Due to hormonal changes, pregnant women also experience changes in their skin, and they’re usually not changes for the better. Some women get glowing, smooth looking skin. Others, not so lucky, may develop oily skin and acne, and still others may experience severe dryness. Many women get stretch marks.
Yet reaching for standard treatments is looked upon with skepticism? Women ask: “how all the cosmetic products will affect my baby?”. Many pregnant women dream of maintaining their youthful and glowing skin during pregnancy without undergoing cosmetic treatments. Well, this is actually an attainable dream. There are several simple, natural skincare methods you can use to keep your skin looking its best. If you are expecting and you have noticed changes to your skin, read on to learn how to deal with these changes and keep your skin looking healthy and beautiful.
Change Your Skincare Products
Your skin is changing, and it requires you to change your skin care products to meet its new needs. For example, if naturally you have oily skin and now it feels a bit dry, you may need to start buying products tailored to people with dry skin, and vice versa. Also, pregnancy can make your skin quite delicate, and some ingredients found in skincare products may suddenly start irritating your skin. So you should observe your skin after you apply your skincare products to see if there’s a bad reaction and choose different products as needed.
Use Only Natural Skincare Products
Before buying any skincare product, read the label to see the ingredients it is made of. Some skin products are made with chemical ingredients that can harm your skin in the long run (and are probably not good for unborn babies). Make sure that any skincare product you buy has ingredients that you are familiar with. It is best to use skin care products made of natural ingredients. You can buy all-natural products from a beauty outlet or prepare your own at home using ingredients like avocados, cucumbers, honey, and oats. Also, do double-check all products regardless of their looks: some products are just “green-washed”, containing same old, unhealthy ingredients in a attractive, recyclable packaging.
Avoid Heavy Makeup
Makeup with chemical ingredients can adversely affect your skin because of its newfound sensitivity. Keep the makeup to a minimum to avoid problems. If you notice your skin breaking out when you wear your makeup, avoid it altogether.
Use Moisturizing Body Washes
Your body will continually stretch from the weight gain and the growing baby bump, which can result in stretch marks, and stretch marks cause itchiness. Use body washes containing moisturizer during this period, since they help maintain the natural oils in your skin to reduce dryness and itching.
Massage Your Baby Bump
As your belly grows, the skin around your abdomen stretches, which is what causes stretch marks. To prevent this, make sure to massage your baby bump with moisturizers every day to keep your skin relaxed. This will minimize stretch marks. How about using our IONIA AZURÉ Scar Oil (which is also active against stretch marks)? It is made of 99.9% pure, organic oils (wild rose oil, calendula oil and tamanu oil) all very potent in making the skin more elastic and reducing the appearance of stretch marks.
Buy Sunscreen
One kind of product to keep using when you are expecting are sunscreens. Pregnancy causes your skin to get damaged easily when exposed to the high UV rays of direct sunlight. Staying exposed to the sun while pregnant can result in sunburns, skin discoloration, and irritation. So be sure to apply sunscreen before going out, but please use only products that OK for babies too! If possible, make sure to stay in the shade. You can also wear protective gear like sunglasses or caps.
Take Care of Your Breasts
As your pregnancy advances, your breasts will enlarge, causing your skin to stretch. This can result in itchiness and the formation of stretch marks around your breasts. You may also develop dry, cracked nipples, which can be rather painful. Apply moisturizing cream around your breast and nipples to reduce itchiness, dryness and prevent stretch marks. Wearing a maternity bra can also help.
Clean Your Skin Before Going to Bed
This is a crucial practice, most especially for pregnant women who apply makeup in the morning. The makeup you apply to your skin actually collects and traps dirt and other pollutants, clogging your skin’s pores. Your skin needs to breathe to grow healthy new cells, so you should always clean your face before you go to sleep, or immediately after you get home from work. Use natural facial cleansers when you can.
Eat Healthy, Nutritious Foods (if you can!)
For many pregnant women, eating at all is a challenge with all that nasty morning sickness or pregnancy food aversion. Suddenly, you start hating healthy foods you loved before. And then there are pregnancy cravings, with their not so nutritious combinations of salsa, pickles and ice-cream… Yet, the kinds of food you eat affect your whole body, and this includes your skin. The hormones in your body anyway do their best to disturb the skin balance. Eating lots of refined and fatty foods may exacerbate the bad influence or cause imbalances of their own. The trick here is to use the calmer times of body and soul to have healthy foods such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, and lean meats. Your skin will be quick to reflect this. By the way: if you need, dip that carrot into salsa or ice-cream, why not!
Maintain physical activity.
We know that working out is great for your skin, but in times of pregnancy your physical activity will probably be reduced. Yet it is well-known that mild and balanced exercise has many benefits during pregnancy, from decreasing the risk of diabetes to bettering your chances to loose baby weight after your baby is born. You don’t need to hit the gym to work out, since there are simple workout routines that you can do at home. For example, you can go jogging, walking, climbing stairs, and do cardio workouts at home. Working out with a belly will probably make you sweat easily, but you are actually doing your skin a big favor. Sweating washes the waste products from your skin, which reduces the chances of an acne breakout, gives your skin a healthy glow, and paves the way for the growth of healthy new skin cells.
Exfoliate Your Skin Regularly
You also need to regularly remove the dead cells from your skin by exfoliating it. Exfoliation encourages the growth of healthy new skin cells and also temporarily opens up your pores to absorb the nutrients from the skincare products you use. Just do not use any chemical products and instead try natural exfoliants, like sugar, salt or coffee grounds mixed with olive oil to a thick paste. You can exfoliate your skin at least two or three times a week.
Adopt a Healthier Lifestyle
If you happen to consume a lot of alcohol or cigarettes, now is a great time to get away. Alcohol and tobacco not only harm your baby but also cause your skin to age faster, leaving it blemished and wrinkled prematurely. You should also stay away from vaping, which may have many of the same harmful effects on your baby and your skin. Pregnancy carvings is the way for your body to ask for minerals it needs, but if your body happens to be craving sugars all the time its better no to give in too often!
Reduce Your Stress
Easily said than done! With so many things changing and needing organization, it is just natural that expecting mothers shall be stressed out. Balancing it all will likely play havoc with your emotions and some of your friends and relatives won’t help by telling you stories of what can go wrong during birth or asking again and again when your baby is due. Some stressful situations you may be able to escape (how about using your morning sickness as an excuse not to go to your aunt today and spare yourself two hours of baby-lecturing?), but some you won’t be able to avoid. The best way to deal with it is not allowing stresses to accumulate. If you are fillings that things are getting too much, try to take a break for yourself and find a place of calm and piece just for you. Twenty minutes of calming down can really make a big difference for you and your skin’s healthy glow!
In Conclusion Pregnancy is difficult in many ways, but skin problems don’t have to be one of them. If you pay attention to your skin’s new needs and take care of them, you can have a healthy, glowing look throughout your pregnancy. But it is surprisingly easy to have glowing and healthy-looking skin. Just follow the advice given above, and you’ll have people complimenting your youthful, glowing look.