Teenage Skincare Routines: Are they necessary and what should be included in them?

One of the many changes we experience in our teenage years is with our skin. As hormones start to change, our sebaceous glands can become more active, resulting in oilier skin and potentially inflamed or trapped with sebum which causes breakouts. It's also an age where teens might become intrigued by their appearance; discovering through friends or by raiding parents' dressing tables and bathroom cabinets to experiment with make up and skincare.  

But do teens and tweens really need a skincare routine? 

Certainly when it comes to changes in the skin, having a very simple skincare routine can be a good idea for teenagers to help protect their skins' natural microbiome and treat blemishes and spots.

There's lots of information out there on teenage skincare routines and often teens (and adults!) can be easily influenced by brands, peers and experts about products. At Blomma Beauty, we champion a minimalist approach to skincare, even with our adult customers, and the advice we give to teens and tweens is no different. Our philosophy when it comes to teen skin is to cleanse - treat - moisturise - protect. A routine of 3 or 4 simple steps using gentle products from natural skincare brands.

Read on our for our recommendations for each of the steps and our customers' most frequently asked questions about their children's' skin.

1. Cleanse

Any good skincare routine whether you're young or old has to have a solid foundation in cleansing. Our skin is subjected to dirt, make up and sweat on a daily basis so it's important to cleanse at the end of each day. Unless you're exercising in the mornings, we'd suggest just washing your face at the end of the day, as, especially in the case of teen skin, some cleansers for oily/breakout prone skin (as many teen-focussed cleansers are) can be stripping of the skin's natural oils and cause even more sebum to be produced. Which leads me nicely on to, which cleansers are best for teen skin.

We recommend naturally anti bacterial, but gentle cleansers for our teen customers. For break out prone skin, our best selling cleanser for teens is the Odylique Lemon and Tea Tree Face Wash as it's a gel to cream cleanser that helps tackle whiteheads, pimples and cystic spots without stripping the skin. For drier skin types, UpCircle Beauty's Cleansing Face Milk is naturally anti-inflammatory and hydrating. And, for those who struggle to get their teen to even go near water, we'd recommend Acala's Konjac Sponges which you just need to use with water to start some good facial hygiene habits. They come in different colours too so each member of the family can have their own and get everyone involved! 

2. Treat

This step is really only if you're struggling with breakouts, one of the most common teenage skin concerns, and want something extra to help calm and protect. For this we'd recommend either Odylique's Spot on Serum which you can use daily to help treat and protect your spots from added dirt and grime, or to nip spots in the bud overnight try Lyonsleaf's Zinc and Calendula Cream   

3. Moisturise

Again, another step that needs consideration. Choosing to use a moisturiser is about learning to listen to what your skin needs, which might not be moisturiser everyday. If it feels dry as the day progresses, then a moisturiser might compliment your routine, if it's directly after cleansing and your skin feels tight your cleanser pH might not suit you, or if oil builds throughout the day you might need to look at using a different cleanser or a lighter serum that's made with balancing ingredients. 

We'd recommend Silvan Skincare's range of face moisturisers as they've been formulated for different skin types. Balance for oilier skin types or Soothe for neutral - dehydrated skin types are the most popular for teens. 

4. Protect

The beginning and the end of our routines are the most important. Using a daily SPF will stand you in good stead for whatever life is going to throw at your skin through the ages as sun, free radical and pollution damage can take time to show up on the skin so you may not notice before it's too late. Getting into good habits with your SPF from a young age is beneficial. 

UpCircle Beauty's SPF is a favourite amongst younger skin types, not only because its lightweight formulation doesn't feel heavy on the skin but the brand has tonnes of eco friendly credentials. The SPF is made with raspberry seed extract that's a by-product of the jam and juice industry, perfect for fighting free radical damage and protecting and hydrating the skin and removing food waste at the same time! 

Our top tips for starting to build your teenage skin routine

We chat to parents and teens alike day in day out in our natural skincare store so have accumulated lots of advice and tips from our customers. Here's a few of our favourites: 

• Try and set boundaries with them if they want to raid your products either with what they use or when. Wash off items are fine like make up, masks and cleansers but you may want to help them steer clear of leave on products that are formulated with more experienced skin in mind so may contain more concentrated active ingredients. 
• It's not all about skincare. Get them into good make up practices too from an early age to help give their skin barrier a fighting chance later in life. Using heavy or the wrong make up can affect the appearance of our skin and whilst it's totally normal to want to experiment in our teenage years, we'd recommend suggesting using natural mineral make up from brands like Odylique, Bomonde and BareFaced Beauty. 
• Use this time as a fun experience you can do together if your child is up for it! We love helping parents and teens pick out their first skincare routine and you can even have a 1:1 consultation and mini facial with us to learn more about skincare and make the experience fun and less daunting or book your teen or tween a place on our "My First Skincare Workshop" which takes place in-person at our London store and is a fun, supportive and interactive class centred around building your routine and learning about your skin and what it does (and doesn't need) 
• Get to know ingredients and decide together what you think is going to work well (and not so well) for their skin. We recommend avoiding things like acids and retinols, heavy oils, pore-blocking comedogenic ingredients and anything that's labelled as anti-ageing or too trend focussed.
• If you're considering intervention for acne, take medical advice and also look at diet, nutrition and allergy tests for a combined, holistic approach. 
• Go easy...it's important not to overload the skin with multi-step routines and lots of conflicting ingredients. Simple is best and build up your routine over time. 

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