I get lots of questions about my pregnancy skincare routine and honestly, it’s not that interesting or special Frankly, it’s not that much. I have dealt with acne my entire life. I finally went on Accutane as an adult before my wedding and while it changed my skin, I still get breakups now years later. I’ve sort of just grown to accept it and live with it. It’s not terrible cystic acne or crazy breakouts anymore, but I still need to stick to my skincare routine, which includes using an over the counter acne treatment every night to keep it under control. (And I fully plan on going back on Retin-A after I have the baby though that’s mostly for its wrinkling-busting, anti-aging magic.) But here’s the crazy thing. While a lot of women with otherwise perfectly clear skin deal with hormonal breakouts during pregnancy, my skin clears up. I mean don’t hate me, but I’m that lucky you know what who has clear, glowy skin her entire pregnancy. But then it poof disappears as soon as I deliver and I start breaking out regularly again if I don’t get on top of it, so you don’t need to actually hate me. I wish it was the other way around. But perhaps that’s why I’m one of the crazy ones who loves to be pregnant. In any event, I keep getting compliments on my short-lived clear, glowy skin and asked to share my pregnancy skincare routine, so I thought I’d do a blog post on it.
Let me preface this by saying that I’m not a skincare expert or a medical expert. You should consult with your doctor about what is safe to use during your pregnancy and obviously what works for my very crazy and specific skin may not work for yours. Now I am from the school of thought that less is better when it comes to skincare. I wash my face once a day — at night only. I only use a few products, and even fewer during pregnancy, and I find my skin reacts the best this way. I know people who swear by fancy serums and use a million products and it’s part of their self-care. I love that for them. But for me, I would rather spend two minutes getting ready for bed and the rest of the time in bed, and I just don’t have time in the mornings to do much skincare in the mad dash to get everyone dressed, fed and ready for the day.
The main difference between my regular skincare routine and what I do when I’m pregnant is that I use even fewer products. I cut out eye cream, retinol, my favorite glow pads, my at-home laser mask, and treatments like Botox that I swear do more than any pricey cream or serum you’ll ever try.
Here is my very simple pregnancy skincare routine that I find works particularly well for acne prone skin.
Mornings
As noted above, I do not wash my face
Apply Supergoop City Serum SPF/moisturizer
Apply concealer, bronzer, and mascara if time and not going to workout. If I have a TV appearance, live, important meetings etc, I’ll add in powder, blush, do my eyebrows, and occasionally, eyeliner and eyeshadow.
Evenings
Wash face with exfoliator that’s free of parabens and other harmful ingredients or with this Neutrogena acne wash with benzoyl peroxide
Apply this Neutorgena benzoyl peroxide spot treatment (when not pregnant, I would swap this with Retin-A)
Weekly
Use my micro needle tool to remove dead skin cells (highly recommend investing in this — transforms your skin)
Shave face with these brushes (I probably do this more like twice a month though if I’m being honest)
And that’s it. Seriously. I’m telling you, less is more. Your skin is particularly sensitive and reactive to hormones when pregnant, so I find doing less is best, and with fewer products, there are fewer ingredients you have to worry about being safe enough to use when pregnant…
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