your skin. What’s worse is that most of us apply our moisturizers before we go to bed which means that the chemicals in them continue to be absorbed by our skin throughout the night.
Studies show that BPA and other chemicals from the same family, such as BPS (bisphenol S), BPF (bisphenol F) and BPAF (bisphenol AF), are found in higher levels in cord blood compared to the mother’s blood. When choosing your moisturiser, make sure that they does not contain any of the chemicals in the BPA family and that they are labelled “paraben-free”.
At first, you might find it difficult to give up your array of regular skincare products but remind yourself that this will be safer for your little one. You can supplement your basic skincare routine with simple homemade skincare remedies. For example, you can mix tomato juice with a little rice flour to make a gentle exfoliating scrub or you can use teabags to reduce puffiness around your eyes.
If you have sensitive skin, you can mix ground oats with honey and a little water to make a face mask that is gentle on your skin. Under no circumstances should you take any oral medications without first discussing it with your doctor. Even if you have used these medications before, it does not mean that they are safe to use during pregnancy. For instance, oral retinoids are known to cause serious birth defects so you cannot use them at all while pregnant or breastfeeding.
