Hey guys! A lot of you have been asking about pregnancy beauty tips, and considering I’m getting to the end, I thought now would be a good time to share my experiences.
Pregnancy is one of those hilarious times (actually perhaps the only?) in your life when you have absolutely zero control over your body. You’ve really got no idea what’s going to happen, and I found that when your clothes don’t fit, everything aches and you’re getting significantly less sleep than ever before, a bit of pampering in the beauty department goes a loooonggggg way. In fact, I’ve found myself more interested in beauty products than ever before… who would have thought? But because of the complexity of growing a human inside you, I’ve gravitated towards nourishing, comforting beauty products that smelt fantastic and felt really uplifting – and obviously non toxic too! Read on for what’s got me through.
Beauty Products I’ve Loved During Pregnancy
My Pregnancy Empties
First of all, these beautiful products that I fell in love with only really became part of my daily routine after the first trimester. In all honesty for the first few months I felt like putting nothing on my skin, and even my favourite scents made me gag so I kept things VERY low key in that first trimester. If you have the same issue, I suggest going for some simple non scented products for those first few months! Once I go through that and my nose settled down, I started to crave delicious, natural smelling products that would calm and relax me. Here are my faves!
Pure Jojoba Oil OK so THIS is the one product I couldn’t live without during pregnancy. If I’m honest, I tried pretty much every single skin and stretch mark oil on the market, and found pure, simple jojoba oil to be the best – it sinks in quickly, it’s not smelly or sticky. I can’t categorically say whether it stops stretch marks (I think they come down to genetics at the end of the day) but it did nourish, soften and give my skin a glow. From what I’ve read, it’s not exactly an oil, more a liquid wax that mimics sebum so (apparently!) our skin recognises it as its own and lets it in to nourish, hydrate and heal the skin. Regardless if this is just good marketing or not, I loved it. I went through 5 or 6 bottles of it, using it on my belly, breasts, in my hair, face, and feet and legs when they got swollen. Its helps that it doesn’t have a scent because that made it great to use all the time and on everything. I used Desert Essence but any jojoba would do.
Epsom Salts You read so much about the things you’ll want when you’re first pregnant, and it’s kind of hard to take in just how much your body will change. Everywhere people were saying ‘you will become obsessed with the bath’ and I couldn’t really believe it. Fast forward 5 months and honestly that’s all I want to do. Twice daily baths have become a norm and this amazing epsom salt (called Everyone Epsom Soak) has become a mainstay. It has geranium oil and magnesium which has been so great for my very swollen legs.
Natural deodorant I talk about natural deodorants a lot don’t I? It’s a thing for me I have to admit. But once again, you honestly do start to think more seriously about what you put on your skin once you’re pregnant, so natural deodorant is a great place to start. This A’kin deodorant actually works and smells sooooo good.
Jade Rolling Hi my name is Geneva and I have wayyyyy too much time on my hands. In the past I probably would have scoffed at the thought of using a jade roller, I mean I’m much more of a ‘whack some moisturiser on whilst running out the door’ person. But to be honest, when swelling has caused your shoe size to go from a 38 to a 41, a little bit of time spent applying products to your face with a jade roller is a welcome distraction…. And it just feels SOOOOOO nice!
Face Mist Can I be honest and say that I feel like face mist is a bit of a stitch up? I mean, what does it actually do? Functionally I’m not too sure, but that doesn’t mean when you’re pregnant you don’t want to use it every five minutes. I have become obsessed! Both the John Masters Facemist and the Julique Facemist have become a mainstay in my handbag, sometimes you just need a spritz on your face when it all gets too much.
Lemon & Lime Body Scrub Something else I inexplicably have become obsessed with is this John Masters Fresh Lemon & Lime Body scrub. I think it’s the lemon and lime fragrance that I’m addicted to, as it leaves me feeling refreshed for hours. I notice that in my pre natal yoga class they often has a lemon or lime aromatherapy candle happening, which only solidifies my love of this scent (and makes me think I’m onto something!). I often apply the body scrub in the bath or shower before bed, and find that some of the oils stay on my skin after I wash the scrub off, giving my sleep a delicious scent.
Simple Hair Products When I got pregnant I embraced simple and organic hair products, and have been using John Masters Shampoo and Conditioner, a pure argan oil for defrizzing as well as a weekly Jojoba hair mask (simply massage into the ends of your hair, leave in overnight and then wash out in the morning for really soft hair. Voila!).
SPF Something that I noticed literally straight away once pregnant was how much pigmentation started showing up on my face – I was a little bit scared that I would end up with a pigmentation moustache (which is quite common if you’ve got darker skin or a mixed race complexion). So I got pretty serious about my facial sunscreen, using a zinc face one most of the time. Even so I’ve definitely gained some pigmentation, but obviously I’ll wait til the bubs out before tackling it in detail!
Dry Brushing Yet another task I didn’t make time for before, brushing my skin has been such a nice thing to do while pregnant, particularly my legs and thighs. I can’t promise you that it will cure cellulite (my thighs at 39 weeks are pretty hectic in that department) but it certainly feels nice and the ritual is very relaxing. Ben has been doing it recently on me because I can no longer reach anywhere!
Face Products I went pretty minimal on the face products for my pregnancy, using either this Keihl’s Cleanser and Moisturiser or this Philosophy Cleanser and Moisturiser (I swapped about half way through). Both of these sets of products were nice and simple. That said, I love a bit of a pamper now and again with a John Masters calendula face mask that I apply with a foundation brush (I’ve been a fan of calendula for years and years), and my sister recommended this pure cacay oil which I used to nourish my skin. I have also started using Trilogy Rosehip oil which is really really nourishing!
Overall, you can probably see that I tried to strip back my beauty routine to simple, non toxic beauty essentials that were really nice to apply and smelt really good. I can honestly say this has helped to make the discomfort of pregnancy a little easier. In truth I probably haven’t given myself much time to unwind and relax, but a few moments here and there have been so nice!
I’d love to know if you have/had any fave beauty products for pregnancy!
