During my 22 weeks of pregnancy so far there have been loads of amazing things that have happened to my body, but also a few annoying things!! Ha ha.
So I thought I'd do an 'Overcoming Issues' post every Monday so get your week off to a good start, by banishing one annoying side-effect of pregnancy a week!
You gotta dream big!
I'm gonna start things off with one of the most annoying... teenage spots!
When I was a teenager I didn't actually get that many spots, so I think karma has come around to bite me in the butt, because now I'm pregnant I have millions! It's to do with all those lovely hormones, and during the first months of pregnancy my face and back (and weirdly sometimes my legs?!?) were rarely spot free.
I never used to have any kind of skin care regime, and I was pretty bad at taking care of my skin to be honest. I even occasionally did the dirty on my face and slept with my make up still on - dun dun dun! (Normally vodka's fault).
But now I have been forced into a strict skin care regime to banish the blemishes, and it's actually working! Hallelujah!
I have always used Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes to remove my make-up as I have pretty sensitive skin, so Simple products work really well for me. The Cleansing Wipes don't irritate my skin or eyes, but are still one of the best I've found at taking off make-up quickly and easily.
Also when you are pregnant your skin becomes more sensitive anyway, so I would recommend Simple to all you knocked-up lot, even if you previously didn't have sensitive skin.
So I decided to stick to what I know and go with Simple to sort out my spots! I also feel like less is more when using products, so I decided to stick to three, rather than an overload.
Step One: Exfoliate
Exfoliating (sounds so weird if you say it loads of times ha ha) removes dead skin cells to leave your face, or any part of your body, as smooth as a baby's bum!
Because I was exfoliating with the purpose of eradicating spots, I chose to purchase:
Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliating Wash
It contains witch-hazel, zinc PCA, pro-vitamin B5 and has no perfume or colour. Which basically means it helps reduce spots by adsorbing excess oil, and softens your skin. And it does it all gently!
I use it twice a day - in the mornings and evenings - by working a pea-sized amount into my hands and massaging it onto my face whilst it's wet. Then you just rinse it off with water! Simples.
It has a slight fresh, soapy smell but it's not overpowering, and I really like it! It makes me feel clean ha ha. It doesn't irritate my eyes at all and I really do feel like it makes my skin feel smoother!
Step Two: Toner
Skin toner basically soothes your skin, and tightens the skin and pores to remove excess oil.
I chose to purchase:
Simple Soothing Facial Toner
And it does what it says on the tin!
It contains pro-vitamin B5 and B3, chamomile, witch-hazel, allantoin, and has no artificial perfume or colour.
I use it after I have exfoliated, again twice a day, by pouring a generous amount onto a cotton wool ball. I then apply it all over my face using upwards motions and wait for it to dry.
I honestly think my skin looks instantly more smooth and glowing (not the pregnancy kind, which is actually just sweat ha ha) after using it and feels super smooth and clean! And again it doesn't irritate my skin at all. Love, love, love it.
Step Three: Moisturise
I don't think moisturising really needs an explanation ha ha, and before the days of pregnancy I did manage to moisturise my face... most days :-)
But with spots on my mind I ditched my old moisturiser and purchased:
Simple Oil Balancing Moisturiser
It contains zinc PCA, phytosphingosine, corn starch, vitamin E, pro-vitamin B5, and no perfume or colour! In non-scientific lingo: it absorbs excess oil, helps reduce spots, moisturises and softens your skin. All very kindly :-)
This is the final stage of my skin care regime, which I use after the toner - again twice a day. You can get a lot out of a small amount with this moisturiser, so I apply a small pea (ha ha) sized amount onto my hand, and then massage a bit of the pea into each area of my face. So the small pea is all you need to cover your whole face. And now I'm hungry for peas.
My face always feels really soft after using this, and it works well with the other two products!
Verdict
When I first began using these products my skin actually flared up worse than it had done before, which I have read can happen when you first start taking care of your skin. Typical!
So I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. I actually have some completely spot-free days now - amazing!!! And when I do get the odd spot it's usually only one or two at a time (compared to the 500 I previously had) and they go away pretty quickly.
I am almost at the end of the exfoliator and plan on purchasing the same one again, as I also plan to do with the toner and moisturiser when I reach the end of them.
I'm sure there are more expensive products that also work wanders, but for a maximum of £4.50 for each (I can't remember exactly what I paid now) I think they're amazing. They don't irritate my skin at all and they definitely work for me!
Let me know if you have used these products and agree or disagree, or if you think there are better ones out there :-)
See you soon!!
xx
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