THE GLOW OF PREGNANCY?
By Helen Elldred
M
y first pregnancy hit me hard with
skin complaint after skin complaint.
Even though I was well aware of the
effects of pregnancy hormones, and working
in this industry I already had a lot of knowledge
about pregnancy skin concerns, I honestly never
gave any of them a second thought. I blindly
skipped into all the pregnancy excitement under
the assumption that I wouldn’t fall victim to
any of them. How wrong was I!
Seven weeks in and I had already started developing hormonal acne. Large, sore, inflamed
spots (or what I now know as cystic acne)
along my jaw line and neck. My neck! Of all
places, why does it have to be the neck, I kept
asking myself. It’s so much harder to conceal
and they hurt twice as much. The skin on the
neck is much more delicate than the face. Yes,
I had quite a severe case which just for good
measure, then started to develop all the way
down my back too. Gone were the strappy
summer tops and dresses and out came the
full-sleeve cardigans in the middle of a hot
June. My GP considerately told me to get on
with it, it would of course eventually disappear.
He was right, it did. But only after months of
painful, unsightly redness.
Well, when I found out I was pregnant with my
second child, I was going to be prepared. ‘Every
pregnancy is different’, the midwife kept telling
me. ‘Don’t judge this pregnancy by your last
one’, she kept saying. She was right. This time
it started even earlier. A mere four weeks preg-
Be gone sore, red bumps
nant and my hormones had already started
working overtime. Do your worst, I thought to
myself. I have my secret weapon up my sleeve.
This time I’d done my research. Which ingredients can be used on the skin when pregnant,
which can’t, and which should be the most
effective. I was happy with my work and confidently selected products that I knew were
safe and fingers crossed, would get rid of this
acneic nightmare. I tried a few. All had some
effect but not all were amazing. The star
product? Drum roll, please. Introducing the
Cleanance Expert from Avène…
My gut feeling with this product was that it was
too cheap to work. For some reason I thought
I was going to be spending a fortune before I
ISSUE #01 | SUMMER 2016 | SkinHealthMagazine.com 16