Knowing which face products are safe to use during pregnancy can help keep your skin looking great and your budding bundle of joy away from harm. With, quite literally, thousands of face products on the shelves both online and in stores, it’s really hard to figure out which ones are okay to use during pregnancy and which should be left behind for another day.
While I’m not a dermatologist or a doctor, I did the research to help you figure out which face products are safe to use during pregnancy. As always, this is NOT medical advice. If you have any skin conditions- pregnant or not- talk to your dermatologist before taking advice found online. Always. That said, let’s talk about which face products are safe to use during pregnancy.
Related: What to Look for in Safe Beauty Products during Pregnancy
Which Face Products are Safe During Pregnancy?
Obviously, the safest face products to use during pregnancy are NO face products! But really, how realistic is that in our modern society? Not many of us go au natural these days. Those who do, kudos to you.
Me? I started wearing makeup at a young age, and now I just feel lost without it. Plus I have killer dark circles that I inherited. The women in my family live wrinkle-free until we’re older than dirt but the universe decided to balance that out by making us look like we’re packing for an extended vacation and carrying the luggage in secret compartments under our eyes.
Let’s look at some common face care concerns and how we can safely deal with them during pregnancy.
Acne
Darn you, pimples! I never had more than a single one at a time until I was preggos with my son. Then I had a few all at once. Yes, I know, I was lucky. Some women get major breakouts during pregnancy. Here’s the rub: most of the acne treatments containing tretinoin or benzoyl peroxide are NOT safe face products to use during pregnancy. However, sulphur-based topical products are safe, according to A Practical Guide to Dermatological Drug Use in Pregnancy.
Dark Circles
If you’re like me and sporting those dark moons under your eyes, you may be thinking about grabbing a nice Vitamin A cream. Bad idea. In high doses, Retinol (Vitamin A) is bad for your baby. While you’re probably not going to be spreading buckets of the stuff on your face, better to be safe and leave it alone. Instead, use cold cucumber slices, ice packs and other tricks to get rid of those dark circles. Or just do what I do and cover them up!
8 Safe DIY Pregnancy Beauty Products
Aging
If you’re having a mid-life baby, perhaps you’re worried about adding a few wrinkles during your pregnancy. Honestly, you’re not going to age decades in those nine months. That will happen the day your 9-year-old son tells you he wants to kiss girls. WHAT? Seriously? Anyway, anti-aging creams typically have retinol in them, so we’re back to the vitamin A problem. If you’re really worried about wrinkles, talk to your dermatologist to decide which cream is the safest. I’m not touching that one because they all have different ingredients that I’m not all that familiar with.
Dark spots
So there’s this thing called “the mask of pregnancy.” I didn’t get it. The actual name is melasma or Chloasma. Your first instinct may be to grab a chemical peel and peel that sucker off. Don’t. While AHA peels are supposed to be relatively safe during pregnancy, they’re also supposed to be relatively ineffective. That’s a lot of “relativelys” to risk it, don’t you think? What to Expect recommends doing one of three things; load up on folic acid, protect yourself against further damage with sunscreen and covering it up with a good concealer.
When you are deciding which face products are safe to use during pregnancy, go with the products that have ingredients that you understand. Does that make sense? Let me explain: if you can’t pronounce it and you’ve never heard of it, don’t pick it up. Go home and research it first. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out on the Skin Deep database. A little knowledge goes a very long way.
Do you know of any fabulous face products that are safe to use during pregnancy? Share them in the comments!
Follow OurFamilyWorld Magazine’s board Pregnancy & Fertility on Pinterest.
I never thought about the face products that I was using during my pregnancies. Thanks for this important info.
This is really good information to have! I bet many women like myself don’t think about this!
Great info for mamas to be! I was always very basic in my face regiment when I was pregnant.
This is really great information. I will have to share this with my pregnant friends.
Honestly, I never really thought twice about face products when I was pregnant! I never realized some were harmful and what not.
It isn’t just while you are pregnant, many products can cause harm to anyone at any time. Pregnancy is especially critical though.
I have had 5 children and it amazes me how each time something different happens. Like for one of my pregnancies I got a skin tag under my arm pit! Definitely checking products to make sure they are safe is crucial during pregnancy.
Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about this anymore, but getting awareness out there about the possible effects of what you use during pregnancy on the child is very important.
These are great tips for any one expecting a baby!! It is crazy how much can seep through the skin.
This is great information! I still have 4 more weeks to use these tips!
Really great information! It is really great to know what products are safe and not safe to use during pregnancy.
I started wearing makeup at a young age, too. I will definitely keep these tips in mind.
It’s hard to believe that so much can cause harm while you are pregnant. Thanks for bringing awareness.
I haven’t been pregnant in years but I never thought about this when I was. How scary. Thanks for the tips.
I was so confused over what was safe and not while pregnant. It was hard to keep track with everything else going on at the same time. So helpful!
This will be super helpful! Pregnant women should take care to find products and methods that are safe like these!
I’m glad that nothing happened while I was pregnant. I did not know that they can cause harm.
I always continued with my regimen of Neutrogena face soap and toner, followed by Oil of Olay. All of these products remained gentle to my skin and never gave me any problems.
These are great to know. I am sure new moms will find this very helpful!
It’s tough being pregnant. I’m ttc right now, so I really appreciate these tips.
Great list. I remember using cucumbers non-stop when I was pregnant. Ugh, my eyes were so puffy! Thanks for a great gift!
When my doctor told me to be careful what sort of skin and beauty products I used while I was pregnant, I became totally paranoid. I didn’t use ANYTHING.
I had no idea that topical beauty products could do anything to a developing child. This is great info for any pregnant woman. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this great information. I had no idea that what we put on our skin could affect our babies.