How I cleared my pregnancy acne

Pregnancy is a time when we are supposed to watch everything we do. We can't eat tons of junk (we still do, but we aren't suppose to!), we have to be careful of how much weight we gain, we can't do a lot of physical labor, we can't take a lot of medicines, we need to be careful of hair color, nail salons and must, at all costs, avoid alcohol! Sigh. How frustrating it can be.

It is also a time when we are suppose to have a "glow." We've all heard it before; pregnancy brings fuller hair, longer nails and flawless skin. At least, that is what we are told.

When I got pregnant, I didn't have the glowing skin I was meant to have. Instead, my hormones acted up and I got a horrible case of maternity acne. Instead of being a beautiful, glowing woman in my first trimester, I looked like I was a 15 year old in the midst of puberty. To top it off, I could no longer use my old acne treatments, since many doctors and midwives deem them as unsafe!

I tried using mild cleansers - just soap two times per day, but this didn't do anything for my skin. My acne just became worse and worse. Since I have oily skin, the pimples kept on coming and some of them even left me with acne scars - which really was beneficial to that pregnant glow. (As if!)

I searched and searched, trying to find out if I could use Proactiv or maybe some other drugstore product, but while some said yes, many others said no. I didn't want to take the chance; what soon-to-be mother does?

One thing I heard was tomatoes were suppose to be beneficial and clear acne. Great! So, I could try tomatoes, or perhaps cucumber or aloe! I wasn't about to rub raw vegetables on my face, so I opted instead to try the Yes to Tomatoes line of products. These were totally natural and contained no harmful chemicals, so I figured it wouldn't hurt. It couldn't make things worse, anyway!

For a couple weeks, I used the cleanser in the morning and at night and followed up with the moisturizer. I even used the facial mask every other day. This seemed to help clear up a lot of the acne, but it didn't take it completely away. Siiiigh. I still wasn't satisfied.

So, I searched some more and found tea tree oil is suppose to relieve acne. I loved tea tree shampoo but never thought about putting tea tree oil on my face! Thankfully, it was also safe for a pregnant woman to use!

There is a line of products in America from the Body Shop. However, after looking through the ingredients list, I found they contained salicylic acid. This is a chemical which is basically aspirin, and we all know aspirin during pregnancy is a big no-no. So, I searched some more. My searches brought me to a Korean line of products known as Skin Food. One line they have are the tea tree products. So, I picked them up on eBay!

One product I use is the Tea Tree Cleansing Foam. In comes in two forms, a pump bottle that dispenses foam and a tube which has a cream you can lather into a foam. I personally love the dispensing foam. I got it for about $12 and a single bottle has lasted me about 6 months. Very cheap when you think about it.

After, I use the Tea Tree Toner. This toner is from the same company and you can also get it on eBay fairly cheap. It comes in a glass bottle. All you do is apply some to a cotton ball and put it on your face. Very simple.

The third step is to spot treat with a blemish stick. Skin Food *does* have one, but I use something else I can find at sites like Amazon, the Desert Essence stick. All I do is roll it over troubled spots and blemishes twice per day, after the toner. This works. It doesn't work fast, but it slowly dries up pimples. Once the pimples are gone, they seem to stay gone. It also doesn't seem to scar because it is really gentle.

Of course, you should also use a moisturizer, preferably the Skin Food Emulsion, because it also contains tea tree, but also moisturizes the skin and keeps it from drying out.

Alternate Products

If you don't want to import products from Korea, look for alternates. Desert Essence has a tea tree cleanser which should also work. A gentle witch hazel toner can also work in place of a tea tree one, if desired. I find that it works, just not as well. If you have oily skin and wish to use witch hazel, I do not recommend using a moisturizer because it probably will not help the acne problem. If you must use a moisturizer, I would actually recommend the Yes to Tomatoes one.

The Yes to Tomatoes product line also works well, just not as well as tea tree. The Yes to Tomatoes cost about the same as the Skin Food line, so if you are able, I'd just go with the second option instead because it works so much better!

In any case, these two lines of products work very well. No matter which one you use, you'll no doubt have better skin. With a little concealer, you'll be able to convince everyone you have the lovely, dewy pregnancy glow that everyone insists a pregnant women has!