I must’ve been 10 or 11 and in middle school
It was when I started breaking out on my forehead, and my mom was more concerned about it than I was.
I wasn’t really a girly-girl and didn’t really think about how I looked; I think I was still very much a child and way too busy being a kid!
The only reason why I even thought about it was because my mom, who genetically isn’t prone to acne, would make me sit still so she could hold my face and stare intensely at it. Then she’d mumble all sorts of things about pimples and I would just get annoyed and run away, ha ha ha.
Eventually she brought me to a dermatologist, who told me to use a benzoyl peroxide bar soap that dried out my skin. She also prescribed an antibiotic which didn’t really help at all.
In high school I eventually started a steady routine of face wash, toner (remember Sea Breeze?) and Oil of Olay sunscreen. I think it was SPF 15 or something! I remember the light pink bottle with the black cap.
Anyway, I was thinking about timelines for skincare the other day when Connor and I were getting her ready for bedtime. She still uses Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo for washing her skin and hair, and it’s still working for her.
We chatted briefly about when it might be a good time to start doing a skincare routine because she gets an occasional small pimple, so I’m thinking that maybe 8 or 9 would be a good time to introduce a daily gentle face wash, moisturizer and sunscreen. I don’t know if that’s too early, though. I want her to stay an oblivious kid for as long as she can, you know? I also want her to have good skincare habits though.
How old were you when you started thinking about skincare?
Were you relatively young? Did you wait until your teens? Or is it a recent thing? Let me know in the comments.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Oh my gosh, friend. First day of school for my not-so-little one is Thursday! We’re all going a little crazy, LOL!
I think I was about 11 when I started doing a little bit to take care of my skin. I was obsessed with the oxy pads and a peel off mask from Avon lol.
I follow a derm with two little girls and actually she says that is better to teach them the importance of skincare but from a hygienic perspective.
So instead of thinking about washing your face and using moisturizer as a duty to be pretty, she says we need to make them think of it as they do with washing their hair or taking a shower. Therefore I’ve seen clips of both girls washing their face and putting moisturizer.
So with that idea in mind, I’d say that the change would be when the products Connor uses start having a goal like reducing sebum or fighting acne. And in that case I think it’s better to start when you see it so it gets under control easily.
I was about 14. I was on medication that broke my face out so much. The creams and pads dried my skin out horribly, so I started mixing a little oxy cream with moisturizer and my skin cleared up! I think I was about 21 when Oil of Olay came out with their daily UV defense. That’s when I started wearing a sunscreen daily. I’m 48 now and it’s paid off!
Probably 15 or so – my acne wasn’t too bad at that time (it got very much worse when I started working full-time in a stressful, low-pay job at 23). I initially used Neutrogena soap (which didn’t really accomplish anything), and later benzoyl peroxide, which my skin hated, so I didn’t keep that up. Much later I found out about 2% BHA liquid, which was a lifesaver for my skin and essentially solved my acne problem. Now for aging skin, I started working on that at around age 45.
Karen, love the high school picture. It’s the same you and whatever you’re using for skincare, keep it up because it’s working.
I think I was concerned with skin care when I was about thirteen and the pimples started. I remember buying Stridex and Oxy face wipes. Around sixteen or seventeen, I really started to use skin care brands like Neutrogena and Noxema. And the sunscreen started in my late teens.
I was 11 when I got my first 3-step system. Remember Almay had skincare. Never understood why Revlon stopped investing in that brand. As there are very few lines that specialize in sensitive skin on the drugstore level. Jc. Penney used to have an Amay counter and an Ultima 11 (also owned by Revlon) counter beside each other.
I started breaking out on my forehead at 9. Experimented with many products and brands. Stridex followed by a moisturizer helped.
I was probably 12-13 when the neighborhood b#%*h started telling everyone that they were ugly and that got me really looking at myself. I had good skin until my early 20s then 18-20 years of terrible acne that no dermatologist would help me with (long story). Sunscreen & anti aging didn’t start until my 40s when the acne suddenly disappeared. Now at 53, I’m diligent with sunscreen & taking makeup off a night
Like your mother, my mom was more upset about my occasional pimple than I was. Freshman year of high school she sent me to a derm who over prescribed stuff for my random pimples. Sigh. I missed an appointment some time in May and my mother was super upset because it would takes months to get back in with this derm. Somehow I convinced her I didn’t really need it. Tried the Clinique 3-step but that just destroyed my sensitive skin. So I used a Neutrogena or Basis bar soap after that. Junior year I was friends with one of the “pretty girls” and she dragged me to Merle Norman where the SA insisted I needed moisturizer. But that was it. By freshman year of college I just stopped getting pimples, as long as I was gentle with my skin. And sunscreen was basically non existent. There was Ban de Soleil with it’s SPF6 back then. Lol.
I think I started to wear a light purple eye shadow at 10, so maybe about that time I stated thinking about skin care, but I can’t really recall for sure. I’m sure my mom taught me some simple basics. My parents made sure we wore sunscreen, but that was with activities out in the sun, not daily. I am fortunate that I rarely get a pimple. I have been wearing daily sunscreen since about the age of 30. I tend to use fragrance free, simple skin care lines.
I make my nine year old wear spf every day and we are working on nightly cleansing.
Everyone hits their stride at different ages. This was a fun topic Karen.
I remember a friend of mine talking about washing her face with Noxema when we were about 10, which confused me because I didn’t have a skincare routine at that point (other than collecting and using lip balm). I think I started using face wash and acne care products in earnest at age 11 or 12. I started to break out terribly as a tween and teen, and remember going through so many products and treatments trying to manage the acne. Everyone told me I’d “grow out of it”, but years later the oily skin and acne are still hanging around, lol.