Our beautiful teens...

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about with exams, friendship issues and the general hormonal rollercoaster of the teenage years, there’s the tricky subject of looks… Beauty journalist Alice Hart-Davis tackles the top five face-related worries.

Worrying too much about spots

Spots are a major bugbear for teenagers and since spots are caused more by hormones than by what you eat or how you treat your skin, you can’t always prevent their arrival. If your daughter gets the odd spot, a gentle skincare regime of cleansing and using an oil-free moisturiser may be enough to keep her skin clear. If not, try the stronger anti-spot products that you can find the chemist. And if those don’t do the trick, don’t leave her suffering but get professional help from your GP, or ask for referral to a dermatologist. To a skin specialist, acne is not something that needs to be endured but a problem to which there is a variety of solutions.

Not taking care of her skin

There’s no set age at which girls become interested in looking after their skin; if you feel your daughter should be doing something, keep it simple and don’t overwhelm her by presenting her with a complicated set of products. The most important basics are to wear a light sunscreen, with a moisturiser if her skin is dry, during the day and to cleanse the face in the evening, to get rid of dirt, sweat and bacteria. (Sunscreen? Yes, because most of the lines and wrinkles that appear when older are the result of slow, gradual damage from ultraviolet rays that stack up over a lifetime. Prevention now is infinitely simpler than wrinkle-repair later on.)

Wearing too much make-up?

Your friends will reassure you that it’s a phase, and it probably is, but it’s still agony to live through. Restrain yourself from making a huge issue of it, whether with direct arguments (“You’re not going out like that!”) or indirect sniping (“Did your hand slip?”) and save your battles over smoky eyes, Goth lips and caked-on foundation for the times – such as lunch with their grandparents – that it really matters. With time, with luck, most girls come to see that less is more when it comes to powder and paint, and learn to use a lighter hand.

Frazzled hair

If your daughter’s hair is becoming brittle or fragile and you suspect that her hair-straightener habit might have something to do with it, you’re absolutely right. Without banning the irons entirely, the two main ways to make them less damaging to the hair are to ensure that hair is completely dry before starting any straightening (otherwise, any remaining water in the hair boils, expands, and busts the walls of the hair shaft, which leave it weaker) and to use a spray-on heat-protector product which will minimise the damage to the hair.

Not looking “right”

A good deal may have changed since we were their age, but one thing that hasn’t is that most teens struggle with their self-esteem and rarely have any idea of how gorgeous they are. They focus on all their supposed shortcomings, compare themselves unfavourably to the latest role-models and wilfully ignore their good points. Keep reminding them of how lovely they are. They will affect not to believe you – you’re mum, you’re biased, what would you know? – but keep it up and – it just might help.

Alice Hart-Davis is an award-winning beauty journalist and mother of two teenage girls. With her eldest daughter, Molly Hindhaugh, she is co-author of Be Beautiful: every girl’s guide to hair, skin and make-up (Walker Books, £9.99). She has recently launched Good Things, a range of product designed to make the most of young skin which is on sale at Boots.
www.alicehartdavis.com
www.goodthingsbeauty.com