What I like to tell people when they're pregnant is to start looking

at hydration. Water consumption can help with almost all

skin issues. Don't be afraid to go and see your skin therapist and

ask the necessary questions that you have regarding your skin over

your pregnancy period. If you stick to a very, very simple

daily skincare regimen, you can control a lot of

what's going on. And if you stick to natural ingredients, you can

also... Welcome to The Holistic Skin Guru,

where what's on the surface is just as important as what's

underneath. I'm your host, Aamena. Let's dive deep into

the world of holistic skincare. So

have you heard the news? Margot Robbie is pregnant and

the internet has gone bananas. So

it's going to be really interesting to see her skin journey through

her pregnancy. And there'd be a lot of you out there that are

thinking of having kids, thinking of getting pregnant

or are already pregnant or breastfeeding. And we

need to really think about your skin journey through

this crucial time in your life and how you're going

to manage it. Your skin will be changing throughout

your pregnancy and it will become more sensitive throughout.

With the increase in female hormones, estrogen and

progesterone, we see that onset of sensitivity. Additionally

to this, there's no harm in maintaining your skincare routine.

However, some ingredients are deemed unsafe or

not tested for and considered safe in pregnancy. So

check your products, read the labels and ask

questions when you're purchasing products to make sure that they're

right for you during this vital time in your life. Because

the skin absorbs them and it may impact on the development

of your unborn child. Now sunblock is going to be your

best friend during this time. When you're pregnant,

dark spots, melasma and dull skin are

common. When applying an appropriate sunscreen with an SPF of

30 or higher, we can help deal with these issues and

sun sensitivity. Now, I'm just gonna digress a

little bit here and explain what the SPF means because a

lot of people don't understand the sun protection factor. They

just go for the highest number. What it comes down to

is your skin and how quickly it takes for you to

burn in the sun. So for example, if

you are using an SPF 15, one five, it

doesn't mean that it's an inferior product to an SPF 30. All

it means is that you need to apply that SPF probably

more regularly than you would an SPF 30. Are you

with me? So for example, if it takes you 10 minutes

to burn in the sun, and you are wearing an SPF

15, you multiply the sun protection factor against

the number of minutes that it takes for you to burn. So that'll give you

a number of 150. I think that's the right math.

And in 150 minutes, you need to reapply. So

people with different skin Fitzpatrick's, that means different shades

of skin, you will burn at different rates. So

you need to figure out what it is for you and how

long it takes for you to burn to understand which SPF is

going to be right for you. Like for example, myself, I

can wear an SPF 30 and apply it at eight o'clock in the

morning, and I'm good till about five o'clock in the evening. But

someone a lot fairer than me would need to reapply, say,

by about three o'clock. So this is what the SPF factor means.

I hope this has helped you in making your decisions around buying

an SPF and also understanding how to use it. So this is

the SPF that I recommend. It's the one that I use every

single day and it's the one that we sell in our clinic at SkinFit New

Farm in Brisbane. If you're interested, click the link below and

we can send some out to you. So sun protection is the most

crucial measure to prevent dark spots or melasma and

wrinkles and skin cancer over the long term.

Now, we want to make sure that we create the right nighttime

routine as well in pregnancy because stretch

marks in pregnancy is a really big deal for

a lot of women. And we want to make sure that we add a

lot of vitamin C to our nighttime routine. We can

safely use retinol palmitates during our pregnancies in

low doses, and this will just help around stretch

marks in the skin. We want to keep the skin nice and hydrated. I

would look at using an African shea butter, make

sure it's organic. This will just help to keep the skin nice

and hydrated and moist and supple so that those stretch

marks don't occur. It's an excellent idea to also

incorporate an antioxidant such as a vitamin C into

your pregnancy. You want to incorporate a vitamin C into your

daily routine because this is going to keep the health

of your skin and help your skin to glow. What

a vitamin C will do is it's actually an antioxidant, so

it aids in tissue repair and healing. It

will help strengthen the skin, and it also lessens traces

of melasma-related hyperpigmentation and dark

spots. Now you may experience breakouts and oily

skin during pregnancy and this is due to normal hormonal

changes during your pregnancy as your hormones fluctuate.

This is quite normal so don't be alarmed. Stick to a straightforward

daily skincare routine that's cleansing and

moisturizing and making sure that you're keeping your skin nice

and clean. especially during the last

three months of your pregnancy because a lot more hormonal activity

is going on in those last three months. Now, the less is

more rule applies during your pregnancy. This means less

products on your skin means less irritation or the

sensitivity that you would normally feel during a pregnancy won't

really trouble you as much. Avoid pesky ingredients.

Products that contain lactic acid, glycolic acid,

niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, azaleic acid,

and L-absorbic acid are just too active when you're pregnant.

Now some people are going to freak out and they're going to say, but I need my hyaluronic acid.

There are other things that you can use to ensure that your skin stays

hydrated. You don't have to use a hyaluronic acid during your

pregnancy. I used hyaluronic acid during my pregnancy and

I didn't have any skin concerns. So just test it

and see how your skin responds because every person is

different. What I like to tell people when they're pregnant is to start

looking at hydration, especially around stretch marks,

because your skin can get really, really itchy as the

stretch marks are forming. So this is an indicator. So if you're keeping

it nice and moist and using a nice hydrating

treatment such as organic shea butter, we

can help to fade new stretch marks as well. The next

thing we wanna do is we wanna make sure that we hydrate. Water consumption can

help with almost all skin issues. And it's essential

to stay hydrated because water makes up about 60% of

our body. You might believe that you don't need to hydrate as much if

you have combination or oily skin, but regardless of

your skin type, you need to make sure that your skin is well hydrated

from the inside and the out. If you have a combination

skin and it's oily and a bit dry, it

can become flaky during pregnancy. So make sure

you use serums that are specifically made for

pregnancy that can easily get you glowing. Now, I

want you to consider things like organic oils, nut

butter, such as jojoba, cacao, and

avocado. These are all beautiful ingredients for while

you're pregnant because they're nice and gentle and hydrating.

Now you can help prevent the stretch marks on your belly just by simply

exfoliating your belly and keeping it nice and moisturized

and hydrated consistently. If

you exfoliate frequently, it'll make the blemishes and the brown

spots on your face less noticeable and it will fade

them. And it will also help to remove any dry or

dead skin cells and help to reduce and

prevent stretch marks, and will help your moisturizer penetrate your

skin properly because we want that product efficacy in

the skin. I would reduce exfoliation on my

face to once a week, regardless of whether you're oily or

dry, and on your tummy, at least twice a

week, just to make sure that as the skin stretches, you're

making sure you're getting rid of those dead skin cells and keeping

the skin nice and moist. We want to stay away from harsh substances

because it's very easy for us to have

a flare up of acne during our pregnancy. So we want to stay

away from anything that contains salicylic acids, benzoyl

peroxide or anything that's really harsh. These are

excellent outside of pregnancy. During pregnancy, we

want to avoid them entirely. Now, after you've had your

skincare routine, you may want to take a nap. Because

with so many do's and don'ts in every area of your life, it's normal to

become overwhelmed quickly. But keeping up your skincare regimen

is imperative to maintain a minimal skincare regimen to

avoid irreversible changes that could be easily avoided

by simple skincare now during your pregnancy. Avoid

any chemical treatments. You might want to be tempted to schedule a

chemical peel appointment with your beautician due to sudden hormonal

acne or melasma, but don't. Please don't. Any

beauty procedures or facials that should be

avoided. even the tiniest amount of electricity touching

your skin at all costs. Avoid lasers, cosmetic

surgery, chemical peels until after the

baby is born. And any good provider will tell you this.

So if anyone wants to do a chemical peel on you and

you're pregnant, they are not a good provider and you need to steer

far away from them. Again, we want to make sure that your hormone levels

are not going to affect your skin, resulting in

issues like acne. So it's critical to stay away from

Accutane, Salicylic Acid, and anything

that's primarily derived from Aspirin, because it's a

critical component that should be avoided during pregnancy. So you

might be tempted to overuse anti-acne creams

if you do get breakouts during your pregnancy, but

just try to treat your breakouts really

naturally. There's a lot of things you can use. Try a little

bit of tea tree oil mixed in a little bit of aloe vera, which is

nice and gentle. We have something in our range that

contains both of those ingredients that it's nice and gentle on

any breakout that will just help to heal and try out that

breakout for you. Because let's face it, who

wants to use harmful chemicals on their body that

can eventually harm the development of your baby? Choose

products with mild AHAs instead, like lactic acid

or glycolic acid, if you must. I hope these tips have helped

all the pregnant mamas out there who are afraid to do things. These

tips should give you some clarity around what you can do safely while

pregnant for your skin. And I'm very interested to

see how Margot Robbie fares through her pregnancy for

the next few months. Thank you for joining me on Holistic Skin

Guru. If this episode has helped you get one

step closer to achieving your skin goals, I'd love your

support with a five-star review on Apple Podcasts and

Spotify. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite platform

too. If you've got any questions about your skin, I'd

love to hear from you. Connect with me at Holistic Skin Guru

on all platforms. Don't forget, as a listener, you can get

10% off all treatments at our SkinFit New Farm Clinic in

Brisbane. Simply pop the word podcast in

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