Keeping your skin healthy and glowing during pregnancy can take a lot of effort. On some days, your skin may look flawless, and literally be on its best behaviour; on others, your complexion may throw a temper tantrum so massive that it may be like you have done something to personally offend it. We are talking extreme acne breakouts that linger for weeks, and red, stinging skin, accompanied by inflammation.
While most of these skin changes occur due to hormonal fluctuations and stress during pregnancy, there is still hope for glowing skin. What you need is a total skin reset packed with the right product combos and soothing ingredients that target your concerns effectively and work to bring back your radiance.
We have got you covered with exactly what you need to do and use to help take your skin back from its meltdown stage to a happy, healthy, and lit-from-within state.
6 Steps To ‘Reset’ Your Skin
Choose The Right Basics
When you are dealing with frequent acne breakouts and inflammation that rob your skin of its glow, your immediate reaction might be to grab every anti-acne skincare product and beat that breakout into submission. But let us inform you, that could do more damage to your skin than you can ever imagine. The key here is to find the right ingredients for your skin that help deal with inflammation and soothe your acne.
Instead of adding tons of chemically-loaded skincare products to your beauty routine, try to take a more natural approach. First, choose a cleanser, (a precedent step in your skincare routine) with antifungal and antibacterial agents such as aloe vera, green tea, niacinamide, and Kaolin clay. Additionally, these ingredients have anti-inflammatory effects that help bring down the swelling and redness caused by acne.
In fact, your best bet is a soothing natural green tea face wash that gently cleanses your face, removes excess oil and dead skin cell build-up, and unclogs your skin pores. Use this face wash regularly, twice a day to prep your skin for the upcoming products and keep sebum production in control.
Add Exfoliation To Your Skincare Routine
You should immediately start using an exfoliator in your skincare routine if you haven’t already! While you do not have to necessarily exfoliate your skin every day, it is still an essential component in your skincare routine, especially if you are dealing with breakouts and stressed skin.
Exfoliation is paramount as it helps remove dead skin cells, prevents clogged pores, encourages skin cell turnover, and helps even out your skin texture. To soothe redness and irritation, try a face scrub packed with soothing botanicals, such as a natural green tea face scrub, with a combination of potent ingredients such as vitamin C, Tagua nuts, niacinamide, and black sand. These ingredients help dissolve damaged skin cells, soothe inflammation, and reduce the appearance of enlarged pores to reveal a clear, hydrated, and nourished complexion.
Do Not Miss Out On A Toner
Toners are a must-have product for pimple-free skin. Why? Well, toners are pH-balanced and specially crafted to reduce oil production in your skin, smoothen its texture, clear acne, and even give you a little glow. You may opt for a natural green tea face toner that combines a powerhouse punch of ingredients like apple cider vinegar, aloe vera, cucumber, and plant-based AHAs to hydrate your skin, mitigate irritation and redness, and provide a boost of antioxidants.
Focus On Hydration And Barrier Repair
Now that you know the skincare basics, your next step should be to focus on hydrating your skin and strengthening its natural barrier. One way to do this is by incorporating a facial serum, specially crafted to target skin concerns like inflammation, irritation, and redness. Look for a plumping yet soothing serum, such as a natural niacinamide face serum packed with additional antioxidant ingredients like squalane, zinc, and liquorice extracts.
This antioxidant-rich serum helps balance oil production, calm inflammation, prevent breakouts, and provide an all-around plump and radiant complexion. Additionally, it strengthens your skin’s natural barrier and enhances the renewal process to lighten dull spots and acne marks.
Help The Regeneration Process
To support your skin renewal process, you should make sure to incorporate a hydrating face cream into your skincare routine. Using a face cream will help prevent the loss of water from the outermost layer of your skin, and also protect it from environmental damage that may further weaken your skin’s natural barrier.
Hence use a face cream that hydrates your skin and is suitable for your redness and inflammation-prone complexion. You may use a natural green tea face cream and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents, such as niacinamide, aloe vera, and willow bark that helps calm, moisturise, and replenish oily-prone complexions.
Protect Your Skin With An SPF
While your face cream works exponentially to protect your skin, adding an extra layer of protection to your skin will do no harm! Yes, we are talking sunscreen. Since your skin shows increased sensitivity to the sun and environmental stressors (pollutants) during pregnancy, using an SPF is a paramount skincare step for you.
Opt for a mineral-based and lightweight natural daily sunscreen with pregnancy-safe ingredients like zinc, liquorice extracts, chamomile, and calendula. In addition to being pregnancy-safe, make sure the sunscreen checks the box for providing broad-spectrum coverage from UVA/UVB rays, effectively soothes your skin and reduces inflammation.
If you follow the skincare steps that we have mentioned above, it will be so much easier for you to banish your acne concerns and the redness and inflammation that accompanies it. Just ensure to be consistent, because, consistency is the literal key to achieving nourished, hydrated, and pimple-free skin! So what are you waiting for? Hurry, and build a targeted skincare routine with the products we have described.
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Feature Image: Kajal Aggarwal/Instagram
