11 year old DD skin help...please.

[BeFire]

Beautiful, stoic, extremely resilient DD has had tears tonight over a boy at school repeatedly pointing out her spots .

She has a greasy forehead and a lot of little spots but no big spots. She has an oatmeal scrub that she uses once or twice a week and I've been reluctant to get her anything else for fear of making it worse.

But if it's upsetting her I'll do/buy anything.

Any advice for anything we can do or try gratefully received.

I haven't personally used it, but I've heard great things about Carbon Therapy Charcoal soap. Look it up; it's not expensive so might be worth a try. Good luck xx

That's tough.
I'd go for a 2 pronged attack.

Yes look at her skincare, freederm works well on spots.

But mainly deal with the bullying boy. Email the school. Teach her to be confident enough to tell him to stop. Talk to her about body issues and how to be happy with who she is and not feel she has to change anything because of other peoples views.

Dermalogica products are great, they do products for young skin aswell as adult. My local beautician stocks it so check your local beauty salons. It could be more hormonal skin tho so doctors could prescribe something if it gets really bad.

I've been training DD to use micellar water on cotton pads to cleanse her face. And I bought her some simple moisturiser too. I can tell when she forgets to use them as she will get little break outs on her forehead.

Drs, nip it in the bud now while her prescriptions are free 😉.

Yeah she knows he's a dick and normally she's very confident and doesn't let things bother her so it was heartbreaking to see her get upset. She said it was more embarrassing than anything else.

Thank you for all of the suggestions, I'll do some research.

Ds 12 had terribly spotty forehead over lockdown, we bought carbon theory soap bar and really impressed. Dd 14 and I are using it too as it's so good!

My DD likes tea tree mousse wash from body shop and the moisturiser in same range.

for you and your DD OP. I started my 12 year old DD on Superdrug's vit e face wash and their day cream. I have always had sensitive skin and used these for quite some time and they suit my skin. I wanted to start DD off with something super gentle and they work very well. She had some pimples on her forehead but using the face wash and day cream had really helped.

My 11yo watches Skin by Hyram on YouTube. He has lots of tips to help spot prone skin. My DD has learned a lot about skincare by watching the tutorials and her skin is now lovely.

Olay Daily Facials (cloths) have been a real saviour for my teen. You can get them for sensitive skin. We use the sensitive skin ones morning and evening, and one for oily skin in the event of a real problem.

Also recommend The Ordinary azelaic acid (cream) & salicylic acid (liquid) for occasional emergencies (you can buy these online - go to The Ordinary or Deciem website). But I try to keep use of these to a minimum as I think teen skin care needs to be gentle.

The only thing about the Olay cloths is that they can’t be environmentally friendly - each cloth is one use. But I have not found anything anywhere as good for teen skin- they clean and unblock pores without stripping or drying. Really recommend them. We tried tea tree oil, scrubs, benzoyl etc, & they just caused inflammation & irritation & made the spots worse.

Nip and Fab Glycolic pads, the max strength ones, worked for both my teens acne.

salicylic acid is for spots. La Roche-posey Effeclar toner and Duo cream (not under eyes). Work like a dream.

Wow. Thank you. So many things to look in to.

I use clearasil ultra rapid action wash (36 and still getting spots ) but they are worse if I don't use this. It has salicyclic acid in it.
Any moisturisers you use check their comodogenic properties first (if you google it you can find a site that basically tells you if it is likely to cause spots or not based on how oily etc it is)

Your poor DD, I really sympathise. My DH had really quite severe acne when I met him and had tried everything, I'd always used witch hazel- not the products containing witch hazel but the pure witch hazel liquid you get from the chemist, it's very calming, you apply it with cotton wool to your skin after washing your face. I gave him my bottle and it cleared right up, never to return. Worth a try maybe, it's cheap as chips!

Make sure she moisturises too. A lack of moisture can lead to the skin over producing oil making things worse. I spent years using clay mask and avoiding sheet masks, thinking my skin didn't need any extra hydration. Now I use hydrating sheet masks too, my skin looks better.

Effaclar duo is a moisturizer but which totally transformed my dd's skin. You can get a facewash too.
She tried Dermalogica- but really reacted to it, it has (iirc) ginger essential oil in it, allbeit a tiny amount, but it made her skin red raw.
Nip & Fab do a salicylic range called Teen Fix which has exactly the same % of salicylic as the far more expensive Paula's Choice.

Oh, and do tell the school about the foul bully.

Sorry your dd is having a hard time, I remember having greasy skin at her age!.

I bought this for my dsd, she has quite oily skin and this seems to help. www.thebodyshop.com/body/washes-gels/aloe-calming-foaming-wash/p/p000168?text=Aloe+Calming+Foaming+Wash&autosuggest=Aloe+Calming+Foaming+Wash&typed=Alo

And this which I believe is very similar to the carbon theroy pps have mentioned
www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/body/soaps/himalayan-charcoal-purifying-facial-soap/p/p002840

I would also recommend something like Nelsons tea trea cream, or whitchazel to put directly on the spots.

This is a really good gentle exfoliator , it is very moisturising and not harsh on the skin like many others
m.feelunique.com/p/Caudalie-Gentle-Buffing-Cream-75ml

Also, a non comedogenic moisturiser moisturiser too!

If she has a fringe, tell dd to pin it back when she is a home, I always had spots where my fringe sat and so does my dsd.

Hope you sort the bully out!

I've just bought a Lumie Clear light therapy gadget for my teenager after a recommendation on another thread last week. They're expensive new but I picked one up on eBay for a tenner. It's only been used a couple of times so far but his skin did genuinely look better this morning. He also alternates this face wash with Carbon Theory soap (we find the face wash better though). His skin is really sensitive so the only thing we've found to actually put on the spots is good old Sudocrem, but it helps!

Your poor DD, kids can be so mean to each other. I'm on spotty child number three here, before lockdown my 12 year old DS still had perfect child skin.....now his forehead and the back of his neck are covered in spots. In my experience it's a case of trial an error finding products that suit their skin, so the other couple of things I'd suggest that can help are to change the pillowcase daily and if she showers, get her to wash and condition her hair first, then wash face and body as conditioner in particular can leave a residue on the skin.

However, if it gets worse or products don't help, do talk to your GP, there are products on prescription that may be more effective, or there are tablets (the pill in my DDs case) that will work better than anything you can buy in boots). She can also use a bit of make up or concealer to cover them up as long as she removes it properly in the evening. I appreciate you might feel she's too young at the moment, but it's an option later on. Definitely report any bullying back to the school. Be aware that you might be in for a long road, my eldest DS started with spots towards the end of year seven and is only just about clear going into year 13. He couldn't tolerate the side effects of the lowest dose of roaccutane and then had a severe reaction to the antibiotics given as a last resort by the dermatologist. It's just a case of trial and error I'm afraid, but I hope you can find something that helps.

Michelle's water usually has alcohol on it and strips skin/affects the acid mantle.

A gentle balm cleanser or milk cleanser will be better followed by a gentle toner (PHA) and then a light non-comodogenic moisturiser.

Micellar*

I had similar spots all throughout my teens. Tried everything, the only thing that helped was going to the doctors.

They will probably prescribe her a topical treatment at first, it blows anything you could buy in shops out of the water. Please, please don't go messing around with Clearasil etc, it's so drying and bad for the skin.