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by Jay
I sat down with a Hayley Dutton, an amazing hair and make-up artist based in Sydney, to get her advice on skincare tips for new mums. Here’s an excerpt from our chat, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.
You’ve brought your new baby home. Everything is new and strange (even if it’s not your first kid). You’ve barely changed your clothes, let alone had a shower and brushed your teeth. You’re in that baby bubble, so you’re probably not going to be leaving the house anyway.
But when you do get to that point, when you are leaving and you’re going out into the big wide world and wanting to feel amazing, you’ve got to get a basic skincare routine under wraps.
Now I know that you’re probably not showering, you’re not even brushing your teeth, but if you can just look at allocating that little bit of time in the morning or during the day or at nighttime, whenever you’ve got someone to look after the bub. For me personally, with baby number one, I’d be in the shower, half in and out of the shower, the bouncer’s on the floor. I was lucky to get that shower in the morning. So we’ve just got to get that skin really beautiful so that it does help you feel good.
So here are my three top skincare tips for new mothers.
- Allocate five minutes for yourself
It’s really hard to get that moment for yourself with a newborn. But you might find in the morning when you’ve got your partner or friend or family member there, getting breakfast ready, you can kind of duck off. It might even be in the middle of the day when your baby is having a nap. It could be in the evening after you’ve got the baby down. It could be before the dream feed. Whenever it is, just find those five minutes for yourself. Think of it as that little bit of me-time.
- Work out your skin type
This is really important because your skin type changes. It changes as you age, especially when you’re going through the hormonal pregnancy stage.
You really need to work out what your skin type is so that you can buy the appropriate products. So how do you work out what your skin type is?. There are a couple of different skin types. Generally women that have just had a baby or are pregnant will tend to have combination skin, that is, some dry and oily parts on the face.
You’ll know if you have sensitive skin. because you get red and you react to products. With oily skin, obviously you’ll find that you have a lot of oil through your T-zones.
So you just need to work out what your skin type is, so that when you are hitting the shops and going shopping to buy your products, you know exactly what products you need to buy for your skin type.
- Buy the right products for your skin type
With a newborn baby at home, you’re not doing a lot of luxury shopping. You’re either ordering the groceries online or popping quickly into the shops.
So what I would suggest is, keep it really simple and find all of your products in Coles or Kmart or BIG W. Just because you’re paying a lot of money for something, doesn’t mean it’s any better. Priceline and Chemist Warehouse are also great places. You’re going to be popping into Priceline and Chemist Warehouse to probably get your nappies and creams anyway.
In terms of brands, there are so many different options. At the higher end you’ve got Antipodes. That’s an organic brand, so they have some really beautiful options in skincare. But then when you’re moving down the price scale, you’ve got Nivea and those kinds of brands. As I mentioned, make sure whatever you’re buying is for your skin type.
Here are the four types of products you should have in your easy skincare routine: a cleanser, a serum, an eye cream and a moisturiser.
A cleanser is an essential product to have. If you’ve got oily skin, you’re going to be looking for more of a gel cleanser. If you’ve got really dry skin, you’re going to be looking for something a little bit more milky. So as you can imagine, when it’s dry, you need to give your skin more nourishment.
When purchasing a cleanser, think about the opposite of your skin type. For oily skin, you need something to kind of remove that oil, so generally it’s a foam or a gel for oily skin. For dry skin, choose something with more moisture, so more of a cream, or a milky kind of finish.
Let’s talk about luxury products as well. I definitely don’t want to rule out luxury. Some of my favourite luxury skincare products include Ella Bache, Dr Spiller’s, Rationale, and Synergie Skin. The have really great anti-aging options and lots of nourishment, which is what you need as a mum of a newborn. You really need to feed the skin at this time, especially when you’re breastfeeding as all of those nutrients are going to the baby.
Next, get a serum – an overnight serum or a day serum. A serum will help your maintain its moisture. So once you put your cream on, the serum’s already gone in and swollen the cells, so that when the moisturiser goes on, the skin can really soak all of that in.
Choose a hydrating hydrating serum, and if you’re concerned with fine lines on the face, you can look an anti-aging option.
From the age of 30 and upward, you definitely want to be using an eye cream, because underneath the eyes are usually quite dry. Make sure that you are using an actual eye cream because what some people will say is, “I’m using a Sorbolene cream all over my face, why can’t I use it under the eyes?”. Eyes are a very delicate area and they need a lightweight product, and also something that has extra hydration.
Finally, get a simple every day face moisturiser.
If you follow these 3 simple skincare tips you’ll look and feel great, without having to spend ages in front of the mirror.
