Calendula & skincare during & after pregnancy

A new baby is so precious and as a new parent we want to protect and nurture in every way possible. We’re often asked if our products are safe for use during pregnancy as skincare is so important.

Skin During Pregnancy

Hormonal fluctuations can often cause breakouts, discolouration, skin tags and varicose veins. It may also cause hypersensitivity, so using your regular cosmetics and wearing your favourite perfume or jewellery may be out of the question. But it’s not all bad news. Pregnancy and the increased blood flow produce that wonderful glow to the skin. To enhance the glow or calm irritations, organic products are perfect as they work with the body and the skin and not against it.

Inlight’s Body Butter features a high concentration of rejuvenating Vitamin E to soften and prevent stretchmarks; it’s also a restorative and deeply nourishing balm, perfect for those areas that are changing daily.

Post-Pregnancy & Baby Skin

Mum should be thinking about deep nourishment to see her through the ongoing hormonal fluctuations. Whatever your skincare routine, it shouldn’t change much from your pre-birth one, should continue to focus on gentle cleansing and moisturising to allow your skin to breathe and adjust while your body does.

A baby’s skin is 20-30% thinner and less resilient than an adult.

Their skin barriers aren’t yet developed which means anything that is put on it is absorbed more easily. So, it’s even more important to check the ingredients of anything that you might apply.

Dr Spiezia says “a baby’s skin is much finer and more delicate than that of an adult and most non-natural substances that are applied to it can cause damage or can be absorbed internally via the skin and interfere with the inner metabolism.”

What can you use?

Organic vegetable oils will moisturise and soothe as they are very similar to babies’ skin chemistry (and adults too!) and will deeply nourish without harming it. Almond, olive and coconut oil are all wonderful.

Calendula and Damask Rose Soothing Balm

This is the perfect product for both mum and baby. It is gentle on bottoms and effective on sore nappy rash. It is also wonderful for mums who are breastfeeding as due to its organic nature, there’s no need to worry about wiping it off the nipple before breastfeeding.

Why Calendula? (calendula officinalis)

Calendula, (or Marigold) is part of the Daisy family, and is one of Dr Spiezia’s most loved flowers. He uses it both in his Inlight formulations as well as his medical herbalist practice. He says “I have always been attracted by its simple shape, its radiant colour and power: a little joyful “sun” hidden in the green of the meadows, a spot of light stolen from the sky during the sun set.”

The calendula has many botanical properties: anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, immune-modulating, vaso-protective, anti-inflammatory, etc.

Dr Spiezia says “Because of all these properties, calendula extract is excellent externally for many skin complaints of inflammatory reactions such as dermatitis, keratosis, acne, spots, burns and cuts, varicose veins, sun burns, acne rosacea, mosquito bites, skin infection and fungus, etc. For internal use it is great for regulating period problems, for gastritis and bowel inflammation, for calming spasms. Incredible!”

Here at Inlight we infuse organic calendula flowers in organic extra virgin olive oil to produce our extraordinary herbal oils. You can see the variation in the colour of the oil in the image below. After a few days it becomes intense yellow and then orange. It is a joy to attend to this “magic” alchemy.

Calendula can also be found in our Night Balm, Line Softener Intensive, Body Oil with Arnica, Body Butter, Chocolate Mask as well as the Turmeric & Calendula Relief Balm.

Organic Skincare For Babies

Calendula is such a fantastic ingredient in skincare that we also incorporate it into our Baby Skincare Range. Our Organic Baby Massage Oil offers a beautiful opportunity for bonding and relaxation with extraordinary nourishing and calming oils to nurture and soothe.

Hard water can often cause dryness at bath time, and our Organic Baby Bath Oil helps to counteract this by keeping your baby's skin supple and hydrated.

Of course, we advise a skin patch test with every new product, especially during pregnancy or on newborns.