Last spring we celebrated my oldest son’s 1oth birthday. He is growing up so fast. Weeks later I noticed he had his first pimple and I kind of freaked out. I’m a cosmetologist by profession. I am so thankful for my skin care training. And I thought I had it all figured out. At 11 I would start teaching my son about washing his face, wearing deodorant everyday, and other healthy habits. I thought I had a year till I had to start worrying about this stuff. I was talking to my girlfriend who has a teenage son (It’s always best to try and have friends who have kids a bit ahead of yours to give you a heads up!) and I told her my thoughts. I thought I was doing great giving my son a year to really develop these habits before he really needed them. She told me, “Girl, better give him two years to figure that out. My son still need reminding.”
And then I thought about my son and his short term memory problem and knew she was right. I decided now is the perfect time for him to learn some hygiene basics. And hopefully by the time he is 12 I won’t need to remind him everyday. This post of course could also be applied to girls as well.
Deodorant
To make this a fun, new exciting thing we were able to go on a mother/son date. My boys love those. We went shopping and headed right to the deodorant section of the store. I told him he is on his way to becoming a man. Then he got to smell all the Old Spice deodorants and body washes. He could pick any one he liked and the deal was they were just for him to use. (Side note Draco can’t wait till he is 10) We talked about how he should be showering everyday and washing his hair is a must. Dirty hair is just plain gross. He complained but I promised him he would feel better when he smelled better. It’s part of growing up. He now practices and puts on his deodorant every time he gets out of the shower, his little brothers are green with envy.
Skin Care
Next we talked about skin care. That’s why it’s great to grab dessert while you talk. Much easier to talk about acne and smelly armpits over ice cream. Because this boy loves to read non fiction he already knew what pores were. I told him that pores can get clogged with oil, dirt, bacteria and cause you to break out. He was pretty grossed out and defiantly didn’t want that to happen. I told him that when his body goes through puberty, or those magical changes (say it with a high pitch voice, it makes it funnier), his body would start producing extra oil and his hormones would make him break out. That’s why it’s important to have a good cleansing system before your hormones get all crazy. Luckily he knows about puberty as it is referenced in the Percy Jackson books.
A basic cleanser
I love the cleanser from Trader Joes. I read on some blog years ago how it was made by a famous dermatologist. He also had another high end line, but they couldn’t say who it was. I was intrigued. They may have been just trying to get me to try it. I went ahead and tried it (Can’t beat $5.99!) and I love it! It removes make up, exfoliates, and is a great basic cleanser. Another reason to love Trader Joe’s. I have him keep it in the shower where he is suppose to use it every night. He only needs half a pump so it will last forever. I told him that we need to clean our faces every day. This is going to help him clean out his pores.
Toner
Toners are great for balancing out your ph level for your skin. I don’t have Gandalf using one yet. I am doing milk before meat. But someday we will get there. You might want to start this route from the beginning. You just spray your face and then you are done.
Moisturizer
This one is sometimes hard for teens or tweens to understand. Why should I put moisture or oil on my face? Isn’t that going to make me break out more? Our skin needs moisture. And when you don’t apply moisturizer your body thinks, “Hey, we are kind of dry, let’s increase our oil production.” So you are going to want to use a moisturizer. I found one at Trader Joes for $3.99! And it has sunscreen which is really important. We need to teach our children how important sunscreen is for our health. Sometimes I am asked to teach young girls about skin care and hygiene basics and I always ask why sunscreen is important. They must be listening to their mothers because they always reply “skin cancer”. I then like to add, “Or worse…wrinkles”. But in all seriousness skin cancer is a very scary thing and we need to protect ourselves and our children.
Other Tips
- Wash your sheets often and change your pillowcases
- It’s a good idea to use a facial mask to clean out your pores every so often. Boys can do this too. Everyone makes extra oil when they are a teenager
- Drink lots of water. Water helps removes toxins and can help our skin looking clearer.
- Remember to think about what you are putting in your body. Food is fuel and if you are filling up on crappy food it’s going to affect your skin.
- Try and get at least 9.5 hours of sleep. Stress can affect your skin.
- If your son does start to break out in certain areas try to problem solve. Does he have long hair and break out on his forehead? Maybe he needs to wash his hair more or sleep with a headband. We won’t tell anyone.
- Trim your nails. It’s nice to be groomed. It might even be fun to do a basic manicure together.
- Wash your hands! This will help to stop germs from spreading and will also help you stay healthy.
- Do NOT touch your face. I tried to explain to my son all the gross places his fingers go. The last place we want to do is put those germy hands on his face. Especially if he has an open blemish. If there is ever a need for extraction I told him I will help him.
- Brushing and flossing should already be happening but it might be nice to talk about why it’s so important. Mouthwash might also be helpful. Stinky breath is never a good thing. Both my husband and I like to remind our kids that these are their permanent teeth now and they need to take care of them. It effects their overall health as well.
- This is probably a little soon but I wanted to mention the middle brow area. Some kids start developing a middle brow quite young. We had a client who brought her 9 year old daughter in to have her middle brow waxed. I was so impressed with this mother for being aware of this. You might want to help your son tweeze some hair between his eyebrows. I would be nervous to let me son do it himself in case he went a little crazy. I know my hubby had his mom and sister help him when he was a teenager. Also if don’t want to conform to society’s suggestion to removing that middle brow then let him know he is rocking that look. Again as a tween, this might not be on your radar for awhile but I thought I would throw it in there.
- My husband’s advice is to not start shaving until you really need to.
Again my sons need constant reminding about putting away back packs and socks. I know this isn’t going to click. Which is why I have a couple years as a cushion to make sure he isn’t ever the “smelly kid”. He has been doing pretty great. I try and let him know when he smells nice. Learning how to take care of our bodies is an important skill. I know as my son practices these principals we will grow more confident. By giving him some tips and products I can help have his teenage years a little more bearable.
This is not an ad but I really enjoy these products. Though personally I haven’t tried Old Spice, but I do love the way my son smells after he uses them.
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