Skincare during pregnancy

[KatieJ345]

I’m 9 weeks pregnant and I’m feeling overwhelmed with the amount of ingredients in skincare that we shouldn’t be using. I have been using Charlotte tilbury magic cream for entire time so far and have just found out this may not be pregnancy safe. I already new the night creams were not safe due to the retinol.

Does anyone have a moisturiser they recommend which is definitely pregnancy safe? And could I have done damage to the baby after using this one for 9 weeks?

Op - where on earth are you getting your information from re all these skincare ingredients you can’t use?!

I'm worried about this too! I used vitamin C serum daily pre pregnancy and there's lots of conflicting info out there. My vitamin C product itself says not suitable for use during pregnancy, but general info says vitamin C is safe.

I think most brands are just very very careful because of course not a lot of (if any) testing is done on pregnant women.

I do know that retinol/vitamin A is definitely one to avoid in pregnancy though.

To be honest, I've generally just been using nothing over the summer. Have used either just water and a flannel for cleansing or sometimes a mild bar of soap. Surprised at how well my skin has adapted to this! I suspect I might need some moisturiser once it gets colder, at which point I'll try just using a few drops of jojoba oil at night. I used to use a Clarins oil in this way and it was great (it meant I rarely needed a day moisturiser), but that has Clary sage in so not using for now.

I use the Caroline Hirons skin rocks app to check what's safe in pregnancy - she thinks the magic cream is safe. Appreciate some people might take a more conservative view but I think Caroline knows her stuff.

I had exactly the same worry when I was pregnant and became obsessed with checking ingredients. I realise now (hindsight is wonderful!) that I probably went a bit overboard. I know retinol is the main one to avoid. I stuck to ‘Simple’ brand as I knew that had nothing much in! Also I was very sensitive to smells so other ‘natural’ products with scents made me feel sick. Neil’s Yard do a nice mother/ baby range but it’s quite expensive. I also used this website (although I don’t know how accurate it is, I found it reassuring!)

https://www.15minutebeauty.com/pregnancy-friendly-skincare-products.html

@amyg1985 thanks that is very reassuring! I read conflicting things about it online. Some things I read said it was okay.

@Indecisive2023 thanks this was the website I actually discovered today which said my cream wasn’t safe! I might stick to using simple products.

What's the ingredient in Magic Cream that is supposed to be unsafe?

@Indecisive2023 Thank you for posting this, really informative. I use Cosrx BHA liquid every day on my face and have just read it's not safe, so that's freaked me out. Looks like it's best to just keep things really simple.

I think that active ingredient Salicylate is only ‘unsafe’ if taken high doses orally- I doubt you absorb much through your skin in a moisturiser anyway. Try not to worry, think of all the many women who don’t know they are pregnant for months!

@Indecisive2023 Yes, thank you. Will stop now just to be safe!

@Whataretheodds apparently the new formulation has plant stem cells in which are not meant to be used during pregnancy.

I'm on my second pregnancy and have never not used my usual skincare??

This thread is so timely because i was just checking this morning if my MAC hyper real serumizer was ok. Everything I've read says salicylic acid is ok in low amounts and in moisturisers etc.

@KatieJ345, ive just gone onto an aveeno moisturiser for now and hopefully that will be fine! 😬

So i just used this charcoal peel off mask that ive used before i was pregnant and didnt think much of it. Now im looking into the ingredients it may not have been pregnancy safe and now im panicking. 😣

@CharBoymumtobe I think you would be absolutely fine. The risks are so small even with continued use so there shouldn’t be any effects of using something once.