Pregnancy Safe Skincare Isn’t As Complicated As You Think

No more Botox. Stop using your retinol and acid toners. Cancel your laser treatments and throw away your chemical sunscreens. The moment you find out you’re pregnant is often quickly followed by discovering that there are apparently so many rules you now need to follow, especially when it comes to skincare. And with social media, there’s so much information out there about pregnancy safe skincare products, and all the conflicting advice can be super confusing. Navigating this world can feel like you’re maneuvering a land mine—how do you know what’s actually safe to use?

Having a baby can feel overwhelming at times, but figuring out your skincare routine shouldn’t have to be. Below, we spoke with Dr. Aegean Chan, a board-certified dermatologist based in Santa Barbara, about what “pregnancy safe” actually means, what ingredients are off-limits during pregnancy, and much more.

What Happens To Your Skin During Pregnancy?

First things first: What happens to your skin when you’re pregnant? Well, your body is going through a major hormonal flux—you are growing a baby, after all—and there are different ways this can show up on your face. Your skin might grow sensitive and red. You could also become more acne-prone and more susceptible to melasma and hyperpigmentation. It’s only normal that you’d want to address these skin concerns while you're pregnant. 

What Does “Pregnancy Safe” Really Mean?

The simplest definition of pregnancy safe skincare are products that are considered low-risk for use during pregnancy based on what we know about how certain active ingredients will affect the developing fetus, explains Dr. Chan. It’s unethical to run medical trials and safety tests on pregnant people, so there’s no way to know for sure if an ingredient is safe for pregnancy. “From a medical perspective, we typically suggest avoiding active ingredients with known or theoretical risk,” says Dr. Chan. “This is based on animal studies, observation studies, and human safety data.” 

Pregnancy safe has become more of a marketing term than an official label, Dr. Chan adds. If a product is sold on the open market—like Dove soap, for example—it’s considered safe for general use. “That means that they’re safe for every facet of the population including pregnant people, those who are breastfeeding, and children,” explains Dr. Chan. 

If you’re concerned with the idea of figuring out a skincare routine while you're pregnant, working with a dermatologist and having them create a pregnancy safe skincare routine for you is the best plan of action. But if you don’t have access to a derm, try to seek out blogs and other resources vetted by dermatologists or toxicologists. There’s a lot of fear-mongering and misinformation on the internet, especially with the rise of AI. Here’s a piece of advice: seek out nuance. Be careful of advice that uses fear as a tool to sell you something. If a source refers to an ingredient or product as “toxic” or “poison,” it’s a red flag. 

What Skincare Is Unsafe During Pregnancy?

There are some ingredients that we know are off-limits during pregnancy. Oral retinoids, like isotretinoin (formally known as Accutane), high dose salicylic acid, and topical retinoids are a no-go during pregnancy because they have the potential to cause birth defects, explains Dr. Chan. Don’t worry though if you’ve been using a retinol before you knew you were pregnant—according to Dr. Chan, the risk is minimal.

Some ingredients are absorbed by the skin at much higher levels than others, like hydroquinone. Those are typically on the “wait until you’re no longer pregnant” list.

Like salicylic acid, most chemical exfoliants are only really an issue during pregnancy if they’re used at super high percentages. Salicylic acid at 2%, as well as lactic and glycolic acid at up to 10%, are generally considered fine, but it never hurts to double-check with your doctor. If you’d rather skip exfoliating acids altogether, you can always opt for a product with another ingredient instead. Our Deliverance 3-in-1 Repair Serum helps smooth texture, even tone, and calm redness, and it’s made with niacinamide, which is safe to use during pregnancy.

Is Chemical Sunscreen Safe During Pregnancy?

Chemical sunscreens have gained a reputation for being unsafe during pregnancy, but that’s just more fear-mongering; no clinical studies of typical human use have shown any lasting harmful effects. “We’ve been using these filters for decades,” says Dr. Chan. “If there were true safety concerns, those signals would show up in public health data, and we haven’t seen that.” 

There have been past studies that show hormonal abnormalities with oxybenzone, but these safety studies were designed to test chemicals at their maximum dose, and misinterpreting these stress tests leads to unnecessary fear about everyday products that are fine when they’re used under normal conditions. The claims were drawn from animal studies where the exposure to chemical filters was hundreds of times higher than what we’d get through topical use. “I like to use the animal study analogy,” Dr. Chan explains. “Imagine you’re soaking in a bathtub of these undiluted chemicals and being force-fed them at the same time. It’s not a realistic view.” 

What About Skincare Supplements?

Rather than slathering on a product, you may also consider taking supplements to address your pregnancy skin concerns instead. But be wary—the world of supplements in the United States is lowkey like the Wild West. The industry isn’t regulated, making it that much harder to know what to take. A lot of skincare supplements are also marketed as “natural,” but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re better or safer. Since everyone has their own unique medical history, Dr. Chan recommends consulting with your doctor before adding any supplements into your routine. 

What Skincare Products Are Safe While Breastfeeding?

“A lot of people think that what’s unsafe during pregnancy is the same as what’s unsafe while breastfeeding, and it frustrates me so much because breastfeeding is inherently a different state of risk,” says Dr. Chan. When you’re pregnant, anything that gets into your blood just has to cross the placenta to get to the fetus. “But once you’re breastfeeding, you have a fully formed infant, so you’re not risking organ development or any potential birth defects,” Dr. Chan explains.

It’s also more difficult for a substance to get into your breast milk because it has to cross multiple barriers, adds Dr. Chan. It would have to go from your blood into the breast milk then be ingested by the infant then cross into the baby’s gut to cause harm. The risk profile is entirely different. (So, yes, you can use a retinoid while breastfeeding.)

Dr. Chan also recommends LactMed, a PubMed database as an excellent resource for information on medication safety during breastfeeding. “It's mostly for like medications,” she explains. “Say you're worried about a prescription medication you take and want to know if it's safe while breastfeeding. You can search the medicine’s name and it’ll show you an evidence-based summary of the available studies.”

The Final Word

When it comes to information about pregnancy safe skincare, the source really matters. Science isn’t usually black-and-white; it’s about weighing the risks and benefits, adjusting as new evidence comes out, and not jumping to fear-based conclusions. “If whatever you’re reading scares you, it’s probably not a good source,” says Dr. Chan. 

She recommends seeking out advice from trusted professional organizations like the American Academy of Dermatology and American College of Gynecology. “They’re not going to make non-evidence based blanket statements,” she adds. “The AAD has never come out and said that chemical sunscreens can’t be used in pregnancy.”

And if you’re ever unsure, chatting with a dermatologist who can build a pregnancy-safe routine for you is always a solid move. Take a deep breath. Pregnancy is already stressful enough—skincare shouldn’t be another thing to worry about. As always, you’re Dieux-ing great.