They say you should never meet your heroes, so you could imagine the butterflies I had in my stomach as I ascended to the top floor of the Public hotel for a sit down with one of my idols since I was a kid: Meghan Trainor. But, the moment I stepped into the room, my nerves melted away as she ran over to me—barefoot, seven months pregnant and utterly radiant—to give me the biggest hug. Within moments of sharing a couch with the 29-year-old chart-topping singer, I felt like we were old friends.
Recently, Trainor partnered with renowned hair-care brand, Nexxus, to promote their Unbreakable Care anti-breakage line—one that the singer herself has a personal connection to having dealt with her own hair changes throughout pregnancy. In our short time together, Meghan let me in on all the changes that she went through during both her pregnancies, from skin conditions to “sexy time,” all served with a refreshingly candid nature and lots of laughs.
Motherhood brings about so many personal changes as you’re well aware of with baby number two on the way and your debut novel Dear Future Mama, out now. How did your hair and body change as a result of your first pregnancy and is it any different the second time around?
“I mean, everything changes. With my skin, I got this thing called perioral dermatitis, which is essentially red, itchy bumps around the mouth and the nose in the eyes, which is cute! My hair definitely changed too. I certainly had breakage and thinning. My hair was always long, though, but I was just thinking to myself, ‘God, it’s not getting big.’ During my first pregnancy, I didn’t have a brand like Nexxus and their Unbreakable Care collection looking after me, and this time I finally have it. I’m gonna use it for the rest of my pregnancy and my postpartum.
With my first pregnancy, though, I didn’t have any symptoms at first, and I didn’t even believe there was a baby in there. I was like, ‘Wow.’ So with this one I was rattled; I just like flu-ey all the time and needed saltine crackers, so I was convinced it was a girl torturing me in there, but it’s not! It’s just a sassy little boy. I forget stuff a lot now, too. At this stage, it’s just a lot of pain. If they’re in a weird spot and hit a nerve, it’s not fun.”
There can be a lot of unnecessary shame and embarrassment surrounding the female body, especially when it comes to pregnancy, motherhood and birthing. What are some things you wish you knew before your first pregnancy that you hope to help educate other new mothers on?
“Oh, you mean like the stretch marks that started all the way down at my vagine? Yeah! And I didn’t know they were there because I couldn’t see them with my bump. So when I got flat, I was like, why are they down there? I guess that was tough to get over. But now I’m over it. You know, we all heal. The C-section scar crossing that area that already had stretch marks was tough for me to wrap my brain around, and because of that it was tough to get back into sexy time. I found myself being like, ‘Turn the lights off, make sure I’m in a gown,’ but my husband was the best partner to go through this with. He thinks that my stretch marks are gorgeous. He’s always like, ‘They’re so beautiful’, and with my C-section scars he’s like, ‘This is where my boy came out. That’s an important scar’. And so he gives me perspective on all those things.”
We all know that being a mom is the toughest job in the world, and you manage to do it while being a chart topping singer. What are some of your favorite wellness rituals for prioritizing you when life gets crazy?
“I’ll admit, I’m not good at that, but my husband forces me. I’ve gotten one massage in this pregnancy and it was because he booked it and forced me to do it. Before, I was like, ‘Dude, I could be organizing right now,’ but he just told me to lay down and enjoy it, and after I went, I was like, ‘Oh my god that was the best thing ever.’ So when I can, treat myself I try to get a nice massage. Also, sometimes, we trade off nighttime routines. We’ll do everything together, but we’ll alternate the one who cuddles with [Riley] for the last hour and puts him in every other night and so if it’s his night, I get to go early and take a shower and like get ready for bed. I don’t know if that sounds like anything special, but it’s the little things.”
You mentioned your skin changed a lot with pregnancy. Did your skin-care routine have to change too?
“Oh, it turned my routine upside down. Before I was pregnant, I was like a serum girl. I loved to try new things and I was trying everything for my very dry skin, but when my hormones changed and I developed the perioral dermatitis, I essentially had to delete everything I was using. I went to a dermatologist and she told me to only use this Avene very gentle lotion and this Joseph bar of soap. I was like, ‘Okay,’ so I use three products now and that’s it. But it seemed to work. Sometimes less is more. When I go home and nest, though, I do really want to get a facial—something super hydrating.”
You have lights and cameras on you pretty consistently. Do you have any makeup products or techniques that you’ve come to swear by throughout your time in the spotlight?
“Eyebrows can change your face. I didn’t start putting makeup on my brows until I was in my 20s, so when I first got professional glam for the “All About That Bass” video, I was like, ‘Why are they in my eyebrows?’ But I realize now how significant that is. I’ve also come to learn that less is more, too. I tend to think I look prettier when I have less makeup on. My makeup artist has been with me for 10 years and we look back at all that glam and we think, ‘Oh, that was so 2016.’ Now, I want more of that bare, Hailey Bieber vibe when it comes to my face. I want a full face but I don’t want you to be able to tell I’m wearing makeup, you know?”
