Pregnancy and nursing safe skin care routine

Caitlyn Torres
Mar 20, 2019
2 min read

Let's be real, having a baby does a number on your skin. It starts when you're pregnant and it doesn't end until well after you finish nursing, and no one condition sticks throughout. The constant hormone shifts play a huge role in all this fun. One week you're breaking out, one week you're clear, one week you're dry and the next you're oily. My skin was never great to begin with, so I relied heavily on products to keep it balanced. Unfortunately, most my skin care routine wasn't safe to use while pregnant and nursing. Retinoids (and retinols), are the unparalleled, holy-grail product for both acne and fine lines and are considered unsafe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Womp. I was determined to find another option so my thirty year old self didn't have to walk around like a pubecent teen. Here's what my daily skin care routine looks like now:

To remove my makeup I use Organic Coconut oil and warm water wash cloth! It's not expensive, can be found just about anywhere and it actually has antibacterial properties too. Win, win. Put a tiny bit in your hands, rub it in circles on your face and wipe it clean with a warm wash cloth. Splash it off with warm water and viola! Make-up free face.

Next, I wash with NEUTROGENA® Fresh Foaming Cleanser. It's alcohol free and that's super important so your skin doesn't dry out. Again, super inexpensive option and it lasts me a long time. I've been using this since I can remember, but I'm sure there are plenty of safe options! I recently tried Rodan + Fields Redefine line and have been loving it!

Rule of thumb: Wash your face every night. I don't care how tired you are or how much makeup you didn't wear that day. Wash it!

After I dry my face off, I use a toner. Thiiiiissss is my favorite find ever. Thayers Witch Hazel Alcohol Free Toner. It is legit, yo. It's a cruelty free, organic product and I swear it's been my skin's lifesaver. It has anti-inflammatory properties so it dulls redness and inflammation, and tightens pores. To top it off it's an all natural moisturizer since it contains aloe vera. Oh, it's good for bug bites too!

I found that my skin was always so oily because my pores were working extra hard to produce the natural (good) oil that I was stripping it of with the cleansers I was using. Seriously it took me like 26 years to figure that out. So now I use an all natural moisturizer, grape seed oil, every night. Sounds weird but it's found in the skin care section of GNC, I swear! Less is more with this stuff. I love the results but my white pillowcases hate it.