Pregnancy and Hormonal Breakouts
Pregnancy and hormonal breakouts can really throw your skin for a loop. The onset of my pregnancy breakout was so quick. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Looking back, it was actually one of the first symptoms I had of being pregnant. Many women break out hormonally especially before their menstrual cycle and during pregnancy.
Before I have the baby, I want to share what has worked for my skin during this time. The skincare tips and products I recommend below are good for any hormonal breakout, so everyone can benefit from my suggestions.
Diet and Water:
I really upped my water intake during pregnancy, but had a dramatic shift in my diet because of nausea and cravings. I ate more fruit and carbs than I ever have and the more carbs I ate, the more my skin broke out (specifically from wheat). My dermatologist isn’t very holistic based and she even says that wheat and wheat gluten can cause skin flare ups. So between hormones and the wheat I was eating, I developed my skins go-to hormonal flare up in the form of rosacea.
Because of the way I felt, my diet wasn’t something I was too interested in changing during pregnancy, so I made sure my skincare routine was on point throughout.
Soothe Your Skin:
Soothing your skin is the key in combating hormonal flare-ups. You don’t want to do any intense treatments such as peels, scrubs, and anti-aging serums. These treatments could potentially cause more inflammation. I did get a couple organic facials once my skin calmed down and that seemed to help. However; I got my home skincare routine on track before I did any facials.
If you are local to Annapolis, MD a holistic based and superb facialist I recommend is Noreen at Noreen’s Boutique Spa. If you are on the Eastern Shore in MD, I recommend Missy Klein at Pure Hair Simply Skin.
If you are in DC, my lead makeup artist, Allison specializes in holistic facials at Bespoke Aesthetics in Georgetown.
Facial Cleanser:
When you have a pregnancy or hormonal skin flare-up bar soaps are the best- bar none! With the right bar soap, your skin can really be soothed and healed.
My favorites are…
Sibu Cleansing Face & Body Bar- A big thanks to my mom for recommending this face and body soap. It has really helped my skin and it is priced super affordable.
Beautycounter Charcoal Bar- I alternate my Sibu bar with this one of a kind cleansing bar from Beautycounter. It is gentle, hydrating, soothing, and sucks out your skin’s impurities- bye bye inflammation. This stuff is amazing!
Make sure to keep both bars in a well drained soap dish and away from the water splashing on it while you shower. You will want to savor every morsel of these bar soaps.
A Soothing Spritz:
I taught a makeup class in DC at the Be Clean shop and owner Becky carries the most lovely facial spritzes aka toners. She is so careful about choosing the very best ingredients in her products and she hand selects and tests all the products in her shop. I purchased the Josh Rosebrook Hydrating Accelerator- at the time I was in serious need of accelerating my facial hydration. My friend purchased the Aster and Bay Rosewater Mist. We were both extremely happy with our purchases. I told my friend (who happens to be getting married this August) that if she were to get one new beauty product, a toner should be it. She is now a believer because the toner has completely cleared up and clarified her skin.
Now, I am currently using the Nourishing Rosewater Mist by Beautycounter. High quality Rosewater is excellent for soothing redness from breakouts. After I wash my face day and night, I give it a spritz all over including my neck and let it dry. if I see my face is flaking and needs a gentle exfoliation, I wipe the toner off with an organic cotton round.
Lotions by Day:
I had a corporate headshot makeup client highly recommend the Belli skincare line for pregnant women during the peak of my 2nd trimester breakout. I was currently using my Beautycounter day cream and I needed to switch things up to see if the redness in my skin would clear.
Skincare Side Note- sometimes you have to switch things up a bit on your skin to see changes and then you can always go back to your favorites.
I tried Belli Healthy Glow Facial Hydrator and was very pleased with the outcome. I now switch between Belli and Beautycounter Nourishing Day Cream for my daily lotion. If I am outside for a short amount of time or driving, I use Beautycounter Dew Skin with SPF. Make sure to apply it after your non-sunscreen facial lotion. If I am outside for an extended period of time, I use full SPF on my face-- currently Beautycounter.
A Gentle Facial Oil:
A gentle facial oil is so soothing for inflamed and out of whack skin. In the colder months, I used Farm Esthetics Complexion Conserve Remedy Reserve Serum purchased at Noreen’s Boutique Spa in Annapolis. It has a thicker consistency and was perfect when I was so dry this winter. In the warmer months, I have been loving Beautycounter’s Soothing Face Oil which is made to sooth facial redness such as rosacea.
How to use facial oil?
You can mix a facial oil in with your moisturizer-- two drops will do. You can apply it alone on your face and neck (3-4 drops depending on how dry you are.) Make sure to let it dry and then apply your regular moisturizer.
Creams by Night:
I kept my night cream the same as it's so gentle and nourishing without being too heavy. It’s the Nourishing Night Cream by Beautycounter. This is another product I recommend to pretty much all my bridal clients. If you want your makeup to look good on your wedding day and could only get a couple products, my top picks are a good quality toner (See A Soothing Spriz Above) and a good quality night cream.
Coverup with Non-toxic/Quality Ingredients:
To even out my skin tone, I have found two products that are amazing in covering up my redness and giving me confidence when I have a rosacea flare up or my sunspots have darkened (this happens during pregnancy too.) These two products below are some of the best foundations on the market.
My favorites are...
RMS “Un” cover-up- This pot of gold is creamy in consistency and needs to be powdered if you’re oily.
Beautycounter Tint Skin- This tube of genius dries matte and has build-able coverage-- meaning you can go really light and sheer or add more product for more coverage.
Overall, my skin hasn’t been perfect, but it has been much better and the major flare-ups have been kept at bay. l know it’s from being extremely diligent in my skincare routine and using the right products in the correct order. I was teaching a makeup lesson to my friend and her mom. When talking about my pregnancy she said, “Your skin has been much better since the last time I saw you.”
I know this routine and products will help you too if you are willing to stick to it!
If you need any help color matching foundation or ordering products in general, just send me an email on the contact page of my website. If you’re interested in ordering any of the Beautycounter products, see below.
Beauty Counter How-to Order:
Go to Link... http://www.beautycounter.com/suzanneeden/
In the search magnify glass type in the name of the product and add to cart. This is my link so I can get product credit. Please note that some of the Beautycounter skincare packaging has changed. The names of the linked items above are the correct names.
Leave a Comment
I hear so many different things about breaking out during pregnancy. For example; if you break out you're having a girl because she steals your beauty and more technically her estrogen is interfering with your hormones.
We don’t know what we’re having, but I am 38 weeks as I write this and both my husband and I are pretty sure we are having a boy just by intuition.
Do you have any hormonal acne stories or pregnancy breakout wives tales to share? I would love to hear from you in the comments section below.