In the weeks that followed my child’s birth, I was a lot of things; excited, emotional, tired, awestruck. The list can go on, but one thing I noticed was that my skin was extremely dry.
As I finally got a chance to lay down when the baby was sleeping, my itchy skin was disrupting the few precious zzzs I could get! I began searching the internet and forums to see if other moms were in the same predicament.
Other moms said they noticed that their skin had changed too and that validated my thinking that this was not all in my head. My skin had changed and I needed to update my postpartum skin care routine ASAP.
Why You Need A Postpartum Skincare Routine
You’ve been through a lot and your new normal seems to leave little time for self care. You might be wondering, “Who’s body is this?”, when you look in the mirror.
It’s easy to skip self care for yourself when you have a baby. However, ignoring the changes in your skin wont help the problem. You also wont get to feeling better about your body and how its changed if you don’t address it.
So let’s look this problem right in the eye. Keep reading for my favorite hacks to get your postpartum skincare routine under control so you can get back to your bundle of joy!
Face Cleaning 101
You had a baby, you didn’t forget how to wash your face, I know. Just remember to be gentle with your skin. Don’t use a harsh cleanser or exfoliant to try and scrub a new face on. It will backfire on you, trust me.
Use a gentle cleaner to wash your face and get rid of any residue, sweat, baby food, etc you may have on your face. No judgement on the latter, I promise.
Prior to my baby I had oily skin, but postpartum my skin is dry and oily. I’m not sure how thats possible, but those are the cards I’ve been dealt. This is my favorite cleanser to get a fresh face, Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. It doesn’t dry my face out and thats important because drying your skin out is not the way to deal with oil.
Moisturize, Drench, Hydrate!
After your face is clean, you’ll want to moisturize your fresh clean skin. I’ve recently discovered the wonder ingredient hyaluronic acid.
It hydrates my skin like no other and locks the moisture in. For more information, check out this article. My favorite moisturizer, hands down is the Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Cream by Peter Thomas Roth.
It is a bit pricey, but it intensely hydrates my skin like no other. If you’re skeptical about diving into a pricey moisturizer, theres good news. There are drugstore moisturizers with hyaluronic acid that work great too! Here is an option from Neutrogena.
Body Boost
Before the baby, I could put on any lotion and be fine. Any lotion at all, seriously. Cheap lotion, thin lotion, whatever I could find.
These days? I need a lotion with quality ingredients. I prefer body butters and creams, the thicker the better. Some lotions are multitaskers that also address itchiness and stretch marks. Moisturizing your body daily can help restore your skin and its a quick fix, depending on your severity of dryness. These are some of my suggestions for battling postpartum dryness.
Shea Moisture Raw Shea Cupuacu Mommy Stretch Mark Butter Cream
Neutrogena Hydro Boost Body Gel Cream
Aveeno Skin Relief Moisture Repair Cream
Hopefully, by making these quick changes to your postpartum skincare routine, you can feel and look better.
Mom life definitely takes a toll on your body in more ways than one, but be kind to it. Creating time for yourself and taking care of the new skin you’re in is self care. For now, you may just have a few minutes to dedicate to it, but those minutes are all worth it.
Did your skin change after having a baby? I’d love to hear about it and if you have any product suggestions, leave me a comment below.
