Pregnant skin is more complicated than you might be used to because your body is changing every day to aid the life you’re growing. This means your skin could be up and down throughout the whole pregnancy, and most likely you’ll have to change your skincare a bit to keep up!

Let’s talk about the role that hormones play in our skin. Hormonal fluctuations happen throughout pregnancy. Some women experience the best skin of their life, while others experience hormonal breakouts. Women will produce more estrogen while pregnant than at any other time in their life. The increase will help the uterus transfer nutrients and improve vascularization. It also helps with the developing fetus and plays a role in developing the milk ducts in our breasts. Progesterone kicks up its role by loosening ligaments and helping transform the uterus to hold a full-term baby. What this means for your skin is lots of changes over the next 9 months!

Keep it simple, keep it gentle //

We receive a ton of questions about caring for your skin during this special time, so let’s dig in! The goal with pregnancy skin is to keep it simple, fight inflammation, and calm the nervous system. It’s best to get individualized guidance (from a professional holistic esthetician) because everyone’s skin (especially at this time!) is so unique, but in the meantime, here’s our simple guide for skincare during this delicate time of life.

What to use:

During pregnancy and postpartum, it’s best to keep things simple: our Gentle Cleanser is wonderful to gently cleanse your skin. Our Gentle Cleanser is pH balanced and won’t compromise your skin’s protective barrier. 

Follow up with our Rose Water Toner, which is specifically designed for daily use even with the most sensitive of skin types. Formulated with roses harvested from our micro-farm, this toner will keep your skin hydrated and is a refreshing pick-me-up that smells amazing and never causes irritation.

When nursing, your body loses an additional 700 ml per day of water through breastfeeding since breast milk is composed of about 90% water. Using our Hydrating Serum will help add back the hydration you lose during this process.

Finish up your facial skincare routine with our Replenishing Facial Oil. A calming and nurturing serum for pregnancy or post-birth. With all the anti-inflammatory botanicals in this formula grown from our micro-farm, you’ll feel like you’re surrounded by nature when using this regenerative oil. 

It’s a lot harder to find time for yourself in this new way of life, and we’re big fans of finding time to do two things at once. We love the idea of multi-masking, which could look like enjoying a face mask while putting the baby to sleep or changing their diaper. Having our Soothing Repair Mask on hand is great to soothe your skin on both your face and breasts and will help with any chaffing you may get from breastfeeding. 

Don’t forget to treat the rest of your body post-birth. The Epsom salts in our Relaxing Bath Salts are an incredible pain reliever from the muscle pain you experience from the physical birth of your baby. 

What to avoid:

The Botnia products that we suggest you might want to avoid during pregnancy and breastfeeding are our Daily Face Wash and Toner, which both have willow tree bark (a natural form of salicylic acid). Salicylic is related to aspirin and some women avoid it during pregnancy. Another product we include as a contraindication for pregnancy is our Balancing Oil Cleanser and Clarity Oil because it contains meadowsweet, which historically was used in the very first version of aspirin, and there is evidence that it can cause uterine contractions.

You may also wish to avoid Wisdom Oil during pregnancy because it contains clary sage essential oil, which is contraindicated for pregnancy because it also has the potential for causing uterine contraction. We include this contraindication out of an abundance of caution; there are about 5 drops of clary sage essential oil per batch (~70 bottles) so it is a very tiny amount and the risk is minimal. 

However, breastfeeding causes oxytocin to be released into your bloodstream, and this hormone causes the contraction of all smooth muscles and helps your uterus contract back into its pre-pregnancy shape and size. So during the postpartum period, uterine contractions and cramping are helping your body heal, so a very tiny amount of clary sage essential oil won’t hurt and might even help that process along.

We want you to feel completely comfortable with your skincare and have all the facts. You can always reach us at botniaskincare@gmail.com with any questions. 

Congratulations on your pregnancy; you are already such a great mom! 

With care and kindness,
The Botnia Team