Oh...acne! .We're all probably confused and wondering what to do with it and how to make it go back to the way it was. You're probably also thinking,
"Am I applying too many products?"
"What do I really need?" "Why does my face sting?"
"Do I need to exfoliate?"
"What's this AHA and BHA?"
"Are these ingredients too strong?"
"What is all this nonsense?"
The truth is, we don't need to stuff our cabinet with all these different products with potent ingredients and high-end skincare. Learn to take care of the basics and you'll be good to go.
"What are the basics, you ask?
This is exactly what we'll be covering today.
As always, we'll first nerd out over biology because it's important to learn about what's causing these changes in our skin in the first place, and dive deep into the major causes and triggers of teen acne. We'll also walk through what's necessary for a simple but effective skincare routine,
Let's get started!
Let's zoom in for a second into our skin.
There are two main layers - the epidermis and dermis and they both have specific functions that keep our skin looking happy and healthy.
The Epidermis :
The epidermis is the outermost layer and it's what our physical eyes see.
It might sound weird but what we're looking at is a lot of dead skin cells, and they're shedding all the time, all over our body
The shedding process is known as cell turnover, and it helps to naturally exfoliate the top layer of dead skin and push up and create new skin. A teenager's cell turnover is like a well-oiled machine that just keeps on churning! but as we get older each year, slowly but surely, in our 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond, the rate of this cell turnover slows down.Why does this matter? The shedding is key when it comes to the vibrancy of our skin and explains why your cute teenage faces are a lot plumper and less dull without even trying. So that was the epidermis.
Now we're moving on to the dermis.
Dermis :
It's composed of two very specific and powerful proteins, collagen and elastin that go hand-in-hand, to give you that youth and plumpness that we've been talking about. Lucky enough, you teenagers still have an increased production of both collagen and elastin, meaning you can just wake up every day with that look of immortality.Also, skin is the thickest when you're a teen and since it's so thick and resilient,teens can better protect themselves from injuries, invading substances, and other environmental factors.But even if we have youth and juicy plumpness on our side, some of us will start experiencing pimples, breakouts or acne,and they can start showing up anywhere and everywhere cheeks, chin, forehead.
Let's recap what acne is and why it exists.
On your skin, you have hair follicles that reach from the dermis layer to the surface.Within these follicles, sebaceous glands produce an oily substance known as sebum to moisturize the hair and skin. When there's an overproduction of sebum along with a build up of dead skin cells and dirt, your pores can get clogged, which can then trigger an inflammatory response. And sometimes, bacteria can get in there as well, resulting in a swollen infected area around the follicle you get : A pimple!
So before you freak out and isolate yourself from the rest of the world, just know that teen acne is perfectly normal especially when you're at this age. But why is that ?One word for this :
Hormones!
When adolescents are experiencing what's known as puberty, their hormones or androgens drastically rise. This hormone surge makes the sebaceous or oil glands enlarge at least several times its normal size and this leads to an increased production of sebum, which can later lead to blackheads, whiteheads, and even cysts.While hormones play a huge role in this,there's also the added layer of increased:
Stress also causes inflammation in the body, which can make pimples that you already have even more inflamed, increasing the time it takes for pimples to go away,
Genetics is another reason why you might get acne.If several of your family members have acneic skin, it's more likely for you to have it as well. It's not because there's a specific gene that you inherit but it's because you might share either really oily skin or certain immune responses that lead to more frequent breakouts.
Now that we know the basics of what makes up naturally youthful skin let's talk about how to build a skincare routine:
There are three important things to keep in mind.
Number one: more is not better when it comes to skin care,which applies to everyone and not just teens.
Number two: learn your genetic skin type so you have a good starting place to build a routine.
Number three : find what works for you. This one's really really important.
Nightime routine:
The most important step in any skincare routine at any age is cleansing. The last thing you want to do is climb into bed with a day's layer of oil, sweat, dirt, dust, and bacteria partying on your face.But you have to cleanse your face before they can turn to a build up resulting in harmful skin issues.
You should pick something that's gentle.
Gentle will mean different things for different skin types. For example, if you have dry skin, you want to stay away from cleansers that have an overwhelming scent or fragrance,and you also want to look at the consistency and pick a more milky, gel or creamy cleanser because they're much more nourishing to the skin compared to foaming cleansers which will be too stripping for dry skin types.
But gentle cleansers for those with oily skin can mean something completely different. Oily skin types work much better with foaming cleansers to break away excess sebum build-up, and especially because the cell turnover is very rapid in teen years.If you do have oily skin, you definitely want to make sure you're cleansing well so that the pores aren't clogged leading to breakouts. You can try gentle cleansers with salicylic acid to help break down any extra gunk in the pores and another tip for all skin types is you can look for products that are non-comedogenic,which means it's formulated in a way that won't cause clogged pores.
In general, we would say you don't need to use any scrubs on your precious skin because it's already doing the job on its own.
In terms of how often you should wash your face, generally just wash once in the morning and once at night. But if you have dry skin, you could even skip the morning cleanse and follow with your moisturizer.If you have oilier skin types, it's best to get in the habit of cleansing twice a day,
Next, let's talk about moisturizers.
Yes, we skipped toners and serums because :
When we're young, we're really lucky our skin and body are already doing a lot of the work for us. So what you want to do is just help it out a little. Nourish your skin and protect and prevent. If you have dry skin, after you wash your face, you probably already know that you get that super tight and slightly taut feeling after even just a drop of water touches you face, so moisturizer is a necessary to apply as it's important to nourish ourselves and our skin.
The role moisturizers play is that it forms basically a protective barrier on top of your skin to prevent anything from outside to penetrate in to prevent water from inside your epidermis to escape.
Now, for oily skin! It's just as important to moisturize. Do not make the mistake of thinking, "Just because I already have oil oozing from my pores, I don't need to moisturize." When you don't, the skin will think it's not nourished enough and will signal the pores to create even more oils, which is not what we want. Especially if you're using any anti acne products, like over-the-counter spot treatment, drying lotions or even prescribed acne medication, which can all be really drying towards the skin. You have to find a moisturizer that's lightweight and can replenish and soothe the skin.
We have finished with night time routine.
Now, we're gonna move to the morning routine.
The morning routine is pretty much the same, but you should always, always, always end with sunscreen or SPF. We constantly tell you guys to protect your skin from UV damage, because we know just how crucial it really is. Trust us, the earlier you start this step, the better your skin will be in the future.
Now you might be wondering,
"What about Exfoliation?"
All of us love to talk about the benefits of exfoliating in the right way with the right ingredients, because chemical exfoliants help to gently lift and buff away the dead skin that could be causing breakouts. But like we said before, your skin in your teenage years is essentially already doing that for you. You don't want to prematurely strip away and be too harsh on your skin, and start using such potent ingredients for nothing.But in saying that, if you have some issues with breakouts, you can definitely look for a cleanser or moisturizer that contains salicylic acid, which is also known as BHA to sink into the pores to break up the bacteria,that are causing some of these breakouts. One thing to note is that teen acne will not magically disappear by using salicylic acid everyday, because it also depends on hormones and also what you're eating, like sugar or milk or cheese or anything...but that's so delicious.
Toner :
If you want to start adding an additional product into the routine, you can try a toner that's designed to help further hydrate the skin, because a little hydration never hurt nobody. If anything, it's what everyone - no matter the age - can benefit from.
A quick note on serum.
Serums generally are little bottles of magic filled with potent active ingredients to target specific skincare concerns. Because of your youth, it is not necessary for you to use serums yet because you don't really need anti-aging, you don't really have a lot of sunspots or dark circles or discoloration and hyperpigmentation to correct. You could use a little bit of hydration and moisturization from serums, but you can get that in toners and or moisturizers. So in general, serums - as teens - you don't need it. Save your money, spend it on a good cleanser, spend it on good moisturizer or a good SPF.
Moving on to lifestyle tips.
It's not always easy being a teen, especially when you have to deal with bumps and marks on your face. So here are some tips and suggestions you can follow to make your transition a little easier, and get you on the right track for clear and healthy skin. First things first, avoid any of these so called at home acne treatments, the ones that claim to get rid of pimples overnight claiming to cure them. They're only going to dry out the area and further irritate the skin. You might be desperate and search for toothpaste or lemon...whatever is lying around your house to cure that pre-prom zit. These natural remedies are only temporary solutions that can cause more irritation the more you rely on them, but they're not actually treating what's beneath the skin.
The main take away here is quick fixes... most of the time just help the problem at the surface. It's always better to dig into the root and fix the problem at the root, rather than trying to stick a bandaid on top or squeeze lemon juice or put toothpaste.
Moving on to makeup!
It's okay to wear makeup. It's absolutely okay to wear makeup. But that being said, if you do wear a makeup,it's really, really, really important to practice good hygiene. Your skin and pores are gonna thank you.Before you go to bed, make sure to remove your foundation, concealer, eye shadow, mascara anything that you've worn on your face even if it's just sunscreen. Just make sure you wash your face, it might be tempting to just pass out and get a few extra minutes of sleep, but you won't be happy when you suddenly start staring at a zit, the size of a mountain on your face the next morning. Every once in a while, wash your brushes and sponges to keep them clean and the bacteria away from your face. And never share your makeup because nothing screams, "infection!" more than dirty or used products.
Of course, it's always great to wash our hands before applying makeup, and even wash our hands before we cleanse our face so that we don't get grimy bacterias like the day's worth of things we've touched onto our face.
The last thing we'll talk about, sometimes, to win the battle with acne, you have to look within. A good tip to follow is to drink lots of water and to have a healthy well balanced diet.This means eat your greens, eat your proteins, eat your carbs, eat your healthy fats, do not indulge but you know, if want a cookie or a donut here or there, like it's totally fine. Don't starve yourself or don't eliminate these things out of your diets completely.
When it comes to managing stress, try to find ways to channel and cope with your emotional stress, any sort of physical or deep breathing activity helps to release tension and give you that daily pick-me-up. Whether it is working out, whether it is going for a little jog, or sitting down for five seconds to just focus on your breath or even try meditating.
With all that being said, if you tried everything, if you've changed your diet, if you've been drinking lots of water, if you've been using very soothing and hydrating non-drying products and you just can't seem to shake the cute but not wanted growth on our face, it's time that you could potentially look into consulting with a dermatologist to give you professional advice on what you can do for your skin.
To summarize everything we just talked about, the question of the century:
"Do teens really need toners, serums or exfoliators?"
No. The three steps that we really need are cleansing, moisturizing, and SPF in the day time. We don't need to over complicate things because our face is already doing a really, really, really good job in our youth to work its magic.
At the end of the day, keep it simple and take the time to learn more about your skin.
It is your life long friend so get to know it well.
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