Pregnancy is the moment most people start reading skincare labels for two. Published guidance is that most cosmetic skin care is considered acceptable in pregnancy, and the named exceptions are the ones you have heard of: topical retinoids are not encouraged, and hydroquinone is absorbed enough to be worth minimizing. Many providers also suggest keeping essential oils minimal in the first trimester, and the reproductive-toxicity literature flags specific constituents including camphor, thujone, citral and pulegone rather than scented products as a class. A short, recognizable ingredient list makes that conversation with your provider a two-minute one. That's why we built Bare Silk.
What do providers usually ask you to avoid while pregnant?
This section summarizes what published guidance commonly flags. Your provider decides what applies to you. The recurring names: prescription retinoids and over-the-counter retinol, hydroquinone, and high concentrations of salicylic acid. Fragrance is a gray zone, which is why fragrance-free options exist in nearly every category. The framing worth borrowing from the review literature is the plain one: only cosmetics and procedures deemed safe and necessary, after a risk-benefit conversation with your clinician. The pattern underneath all of it: fewer actives and fewer unknowns, which makes for a shorter conversation with your OB or midwife.
Why does an ingredient list you can read out loud matter?
The practical version of pregnancy skincare isn't memorizing chemistry. It's handing your provider a label and asking "anything here you want me to skip?" With a 30-ingredient lotion that conversation becomes a research project. Five ingredients get answered before the appointment moves on.
Here is the entire Bare Silk Unscented list, exactly as it appears on the jar: grass-fed 100% suet tallow, meadowfoam oil, cold-pressed jojoba oil, organic arrowroot powder, vitamin E. That is the whole label. The Lavender edition adds one more line, Bulgarian lavender essential oil, and nothing else. We formulated it this way on purpose: it is the balm in our line built for pregnancy, new babies, and skin that reacts to everything, so every ingredient had to earn its place and be easy to vet.
Where does tallow itself fit?
Tallow is rendered beef fat, a single-origin lipid people have used on skin for centuries. Its fatty acid profile sits close to the lipids your skin already produces, which is why a small amount goes a long way and why it works as the entire base of a balm instead of needing a preservative-heavy water phase. No water phase also means no parabens or preservative systems to vet. Our suet sets into a dense balm that melts on contact, and a little covers a lot because the fatty acids match the ones your skin already makes.
Pregnancy acne, and which oils to look at
Pregnancy acne tends to follow the hormones. A 2016 review by Chien and colleagues notes breakouts often ease in the first trimester and can worsen in the third, as rising androgens push oil production up. Anything active is your obstetrician's or dermatologist's call, and there's a reason: several acne drugs are off the table for these months.
Guidance flags two groups. Retinoids come first, from isotretinoin by mouth, which is ruled out entirely in pregnancy, to the retinoid creams providers don't encourage. Salicylic acid at peel strength is the second, though Chien's review rates it low risk when it stays on a small area for a short time.
For the moisturizer, look at the essential oils first, since that's where most pregnancy questions land. A short list with no water and no essential oil gives your provider very little to weigh, and that's why we point to Bare Silk Unscented here. It's there for the dry, tight feel, and nothing in it is aimed at a breakout.
Chemical sunscreen in pregnancy
The FDA ran its own absorption studies, published in JAMA in 2019 and 2020. Oxybenzone and every other chemical filter tested reached the bloodstream, and in 2020 that took a single use. The FDA says that isn't a finding of harm. It wants more data on those filters, and it still tells everyone to keep wearing sunscreen.
Absorption is why many providers steer pregnant patients toward mineral filters. A 2025 review by Lim and colleagues notes that zinc oxide and titanium dioxide are often the first pick in pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Very little of either is absorbed. If you've been reaching for a chemical sunscreen, it's a fair question for your next appointment.
A balm doesn't belong in that comparison at all. Tallow has no SPF worth counting, and tallow and SPF explains why. Wear Bare Silk underneath and the mineral sunscreen over it.
What about the rest of the line during pregnancy?
Two more of our balms suit this season. Velvet Face Renewal is the renewal step many people keep when they set retinol aside: a true 1% bakuchiol with oil-soluble vitamin C and CoQ10, no retinoids anywhere in the recipe, and a fully published label to hand your provider. Recovery Balm is the one bellies reach for: helichrysum, tamanu, and sea buckthorn aimed at the look of stretch marks as skin stretches and settles. Both are pregnancy-suitable picks with short, published ingredient lists; as with everything in these nine months, run your routine past your OB or midwife. The rest of the line carries botanicals that are good at their jobs and add lines to that conversation. When in doubt, the fragrance-free jar with five ingredients is the simplest place to start, and the full balm collection is there for after.
If you take one thing from this: start with Bare Silk Unscented ($34), the shortest label we pour. Sixty days on your skin; if it disagrees, we refund it.
Questions we hear
Is Bare Silk made for pregnancy?
Yes, that is its role in our line: pregnancy, babies, and ultra-sensitive skin. It is the balm we formulated to have the shortest possible label. Bring the ingredient list to your provider for the green light. You can read it in one breath.
Should I choose Unscented or Lavender while pregnant?
Unscented is the simpler conversation at five ingredients and zero essential oils, while the Lavender Edition adds one essential oil at a deliberately low concentration. Plenty of people use lavender through pregnancy. When in doubt, take Unscented.
Can I use bakuchiol while pregnant?
Bakuchiol is not a retinoid, which is exactly why it is the swap people ask about. We researched it before positioning Velvet Face Renewal as a pregnancy-suitable pick, and the full recipe is published so your provider can see everything at a glance. Bring the label; it is a short read.
Can I use it on my baby after?
Bare Silk was designed to be the jar that stays on the changing table after it leaves your hospital bag. Same recipe, no separate baby version: the Unscented jar is already the shortest label we make. Patch test first, as with anything new on new skin.
Does tallow clog pores?
Tallow scores low to moderate on comedogenic scales and individual response varies, so patch test first. The full answer is in Is tallow comedogenic?
Can you use tallow on a pregnancy belly for stretch marks?
Yes, on intact skin. A nickel of balm pressed into damp skin morning and night keeps a stretching belly supple and takes the tight, dry feel down. Whether marks form depends on how fast the skin stretches and on your family history, and in studies cocoa butter and almond oil didn't stop them. What a balm offers is comfort and care for the look of stretch marks. Bare Silk Unscented is where we'd start: five ingredients, no essential oils.
Go deeper
The nursery-and-beyond case for the five-ingredient jar is in Bare Silk for pregnancy, babies and every day, and the two gentlest soothers in the line get their own read in colloidal oat and calendula. For the skin changes pregnancy leaves behind, read caring for the look of scars and stretch marks. If the fat itself is new to you, beef tallow for skin: the complete guide is the long version, and skin that reacts to everything is walked through in the five-ingredient sensitive skin guide. For the months after the birth, postpartum skin covers dryness, the look of stretch marks, hair loss and dark patches.
Sources
- Bozzo P et al. (2011). Safety of skin care products during pregnancy. Canadian Family Physician 57:665-667.
- Biskanaki F et al. (2024). The Risk of Using Cosmetics and Cosmetic Procedures During Pregnancy. Applied Sciences 14:9885.
- Dosoky NS et al. (2021). Maternal Reproductive Toxicity of Some Essential Oils and Their Constituents. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22:2380.
- Dhaliwal S et al. (2019). Prospective, randomized, double-blind assessment of topical bakuchiol and retinol for facial photoageing. British Journal of Dermatology 180:289-296.
- Li D et al. (2025). A Comprehensive Review: The Bidirectional Role of Sebum in Skin Health. Bioengineering 12:1333.
- Chien AL et al. (2016). Treatment of Acne in Pregnancy. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.
- Michele TM, Strauss D (2020). Shedding More Light on Sunscreen Absorption. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA Voices.
- Lim HW et al. (2025). Photoprotection in pregnancy: addressing safety concerns and optimizing skin health. Frontiers in Medicine.
- American Academy of Dermatology Association. Stretch marks: Why they appear and how to get rid of them. AAD.