How to take care of skin as a teenager: selecting ingredients
The large-scale hormonal changes of teenagers affect literally all body systems, including the skin. Cosmetologists recommend starting skin care during puberty, when girls start menstruating and boys' voices break.
If your teenager already has skin problems, you definitely need to start skin care. Yes, teenage acne can disappear on its own, but it can leave scars, age spots, and psychological problems.
Teenager skin: age-related changes
The endocrine system is being rebuilt, hormones are raging, and all this is reflected in the skin. During adolescence, both girls and boys experience an increase in the level of the hormone testosterone. Because of this, the production of sebum increases. It can become more viscous or, conversely, more liquid. Sweating increases, blood vessels are transformed. This leads to clogged pores, the appearance of blackheads, comedones, pimples, acne, and in severe cases, acne. Moreover, all this can concern not only the face. Teenage acne can appear on the back and in the décolleté area.
Although teenage skin is elastic, flexible and has enough collagen, due to rapid growth, even stretch marks can appear on it. Read how to deal with them in our article “Stretch marks and stretch marks: prevention with cosmetics”.
Predominantly, teenage skin can be classified as oily, problematic, combination, but there are also teenagers with dry skin. It does not develop inflammation and almost does not cause problems at this age, except for a feeling of tightness after water procedures. Nevertheless, dry skin requires even more careful care so that it does not present unpleasant surprises with age.
The skin of boys and girls in adolescence differs insignificantly. However, girls usually start caring for themselves earlier, but boys generally consider all this washing and creams to be girly things and begin to take care of their faces when the problem is already advanced and requires the work of a professional cosmetologist or dermatologist. But regular home care can eliminate up to 80% of teenage problems.
Stages of teenage skin care
Teenage skin care has the same stages as adult skin care, it also differs in the composition of the products depending on the skin type. However, you can’t use all adult cosmetics. You definitely don’t need to look at anti-age and creams rich in collagen, peptides and other “thermonuclear assets”. Your child will still have time to get to them when he grows up, you don’t need to deprive the skin of the opportunity to self-restore and produce what it needs to function, while all the systems are working perfectly.
An important stage of care: cleansing teenage skin
Here you could write CLEANSING in giant letters. This is the alpha and omega of teenage skin care. Both boys and girls need to wash their faces. The latter begin to experiment with cosmetics at this age, the first foundation creams, powders, eyeshadows, lipstick. In no case should you go to bed with makeup on your face. Otherwise, inflammation, enlarged pores, and allergies are guaranteed.
What to wash your face with as a teenager
First of all, you really need to forget about soap. Only wash your hands with soap before eating. It has too alkaline a pH, and increasing the pH will only promote the proliferation of bacteria responsible for skin rashes. In addition, soap dries out the skin. This is bad for both dry and normal skin, as well as for oily skin. In the first case, a feeling of tightness is guaranteed, peeling and itching may occur, in the second, sebum production will increase and, hello, new rashes.
Do not choose hydrophilic oil, cleansing milk, or any products that do not foam to cleanse your teenager's skin. Most likely, the teenager will simply not wash everything off well enough, but he will definitely not leave foam on his face.
The foam or gel for washing should be on mild surfactants. You can use surfactants
Coco glucoside, Amilite GCS-12K surfactants, Amisoft CS-22 and other delicate surfactants that can be purchased at the Beurre store. The pH of the product should be 5-5.5. Of the active substances, you can add:
- vegetable salicylic acid
- D-panthenol
- allantoin
- natural antimicrobial and soothing actives
- prebiotics and probiotics, such as Biolin P or Oxy Skin
- the right complexes of plant extracts, such as Cutibiom
- snail extract is an effective component for relieving inflammation and healing the skin.
For teenage skin, it is better not to use scrubs for either the face or the body. This is a rather traumatic procedure, especially if there is inflammation or rashes on the skin. In this case, the scrub can contribute to the spread of inflammation across the skin.
How often should teenagers wash their faces
If the skin is dry or normal, it is enough to wash with water in the morning. But in the evening, a full cleansing is necessary to wash away sweat, dust, excess sebum, and for girls, even the remains of makeup. Girls with dry skin can use cleansing milk that is suitable for sensitive skin. They can be prepared with the lecithin emulsifier Plantaquat NC.
People with oily, problematic skin must wash their faces twice a day. But the foam or gel should be as soft as possible, with a slightly acidic pH level, and should never dry out the skin.
Toning: why is it even necessary
Here, a teenager, especially a boy, may run out of patience. But if he agrees to also apply a toner to his face, great, because the quality of the skin can change dramatically. We know that many teenagers with oily skin want to “dry” it and therefore wash their faces with soap or wipe their faces with lotions containing alcohol. But in adolescence, and at any other age, you cannot dry out your skin, otherwise you will get such a phenomenon as oily dehydrated skin. In addition to oily shine, it will also have peeling and redness. If you bought a toner and the ingredients contain alcohol - immediately throw it in the trash. After all, the task of the toner is to balance the pH level of the skin after washing and prepare it for applying the cream.
For dry and normal skin, it is better to make the toner simply moisturizing: add NUF, Fucogel, Aquaxyl, Aqua shuttle. But for oily and / or problem skin, you can add salicylic acid to the toner, for example, plant, bisabolol, D-panthenol, plant extracts with healing, antimicrobial properties, as well as probiotics.
Moisturizing
Only light moisturizing creams with a minimum set of components are suitable for teenage skin. After all, we remember that teenage skin only needs a little help, and not saturate it with all the components that are already present in it. If the skin is dry, you can make a cream with a small amount of light oils, for oily skin you can just use emollients. The main active ingredients are moisturizers, pre- and probiotics, and plant extracts.
For oily skin, a light cream-gel without oils is ideal. Read about how to create a pseudo emulsion in our article “How to make a cream without emulsifiers and oils.” You can also sometimes make moisturizing masks and clay-based masks for deep cleansing of the skin. But it is better not to do fabric and film masks if there are rashes on the skin.
Cosmetics ingredients for problematic teenage skin
If we are talking about dry or normal skin, we will repeat that you should not add a large number of active ingredients to the cream. Moisturizers and probiotics will be enough. But for problematic skin, the arsenal of active ingredients should be increased to solve certain cosmetic problems. Moisturizing components are also a must-have in the cream, since moisturizing is the basis of teenage skin care.
The recipe for a cream for teenage problem skin will be enriched with the following categories of components:
- antimicrobial — Woresana (a unique component that is even used to treat acne), Zinc PCA, Copper PCA, bisabolol, azelaic acid, salicylic acid;
- healing — D-panthenol, Sulfur MSM, Copper PCA, calendula extracts, chamomile, green tea, centella asiatica;
- mattifying and pore-tightening — Evermat, Poreaway;
- soothing — Annonasens, Calmosensine peptide, bisabolol, Fucogel.
All active ingredients that are described as for oily or problem skin are suitable.
AHA acids can also be used in the care of problem skin of teenagers, but do so very carefully. Retinol and bakuchiol are suitable for severe forms of acne, but it is still better to make a decision together with a competent cosmetologist. In the oily phase of creams for teenage problem skin, it is better to replace base oils with emollients.
Protecting teenage skin from the sun
Very often you can hear the advice to dry out pimples in the sun. But you do not need to follow this advice. Initially, the skin condition will really improve, since the skin thickens under the influence of the sun, hyperkeratosis occurs. However, after a temporary remission, an exacerbation may begin.
And why start the process of photoaging at such a young age. When in the open sun, teenagers should use light sunscreens with an SPF of at least 30, and 50 on the beach. It is better to replace children's thick sunscreens with lighter ones, designed for teenagers or for oily problem skin.
When to see a dermatologist for teenage acne
If after regular care the situation with your teenager's skin has not improved or even worsens, if the teenager starts squeezing out pimples on their own and you see crusts, scratches and fresh scars on the skin, then it's time to seek help from a dermatologist-cosmetologist.
Another way to understand whether your teenager needs to see a doctor is to count the inflammations:
- If there are up to 10 comedones and inflammations on the face, home care can handle them.
- More than 10 comedones and inflammations - 2nd degree acne. In this case, complex treatment is already needed.
- The third degree of acne is more than 25 inflammations and 5 nodes, with a diameter of 0.5 cm. Serious treatment is already needed.
Teenagers and decorative cosmetics
In adolescence, girls begin their first experiments with cosmetics, learn to use eyeshadow, mascara, lipstick and foundation. Make sure that they are of high quality. Instead of foundation, it is better to offer your daughter lighter textures BB-CC cream, which are designed specifically for problem skin.
It is very important not only to remove makeup in the evening, but also to keep sponges and brushes clean. After all, a simple dirty brush can lead to microbial contamination of the skin, and then inflammation. Therefore, it is recommended to regularly bathe them in a mild shampoo.
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