Photo: Belli

So much changes when a woman gets pregnant so skin care needs be adjusted. To get skin care tips for pregnant women, I checked in with Annette Rubin, a mother and founder of Belli, a skin care company that focuses on the needs of pregnant women, new moms, and babies.

Rubin says, “Due to rapid changes in hormones, throughout pregnancy, a woman’s skin is extremely vulnerable and sensitive to all external elements.” There are also concerns about what women safely can put on their skin, because some ingredients are absorbed into the bloodstream, where they can transfer to the baby.

Recommendations
Rubin offers these skin care recommendations.

• Safety first. Women need to be very careful about the ingredients in their skin care, making sure that ingredients aren't potentially harmful to the baby. For example, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, certain sunscreens, and even aloe vera and vitamin A have been linked to harmful effects with repeated or high exposures, as found in clinical studies. Rubin says Belli is the only skin care collection that does teratology screening, meaning they screen out ingredients shown to have adverse affects on babies.

             Belli Facial Wash, Facial Sunscreen, and Belly Oil

• Beating blemishes. During pregnancy, women are more likely to develop acne, especially during warm weather. But “most acne treatments are contra-indicated during pregnancy because of potential adverse effects to baby,” she says. Pregnant women should look for something gentle that exfoliates, and treats and prevents acne safely without overdrying. She recommends Belli Acne Clearing Facial Wash ($22), because it uses lactic acid, an ingredient naturally found in the body. It also has a wonderful, natural fragrance that’s calming.

• Avoiding splotchy skin. “The pregnancy hormones estrogen and progesterone are thought to make the pigment-producing skin cells react more strongly to sunlight,” Rubin says. This causes dark brown splotchy areas on the chin, cheeks, nose and forehead known as chloasma, melasma or "the mask of pregnancy." This affects up to 70% of all pregnant women and can show up with any skin type; but olive and darker complexions are more at risk.

Fortunately, chloasma is preventable. She recommends avoiding sun exposure, and choosing a sunscreen, like Belli Pregnancy Anti-Chloasma Facial Sunscreen SPF 25 ($24), that has SPF 25 or higher, protects from both UVA and UVB rays, and is made with titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, because they provide higher SPF, need to be applied less often, and have no effects linked to birth defects as shown in medical studies. The Anti-Chloasma Facial Sunscreen is a lovely lightweight, oil-free, tinted sunscreen that also naturally moisturizes with glycerin and easily blends into skin without any chalky look or feel.

• Preventing stretchmarks. For generations, women have used cocoa butter to try to prevent strechmarks. “But while it’s a good moisturizer, there is no research showing a benefit from this ingredients,” Rubin says. “The only published research on stretchmark prevention showed that a combination of gotu kola extract, vitamin E, and collagen hydrolysates decreased the risk of getting stretchmarks by about 39%, and decreased the severity of any stretchmarks that did form.” That’s why they chose to use all these ingredients in the highly effective, much-loved Belli Pregnancy Elasticity Belly Oil ($42), which incorporates the relaxing aromatherapy of lavender.

Belli products are available at belliskincare.com, Pottery Barn Kids, Mother Works, baby/maternity boutiques, spas, and a growing number of physician offices.

To learn more about skin care concerns during pregnancy, motherhood, and infancy, visit the education section on belliskincare.com and at webmd.com.

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