Archive for March 9th, 2010

Face Washing as Basic Skin Care for Teens

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

If you are a parent with adolescents or teenagers in the house, you need to understand and also be aware of skin care for your kids and what better way than to impart to them the simplest method of face washing as basic skin care for your teens.
Surprised? Actually it is by understanding the fact that as children enter adolescence, they still have sensitive skin that requires delicate and constant care for them to have healthy skin.
Many parents usually worry over the prospect of their teenagers having problems with acne or oily skin, however, it is best to know how to deal with each possible skin problem teenagers are likely to encounter.
Probably one of the most common factor that leads to parents worrying over their childrens skin problems is knowing that as teenagers, they are already independent of washing and bathing themselves, wherein parents no longer have the idea of how their kids go about their skin care routines.
Are they simply using water to wash their faces? Or probably using your facial skin toners or cleansers or use bar soaps to wash their faces?
These things need to be carefully considered and corrected since this could lead to more harm than good if the incorrect method is not corrected right away.
Out of the three mentioned routines earlier, washing the face with water is the safest process of all, while the remaining two could prove harmful to your teenager.
Do remember that since adolescent skin is still sensitive, the appearance of acne does not conclusively indicate that your childs face is really dirty, but is just a result of their skins sensitivity.
Also, adult facial cleansing formulas could also be too harsh for their sensitive skin and should also be avoided.
Using acne removal treatments could only lead to aggravating the problem or even do more damage to your childs skin regeneration process.
Essentially, skin or face washing habits for adolescents should be limited to once a day since anything in excess of that can be damaging to their skin.
Parents, and teenagers as well, must be aware that adolescents should only be using gentle cleansers on their skin, for which the best choices are those made of natural or water based cleansers and cream-based cleansers that not only cleans but moisturizes skin as well.
Face cleansing should ideally be done once a day, as mentioned earlier, unless your teens are active in after school sport or outdoor activities, where intense sweating or exposure to dust and grime are part of the activity.
Also avoid letting your kids use body lotion on their faces, if they feel that their skin needs moisturizing, since the skin from the neck up is more sensitive and requires delicate attention, most especially since majority of body lotions available in the market contain certain ingredients that can cause reactions on facial skin.
It is a rare fact for teenagers to worry about moisturizing their skin, but if the skin starts to become extra dry, a gentle water-based moisturizer would do.
You can ask a dermatologist or a licensed skin care expert for products that can be helpful for skin teenagers skin conditions.
In a nutshell, skin care for adolescents should just be more of simply clearing the dirt or grime from the topmost layer of the skin and to ensure good skin care habits, like face washing as basic skin care for teens, is by instilling in them the responsibility and awareness of what needs to be done and what should not.

Know More About Skin Care Basics

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Being the largest, not to mention most exposed, organ of the body, the skin offers many telling details about a persons identityfrom ones lifestyle to choice of products. This is why the skin has been subject to frequent, sometimes intentional, scrutiny. And for fear of failing the test, a lot of people have paid much closer attention to the skin. This is purely normal; in fact, proper skin care should be in the mind of every individual. This doesnt mean, however, incorporating complex skin care routine in daily itineraries, because practicing skin care basics should do well enough.
Here are the four basics of skin care. Do them with regularity and your skin will look as radiant and young as you want it to.
1. Cleanse. A healthy skin is a clean skin, so regularly cleanse your skin with a compatible facial cleanser. A good cleanser removes dirt, excess oil, and germs, while being gentle on the skin. When choosing a cleanser, consider your type of skin and be extra critical. Some cleansers come in the form of soaps, others in liquid form. There are beauty experts who prefer using liquid cleansers since they believe soaps can strip off moisture from the skin and leave it dry. However, this is an issue of personal preference. Should you be more comfortable using soap, its okay. But be sure to choose mild soaps.
TIP: Do not over-wash your skin because it will do your skin more harm than good. At the most, wash your face twicemorning and night. Some people prefer to wash with only lukewarm water in the morning, and use cleanser at night. Again, whether you omit the cleanser from your morning routine is an issue of preference.
2. Moisturize. The goal of moisturizers is to keep moisture locked into the skin, preventing it to be dry, flaky, and cracked. Every skin type needs to be moisturized, even the oily skin. Good thing is, there are specially designed moisturizers for each skin type.
TIP: Because of the advanced science, moisturizers today are a far cry from their early counterparts, which used to be only made of water and wax mixtures. Nowadays, there are ingredients that replenish natural oil and help with exfoliation, such as glycerol, ceramides, and hydroxyl acids. Look for these ingredients when choosing a moisturizer.
3. Exfoliate. Few people know that exfoliation is as important as cleansing the skin and so leave it out from their routine. This should not be the case. Skin exfoliation at least once a week is necessary to remove dead skin cells that cause blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples. With regular exfoliation, the skin is smooth and radiant.
TIP: Facial scrubs have potent exfoliation properties, which is why many skin care manufacturers are now producing their own scrub products. But because there are a lot of options in the market, it pays to be a little critical. When looking for a facial scrub, choose the one with small grains. This is proven to work more gently on the skin.
4. Sun-protect. A lifetime of sun exposure causes most of the skin damages, and usually these damages, which include wrinkles, dark spots, uneven skin, and dryness, appear later in life. But because they tend to manifest slowly, these damages are all too often ignored. Protect your skin from the sun, particularly from the damaging UV rays, early on and use sunscreen protection.
TIP: When you dont apply sunscreen, your efforts of practicing the other skin care basics are all in vain. So start investing on sunscreen and choose those products with SPF 15 or more. For more protection, apply sunscreen 20 minutes before going out and reapply when necessary.