Top 10 Pregnancy-Safe Skincare and Beauty Products
Now that you’re pregnant, you might be interested in adjusting your beauty routine to weed out any unnecessary chemicals (this is the perfect time to explore the vast clean beauty market!) and address your pregnancy skin woes (surging hormone levels might cause dry patches, bouts of pregnancy acne, or both!).
Nurtured 9 is here to offer suggestions of pregnancy-safe skincare and beauty products and brands that we hope will help you feel your absolute best during the next nine months.Based on our research and personal experience, here are the clean, non-toxic beauty items that have made our Top 10 Pregnancy-Safe Skincare and Beauty Products for Pregnancy:
1. A Gentle Face Wash like Indie Lee Rosehip Cleanser
First things first: wash your face with a gentle facial cleanser. Your doctor might tell you to avoid salicylic acid, which is a potentially harmful ingredient to use during pregnancy that’s found in some products that target acne. From our experience, you also might want to avoid any face wash that’s really drying or has a strong fragrance (our skin and noses got more sensitive while expecting). Choose a mild formula from a pregnancy-safe skincare brand with clean ingredients that you enjoy using. Gently massage away any excess oil without completely stripping your skin. Read more about our favorite pregnancy-safe face washes.
2. A Pregnancy Acne Treatment like Mambino Organics Overnight Blemish Remedy
If your clear complexion has taken a turn for the worse (thanks again, hormones), we suggest incorporating a pregnancy acne treatment into your beauty routine, like this spot treatment from Mambino Organics. Pregnancy-safe beauty products will target those pimples without using any questionable ingredients (like salicylic acid), giving you greater peace-of-mind as you tend to your skin. We researched more treatments for pregnancy acne here.
3. A Hydrating Face Moisturizer with Sun Protection like Beautycounter Dew Skin Moisturizing Coverage SPF 20
Next up? Moisturize your skin and protect it from the sun with sunscreen from a pregnancy-safe skincare brand. If you haven’t heard about pregnancy melasma yet, we’ll tell you that it’s something you’ll want to avoid by slathering on the SPF daily. You’ll also want to make sure any moisturizers you’re using don’t contain retinoids, which are potentially harmful ingredients to use while expecting.
If your skin is really dry, you might want to layer on multiple products, using just one for moisture and another for sun protection. But if you’re looking for a multitasking powerhouse, choose a tinted moisturizer with built in sunscreen, giving you hydration, sun protection, and dewy skin-evening color all in one application. Looking for specifics? Read about our favorite pregnancy-safe tinted moisturizers here.
4. A Natural Deodorant like Agent Nateur Holi (stick) No. 3 Deodorant
If you’re not already using natural deodorant, we strongly suggest you hop on the bandwagon now that you’re expecting. We aren’t doctors, but we will tell you that steering clear of any potentially problematic ingredients (i.e. aluminum) during pregnancy made us feel our best. Plus, there are so many pregnancy-safe skincare brands with good natural deodorant options out there today, so why not use this opportunity to test them out? These are the three deodorants that made our top list.
5. A Clean Lip Balm like Hurraw Lip Balm
Are you extra thirsty these days? During our pregnancies, we used to wake up in the middle of the night and chug water (and not because we had been drinking alcohol the night before!). That baby needs a lot of water; It makes sense that our lips might feel dryer, too. Stay hydrated and moisturized with a natural, organic lip balm, and stash them all over your house and car so you never have to deal with that uncomfortable dry lip feeling as you navigate the throes of pregnancy. Here are our all-time favorites.
6. A Natural Highlighter like Ere Perez Vanilla Highlighter in Falling Star
That pregnancy glow. Is it a real thing? We like to think so, but that might be in part because our favorite clean highlighters have become an integral part of our pregnancy beauty routine. Since we’re stuck dealing with morning sickness, fatigue, and all the other challenges of pregnancy, we might as well embrace (and enhance!) this glowing beauty perk. These three made our top favorites list.
7. A Multitasking Cream Lip & Cheek Tint like Olio E Osso Tinted Balm
Our favorite pregnancy-safe beauty products feel luxurious, perform well, and are enjoyable to use (i.e. no overpowering herbal scents or funky textures). Enter the cream blush, which checks all of the above boxes. These dewy sticks and pots of color have enhanced our beauty routines in the best way, adding a burst of color to lips and cheeks to create that perfectly flushed, natural look that comes after a day at the beach. These are our top three picks.
8. A Non-Toxic Nail Polish like Ella + Mila
Even if you’re battling nausea, your clothes aren’t fitting, and you’re breaking out like crazy, you can still feel pulled together and more like yourself if you look down and see a fresh coat of nail polish. The problem is, with so many toxic fumes and chemical smells wafting out of a nail salon, it might not be the best spot for you to hang out. We recommend a DIY manicure (that you can tackle at home in your pjs) using non-toxic nail polish from more ingredient-conscious brands. Need more options? These brands ditch the most harmful ingredients.
9. A Belly Butter and/or Belly Oil like Zoe Organics Belly Butter
No, you can’t totally prevent stretch marks from developing (they’re mostly genetic), but you can hydrate and soothe stretching skin with a luxe belly butter and/or belly oil so you feel more comfortable as your belly expands. Plus, taking the time to massage your belly each day can be a way to bond with that bump and the baby inside it. There are so many options out there, but these are our favorite belly butters and belly oils. We like to alternate between butter and oil – or sometimes layer the two if we’re feeling crazy!
10. A Clean, Moisturizing Body Lotion like Kate McLeod Mama Stone
Lastly, we suggest finding a body lotion with a light (not overpowering) scent that’s made with clean ingredients. Certain scents and fragrances can be super irritating during pregnancy (we both felt it could even enhance our morning sickness – no thank you!). We think using a more natural, non-toxic body lotion is a great way to cut down on the number of unnecessary chemicals we put on our bodies everyday (think of how much of that lotion is absorbed into your skin!). For a list of our favorite clean body lotions, click here.
Well, there you have it! Our top ten beauty products for pregnancy. Want more pregnancy beauty recommendations? Check out our Beauty Top 3 Product Lists and read all our pregnancy beauty tips here.