Being pregnant is nothing short of miraculous, but it’s also really damn hard. I recently gave birth to my second child, and during both pregnancies, my body didn’t look or feel like my own, my anxiety levels were always elevated, and my skin? It was a disaster. (The pregnancy glow that people rave about? I didn’t experience it.)

During my first pregnancy my face was constantly oily and full of angry cystic breakouts. Then came the perioral dermatitis (a fancy term for inflammation around the chin and mouth). My very stubborn post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation—aka acne scars —from all those hormonal breakouts took forever to go away, too.

I knew I couldn't be the only person with this experience, which prompted me to chat with dermatologists to find out what really happens to skin during pregnancy and learn how skincare routines should shift while growing a human.…