How to Keep Your teen Skin Healthy during Quaratine

With Covid-19 being a huge interruption in everyone's life there may be many ways your body respond to the level of stress that comes along with this new normal we are all forced into. That led me to think of the children especially our pre-adolescents and teens. Their hormones are raging out of control trying to find their own rhthym within the chemistry of the body and to add more on here is more stress. The skin and stress just don't get along and can torment our children with breakouts and unwanted skin flare-ups. When Covid-19 started getting serious here in Tampa, Fl my daughter who normally has perfect skin had the worst breakout for two weeks and I must admit I started freaking out. Then I remembered I am an esthetician that has helped many teens and adults overcome their skin woes. I rid my mind that she was my baby and went into full estethician/skin expert mode. We did several things which I will share in another post with a video to explain the woes this child went through. However, it did make me wonder how many more kids were going through this same thing globally and what we as parents can do at home to maintain our kids healthy skin.

The first thing you need to know is that what your teen skin is going through is completely normal. With the fluctuation of their hormones mixed with unspoken stress, it’s causing all types of flare ups in the skin.

Here are a few tips you can have your teens apply to their skin care regimen to assist with minimizing their skin concerns.

1. Cleanse the face twice a day. Once in the morning and again in the evening. You want to purchase a gel or foam based cleanser due to it gives a deeper cleanse to remove all bacteria from the pores. If your teen mistakenly skips their morning cleanse that is just fine, however the evening cleanse is the most important because the skin works in the evening while you’re sleeping to repair itself. (The easiest way I explain it to my kids is "you protect the skin in the day and the skin repairs itself while you sleep)

2. Exfoliate twice a week. Exfoliating the skin is the process of removing the dead skin cells that traps all of the bacteria which leads to the breakouts, white heads, blackheads, etc. Find an exfoliator with salicylic acid due to it is used for medicinal purposes and can heal the skin and it exfoliates inside the pore.

3. Apply a treatment mask once a week. When shopping for a treatment mask it’s best to find masks that are in clay form due to it absorbs oil and is best for acne and breakouts. Right now with Covid-19 out here we have alot of time to just care for ourselves so make it a special day. Add green tea and honey in with your treatment mask due to their are natural anti-inflammatory agents.

4. Tone your skin. After you have pampered your skin you must restore your pH balance. (I used a tea tree toner on my daughter's face to restore balance and treat her acne breakout.)

5. Moisturize the skin. This is the most important step due to it sends the message to your skin that it is hydrated and does not need any more production of oil. If you skip this step you will notice that your skin constantly produces oil due to it believes it is dehydrated.

Have your teen try these tips out and you will see a huge difference in their skin. Please enforce that a skincare regimen provides results with consistent practice. So do not do this one week then skip a week. It’s something that you must do every day. I hope this helps and please remember to social distance yourself and stay safe.