According to aesthetician Caroline Hirons, here’s what you need to know about teen skincare

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The following is an edited extract from Teen Skincare: The Ultimate No-nonsense Guide by Caroline Hirons

The skincare space is bursting with bright, enticing packaging and viral trends that are catnip for teens. Most of it should be nowhere near your face. Your skin is going through enough as it is. Don’t think you need to be spendy to have healthy, happy skin. Your skin doesn’t give a toss how much something costs. Your teenage years are not the time to be worrying about lines, wrinkles, sagging, or “youthfulness”. You literally are youthfulness! Your skin is still plump, bouncy, and full of collagen and elastin.

Read on to discover Caroline Hirons’ tips and tricks, alongside a selection of Beauty Editor-approved teen skincare products, all available in NZ.

Caroline Hirons’ guide to tween & teen skincare

What you do need are the essentials – effective, straightforward products that work with your skin, not against it. Your teenage years obviously cover ages 13 to 19, a time when skin can need – and tolerate – very different things. For tweens getting into skincare early, it’s important to know you need very little, especially pre-puberty. These are the absolute basics for each age group:

Teen skincare doesn’t need to be complicated. The best routine is simple, effective, and suited to your age and stage.

Top tip: Don’t think you need to be spendy to have healthy, happy skin.

1. The best skincare for tweens (ages 9-12, pre-puberty)

• Gentle cleanser
• Lightweight moisturiser
• SPF sun protection

2. The best skincare for early teens (ages 13-16, during puberty)

• Cleanser
• Moisturiser
• SPF Sun protection
• Spot stickers/pimple patches (as required)
• Acne treatments (only under GP/dermatologist advice)
• Gentle acid toner (if you suffer with acne or regular breakouts). You do not need to use this every day!
  

3. The best skincare for late teens (ages 17-19)

• Cleanser
• Moisturiser
• SPF Sun protection
• Spot stickers/pimple patches (as required)
• Acne treatments (if advised by your GP or dermatologist)
• Gentle acid toner (if you suffer with acne or regular breakouts)
• Vitamin C / antioxidant (optional)
  

4. The ‘might need’ teen skincare extras

• Eye makeup remover
• Spot treatment
• Hydrating spray
• Facial oil,
• A decent antioxidant
• A silk pillowcase.

Which skincare ingredients and products should teens avoid?

Teen skin is naturally resilient and already produces plenty of the ingredients that many adult skincare products promise to deliver. Using certain products too early can irritate your skin or simply be unnecessary. Here’s what to skip:

1. Vitamin A Retinoid

These are the holy grail of anti-ageing and for good reason: they’re incredibly effective for mature, ageing skin. But for teenage skin? Pointless unless you have acne. Retinoids work by increasing cell turnover, something that you do not need help with, and boosting collagen production, which you have a ton of. A hard no except under medical guidance for the aforementioned acne. Unless you want red, burning, peeling, and stinging skin, leave well alone.

2. Vitamin C (age 20+)

Prevention is key, which is why I’m obsessed with SPF. Vitamin C is great at preventing pigmentation and fighting off the nasty electrons that try to nick our healthy cells (rude free radicals), but it can be highly sensitising on teen skin. Save it until your twenties and start then, when your skin is through puberty and not dealing with so much.

3. Serums

You do not need anti-ageing or targeted serums. These are a “treatment” step, and most are designed for a specific skincare issue. We older folks use them in an attempt to get something like the skin you’ve already got. Save your money. If you are tempted to buy “viral” anti-ageing products, you may as well use your tenners for toilet roll! They’re literally not going to do anything because they are designed to tackle concerns that your teenage skin simply does not have.

4. Peptides

A buzzy anti-ageing ingredient, peptides are amino acids that help to build proteins in your skin, like collagen and elastin. But again, your skin is already producing plenty of these on its own. Save these for later in life when your skin actually needs a boost.

5. Growth Factors

Natural proteins in our bodies that help with cell growth, repair, wound healing, and stimulate the juicy stuff in our skin, like collagen and elastin. They haven’t been properly tested on young skin, so we don’t know if there could be any unintended effects. You already have high levels of growth factors and don’t need skincare with extra. If you pile on more of what you already have, you will overstimulate your skin. Would you put on extra jumpers if you were already boiling?!

5 Beauty Editor-approved teen skincare picks to shop in NZ

With the above guide in mind, here are Beauty Editor Anna Lee’s top picks for building a gentle and effective skincare routine for New Zealand teens.

Teen Skincare: The Ultimate No-nonsense Guide by Caroline Hirons is available to buy at Mighty Ape and Amazon.

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