Black maternal health in the United States remains a deeply serious issue. According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes than white women. Data from California further revealed that even the wealthiest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as their wealthiest white counterparts. The numbers make clear that the disparity is not about access alone it cuts across income levels and zip codes.
In 2022, tennis legend Serena Williams wrote about her own difficult birth experience for ELLE, describing how being heard by medical professionals was the difference between surviving and not. Her account echoed what countless Black women across the country have long reported: pain that goes unacknowledged, concerns that get dismissed, and a system that too often leaves them to figure things out on their own.
Surviving childbirth is one chapter. Navigating postpartum is another entirely. Beyond learning how to care for a newborn, new mothers are simultaneously trying to heal physically, stabilize emotionally and rediscover some version of themselves amid the exhaustion. For Black mothers especially, intentional self care is not an indulgence it is a necessity.
In honor of Black Maternal Health Week, three women a dermatologist, a beauty editor and a lifestyle editor shared how their relationships with beauty and self-care have shifted since becoming mothers.
Mom no. 1: Dr. Elyse Love, dermatologist
Before her son arrived, Dr. Elyse Love maintained what she describes as a high-maintenance wellness routine that included regular pilates, strength training, physical therapy and massage sessions. Postpartum life required a serious reset.
She now aims to work out two to three days a week, though the more indulgent elements of her old routine have become rare. Sleep, she says, has become her top priority her body tends to get sick if she goes more than three consecutive days without proper rest, which happens more often than she would like.
Her advice to other new moms is to extend themselves genuine grace and stay flexible. She learned that lesson firsthand after starting strength training about four months after giving birth, only to find it was too taxing on her body. She switched to low intensity pilates, tried early morning sessions before her baby woke up, and then had to pivot again when her son started waking up at 5 a.m. anyway.
She encourages new mothers to expect their routines to shift constantly throughout the first year, and to treat the process of finding balance as something to embrace rather than resist.
Mom no. 2: Aimee Simeon, beauty editor
Beauty editor Aimee Simeon says that becoming a mother deepened rather than diminished her relationship with self care. Before her daughter was born, she took rest and personal time for granted. Now, she is deliberate about carving out moments to refuel.
Some days that means leaving her daughter with a grandparent for a few hours to wash her hair or do her nails. Other days, it means staying in bed together all day. What matters, she says, is checking in with herself and honoring what she actually needs in the moment.
Her postpartum hair shedding has recently started to slow, and she has made wash day a weekend ritual she genuinely looks forward to scalp scrub, treatment mask and a silk press. She also sets aside time to do her nails at home, putting on a movie and spending an hour on herself, which she says helps her feel more put-together heading into the week. Monthly deep tissue massages have become a non negotiable for both her physical and mental health.
Her advice to other mothers who are still finding their footing: give yourself grace and focus on one feel good thing at a time.
Mom no. 3: Victoria Uwumarogie, lifestyle editor
Lifestyle editor Victoria Uwumarogie is candid about the fact that for a long stretch after her second child was born, looking good was simply not on her radar. She was focused on staying mentally stable and meeting the needs of two very young children, including an older child adjusting to no longer being the only one.
As her boys have grown now ages three and one she has started leaning back into beauty, and she is clear about why it matters to her. Getting dressed, doing her makeup for church or a date night, freshening her hair color for spring, wearing a favorite perfume again all of it functions as a reminder that she is more than a mother. She is still herself.
Her current focus has been on her skin, particularly reversing the hormonal acne and scarring that both pregnancies triggered. Working through a dedicated skin routine has become her primary form of pampering, and she has found real joy in the process.
Her advice to new moms is simple, get dressed first. When mothers spend the morning entirely focused on their children and tend to themselves last, she says, they lose the opportunity to start the day feeling their best and that ripples into everything else.
