There’s no doubt that mothers are the backbone of our community— passing down lessons in strength, confidence, and more. However, motherhood can be a big transition— one that requires an adjustment to self-care and beauty routines. To discuss this matter, today, new mothers Aimee Simeon and Chanen Johnson joined the Beauty After Motherhood Beautycon panel, moderated by senior lifestyle editor Victoria Uwumarogie, on the final day of the 30th ESSENCE Festival of Culture.
“I had all the time in the world, and then I found out I was pregnant,” Aimee Simeon told Uwumarogie. As the senior beauty editor at Well+Good, Simeon used to luxuriate in treatments, from cupping to acupuncture and deep tissue massages. After a difficult first trimester, however, her acne-prone skin (which had been an issue throughout the years) cleared up, but not without bringing other changes to the forefront. “I had to look into products that helped swelling,” she said. “I didn’t deal with hair loss until after I gave birth and my hair just [now] stopped falling out.”
Despite most mothers adjusting to their changing bodies, “snapback” culture pressures mothers to bounce back to their old body after motherhood. “Famous folks will come on Instagram like ‘look at me back in the gym’ and you’re thinking to yourself ‘I’m leaking, I’m struggling, how are you doing this’,” Uwumarogie, a mother of two, said. “I got pregnant six months postpartum and I’m sorry I’m not going to the gym,” Johnson said. “I don’t feel bad at all. We’re all different, we all have different body types.”
From learning how to do our makeup, to building healthy relationships with our hair, the most important beauty lesson we learn can be passed down to our daughters. “I’m a girl mom, I’m having another girl, I want them to get into the beauty space and enjoy it the same way that I do,” Johnson says. For Simeon, she’s breaking generational curses around having our hair done. “I remember that sitting between my mom’s legs so clearly,” she said. “I just want her to know that I will do anything to make her feel her absolute best. Even if it’s a little crooked pigtail.”
