Beauty Clinic: Teenage skincare
Q. I wonder if you could recommend products for teenage skincare. My 13-year-old is now obsessed with beauty and I need some guidance! A. Encourage her, we say! A keen interest in healthy skin is great. In France, teenage girls are trotted off to the beautician/facialist from an even younger age for expert advice on keeping their complexion glowing.
The key, however, is to keep it gentle. Harsh toners and exfoliants are not good for teen skin, which needs TLC even if it's blemish-prone. And we can give you some recommendations straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, as a colleague’s daughter and her friends have been trialling a box of products from the mainly teen-targeted website, www.blushnkiss.com.
Our colleague at YOU Magazine reports that ‘the all-natural skincare products were a big hit. Top marks went to the Oxygen Teen Foaming Cleanser for oily skin, which made skin spearmint-y fresh and tingly clean, and the Peachface Shine On Facial Scrub with organic honey, walnut and sandalwood. Her sensitive-skinned older daughter raved about the chemical- and fragrance-free Good For You Girls Body Wash, too.
Another good option is the range called Elizabeth’s Daughter at www.elizabethsdaughter.co.uk. A second YOU Magazine colleague tells us that Onosiokhue, the 13-year-old daughter of a friend, was given some of this range and is asking her mum to buy more.
Onosiokhue says: ‘The Facial Gel Cleanser is particularly good and you only need a pea-sized amount. My skin is generally no greasy but can be oily around my nose and forehead and I get the occasional spot. This keeps my face oil-free yet moisturised. The light Daily Moisturiser makes my skin feel soft but again not oily.’
Over the years we have also pointed younger women (well, women of all ages, actually) in the direction of Liz Earle skincare. The antibacterial botanicals in the Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser at brilliant for young complexions, and it's an excellent introduction to skincare. There are different 'options' for different skintypes in Skin Repair Moisturiser, and you might find the Liz Earle Skin Repair Light is all she needs, right now. (If she does go for the cleanser, though, buy some extra muslin cloths: teenage girls aren't quite up-to-speed on laundry, we find...!)
We remember how excited we were about the world of beauty, as young teenagers. But hopefully, your daughter can learn from our 'skin-stripping' mistakes...
• Oxygen Teen Foaming Cleanser for oily skin/£13 for 300ml -buy here
• Peachface Shine On Facial Scrub/£17 for 100ml - buy here
• Good For You Girls Body Wash/£9.95 - buy here
• Elizabeth's Daughter Facial Gel Cleanser/£12 for 100ml - buy here
• Elizabeth's Daughter The Daily Moisturiser/£17.50 for 100ml - buy here
• Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser/£13.25 for 100 ml - buy here
• Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser/£19.25 for 50 ml - buy here
• Liz Earle Skin Repair Light/£19.25 for 50 ml - buy here