Our Sustainable Guide To Pregnancy Safe Skincare

Ingredients To Avoid

Now is a great time to focus on natural and organic ingredients whenever you can! By doing so, you can make sure that you’re using products that are free from harmful chemicals.

A Few Ingredients To Check Your Skincare For:

• Aluminum (Found in antiperspirants) 
• Formaldehyde (Used as a preservative in synthetic skincare) 
• Chemical Sunscreens (Opt for mineral-based or natural sunscreens) 
• Retinoids (Found in anti aging and acne treatments) 
• Parabens (Used as preservatives in synthetic skincare) 
• Phthalates (Used in as fragrance ingredients in synthetic skincare products) 
• Glycolic Acid (AHA found in exfoliating treatments)
• Salicylic Acid (BHA found in acne or exfoliating treatments, its best to avoid using in high concentrations) 

Opting for clean, pregnancy safe skincare supports the welfare of you and your baby. Many people find green beauty products during this time and keep using them!

Changes In Your Skin During Pregnancy

Hormonal changes during pregnancy can greatly affect the skin’s look and feel. Some women get a radiant pregnancy glow. Others may have sensitive skin and face issues like acne or dark spots. Blemish or acne-prone skin is common. This often happens because of high androgen levels. These hormones can make sebaceous glands produce more oil. More oil can clog pores and cause breakouts. Hyperpigmentation can happen due to hormone changes. Too much melanin in the skin causes this.

Our bodies are amazing. They nurture and grow new life. However, they also change physically to support a baby’s growth and development. Most Mums get stretch marks during pregnancy. This happens because hormonal changes impact the skin’s elasticity and collagen production. We want to emphasize that stretch marks are normal. They remind us of the body’s resilience and adaptability, as well as the journey of motherhood. Embracing them is important. Pregnancy safe skincare can help you this.

A Gentle Routine And Lots Of Hydration

Our top two tips for skincare during pregnancy are to stay hydrated and use gentle products. Hormone changes, especially higher estrogen and progesterone, can impact your skin’s moisture barrier. It’s also common for your skin to become a lot more sensitive. Some products you used before pregnancy might be too harsh for your skin now. We recommend using gentle, hydrating products. Choose ones with natural ingredients that won’t irritate your skin.

Our Favourite Brands For You During Your Pregnancy

Bathtime Skincare: Wilder and Well Kept 

Taking baths during your pregnancy can be a wonderful way to relax and reduce stress levels. It can provide relief from any aches, pains and swelling, as well as being a great way for your body to absorb moisture, helping to hydrate the body.

Wilder’s Healing Spirit Soak is a blend of Vetiver and Rose Geranium. Its heavenly scent uplifts and heals the spirit. The Pink Himalayan Salts and fine French Kaolin clay cleanse and nurture. Wilder’s unique 42-day double-infused Calendula oil soothes the skin. It also helps release stagnant energy from the solar plexus, our powerhouse chakra linked to the adrenals. A truly healing experience.

A popular choice for bath time during pregnancy is Well Kept’s Natural Bath Oil in Drift. Just one or two drops let you enjoy aromatherapy’s benefits easily. It’s made with a coconut oil base to help hydrate your skin and a soothing blend of bergamot, rose and clary sage essential oils.

Skincare For Your Body

Wilder Botanics

After a bath, moisturizing is a great treat. So, when you have some extra time in the evening, enjoy this little luxury. We love Wilder’s body oils! The Flower of the Sun Body Oil offers great woody and floral nourishment. But our favorite is the Goddess of Protection Body Oil. Who wouldn’t want to feel embraced and protected by a loving skincare Goddess? This is oil is infused with Sea Buckthorn and the protective powers of Wilder’s unique 42 day double infused Sencha Green Tea oil. This soothing blend revives the skin, especially if it’s damaged by things like central heating or the sun. It restores both body and mind with earthy, uplifting notes of Bergamot and Vetiver.

The Golden Secrets

The Womb Wisdom Skin-Toning Oil by The Golden Secrets is perfect for prenatal and postnatal moms. It’s made with effective, organic ingredients like cocoa seed butter, olive oil, and tamanu. These also include frankincense, sweet orange oil, and vitamin E. They protect against damage and quickly absorb into the skin. This forms a barrier that keeps moisture in. It helps soothe itchy, tight skin and reduces stretch marks. It encourages natural elasticity and boosts skin regeneration for a smooth, clear and ageless glow.

Use the code ‘REV15’ for 15% off your first purchase with The Golden Secrets!

Be Here Farm + Nature

Taylor, our Head of Brand Partnerships, used Be Here Farm + Nature during her pregnancy. She loved it! Their collection consists of whole medicinal foods and botanical plants. Each item is planted, nurtured, grown, and harvested by hand. They do this in the wild and on their 300 acres of family land in Saint Helena, California. No lab-made ingredients or preservatives are used, just biodynamic olive oil, raw honey, and sea salt.

Their Lavender Hydrating Essence uses all-natural ingredients. It’s perfect for giving your skin a hydration boost, especially during pregnancy. Lavender is calming and soothing, making it ideal for sensitive skin. Its antimicrobial properties fight acne-causing bacteria. This helps manage and prevent blemishes, especially during hormonal changes. Its calming and relaxing scent can help to reduce stress, anxiety and promote better sleep. It can be applied liberally to your body and face! We also love the Restorative Body Serum by Be Here Farm + Nature. It’s made with wild St. John’s wort, German chamomile, and stinging nettle. These ingredients blend into olive and avocado oil, which nourishes your entire body.

Facial Skincare

Irene Forte

Irene Forte offers a lovely range of gentle skincare products. They use natural ingredients grown on an organic farm at Verdura Resort in Sicily. Each product is clinically approved for sensitive or dehydrated skin. We love their Aloe Face Cream. It boosts skin hydration thanks to pro-vitamin B5, hyaluronic acid, and aloe leaf juice. Organic olive oil, shea butter, and avocado oil help restore the skin’s barrier. They also protect and keep moisture levels intact.

Their Rose Face Oil is also included. It’s a lightweight, fast-absorbing serum-oil. This oil nourishes the skin and helps restore its barrier. Plus, it boosts the skin’s natural vitamin E levels. This blend of nutrient-rich oils—avocado, sweet almond, sunflower, olive, and jojoba—hydrates and smooths the skin. Meanwhile, wild rose conditions and protects it.

Team Dr Joseph

Team Dr. Joseph’s skincare products are handmade in Italy. Skin experts, herbalists, and cosmetic formulators create these products for specific issues. They use natural raw materials. This includes wild growth collections, plants from organic farming, and refined botanicals. These ingredients have proven clinical effectiveness. They provide products for sensitive and reactive skin, especially during pregnancy.

Team Dr Joseph’s plant based and organic Skin Calming Cream is ideal for reactive, stressed, sensitive or dry skin. Made using rhodiola, St John’s wort, panethnol and shea butter, it works to reduce redness, irritation while strengthening and rehydrating the skin’s natural barrier. Throughout your pregnancy, changes in hormone levels and physical discomforts make it challenging to get a restful night’s sleep. One of the areas that may be particularly affected by lack of sleep is the delicate skin around the eyes, leading to dark circles, fine lines and puffiness. The Hydrating Eye Cream is ideal for adding an extra boost of moisture to the under eye area, helping to hydrate this area of sensitive skin, reducing puffiness and improving the appearance of dark circles.

FāTH Skincare 

FāTH Skincare launched in 2021 and is made with the world’s finest botanical ingredients, free from parabens, phthalates, sulfates, synthetic fragrance and synthetic preservatives (the ingredients you want to avoid during pregnancy). Their range is professionally formulated by a small team of chemists specialised in herbalism, emulsification and skincare delivery systems. 

The Infinity Cream is an overnight treatment that aids the skin’s natural regeneration processes for smoother, firmer and brighter skin. The use of camellia seed oil makes it super moisturising with high levels of plant collagen that improve the appearance of fine lines and ward off hyperpigmentation. The borage seed oil helps to rebuild the skin’s natural barrier while sea buckthorn oil promotes elasticity and brightness! Also featured is The Mage Oil, a deeply nourishing and restorative oil made with botanical ingredients such as pomegranate seed oil, cypress leaf oil, prickly pear oil and arnica extract. The combination of these natural ingredients work to retain moisture, improve discoloration while helping the skin’s natural rejuvenation process!

Skincare for you and your little one

Mini Bloom has a carefully curated line of mother and baby friendly skincare products. From seed to skin, Mini Bloom offers only the most effective, safest ingredients for your baby and the Earth. Their products are free of parabens, sulfates, silicones, toxins, synthetic fragrances or harsh ingredients, and use plant-based, natural and organic ingredients with your baby and the planet in mind. These are 100% non-toxic, hypoallergenic, dermatologist-developed, tested and approved as well as being certified cruelty-free.

Featured here is the Mom’s SOS Essentials Kit. This includes the Toot Toot Balm, a relief cream which instantly calms irritated skin and provides a thick barrier of protection against diaper rash. This magical cream deeply yet gently nourishes any irritations with butters, oils and botanicals, providing soothing relief to sore skin. The Hallelujah Nipple Balm, also included within the kit, is specifically developed to soothe dry, cracked and sensitive nipples. Infused with hydrating oils, nourishing butters and botanical extracts, its skin nurturing and ultra calming! It’s also worth noting our USDA-certified nipple balm doesn’t need to be removed before breastfeeding, and also works wonders to treat chapped lips and dry cuticles! 

Mini Bloom’s sulfate free 2-in-1 Fresh N’ Clean Hair and Body Wash is also filled with nourishing botanicals including aloe leaf, chamomile extract and lavender leaving the hair and skin cuddly soft, smooth and hydrated.

Choosing gentle and safe skincare products during pregnancy prioritises the well-being of both you and your baby.

Skincare is also a great self-care ritual and can offer you a new sense of confidence during this transformative journey!

We hope that this editorial has been helpful for any expecting Mammas!