Is 9 too young to have a skin care regime?

[DrMeredithGrey2023]

If not, any recommendations on where to start?

Cleaning your face and applying SPF I get.

But why are people suggesting a 'light moisturiser'? Is her skin dry? I would have thought in the absence of excema etc her skin at that age would be beautifully well balanced, why mess with that?

There is nothing wrong with basic hygiene and skin protection obviously. However unless there is a skin issue that requires intervention needing to use certain products or spending money or putting unnecessary chemicals on her face is not needed.

I am not a fan of making anyone feel that their face is not okay as it is.

Well I use child's farm body wash on my son and he's 1. Done it since he was 6 weeks old 🙊🙄

No primary aged child I know (and I know I don’t know them all!) has a skin care routine - just water to wash and cheap moisturiser if their skin is dry. This thread surprises me a bit. It feels like too much marketing/being grown up and beauty focussed/chemicals at a very young age.

Each to their own though.

I think it does send a message if you're not good enough as you are from a young age. But I don't know as I have great skin and don't have any kind of regime on the go.

I just ensure my 9yo understands hygiene and diet requirements, plus the usual no smoking no sun and good UPF in the future that may then lead to better skin (hopefully!)

send a message of 'you're not good enough'...

My daughter started a "regime" at about 10 as her periods were coming and she was oily and spotty.

Not wanting her to feel distressed about the state of her skin, I got her some gentle products for breakouts which really helped.

It's about a want to start, what I consider, an important step in her self care

If you say so - but I think you're nuts. The packaging and money wasted on these ridiculous notions is completely beyond the pale. By all means if you have an actual problem, ie psoriasis or eczema, you might need a moisturizer. But surely the whole point of skin, is that it looks after itself? Why mess with that? Especially with a young child.

I'm in total agreement with @Nimbostratus100

Neither will happen.

Any specifically for the face, though some of them are quite thick and hydrating so she might not need one like that. (I'm thinking the one I use, Garnier, would be way too thick and greasy for a child) Maybe just one of the children's suncreams not specifically for the face? Otherwise La Roche Posay maybe.

You might find AS useful before picking your online mates tbf.

Mt 8 year old is getting little hormonal spots on her chin and dry, angry looking spots on her cheeks. I amntrying to get her to use regular moisturiser with spf partly to help with the dryness as I think the wind is chafing her cheeks and causing those spots and partly as there's a history of skin cancer in the family amongst the family members with the same skin type as her.

I am also trying to get my slightly older son to wash his face and moisturise, too, before anyone starts, he just has less trouble with spots and dryness and a darker skin that is slightly less of a cancer risk.

OP can update this in 10 years and report back on her child's skin. Definitely would be interesting to see. Can't help thinking messing with nature unnecessarily is a good thing, but it's not my kid 🤷‍♀️

@Nimbostratus100 do you hang around S&B just to make snide comments about people who are interested in skincare? I keep seeing your comments pop up on threads with you being loftily disparaging and all I can wonder is what you're actually doing here. Just hide the topic.

As long as you would do it with a son as well as a daughter I don’t have a problem. Washing a face at 9 is fine. Otherwise I would feel sorry for a 9 year old having an extensive routine every night.

it’s all about genetics and not sitting directly in the sun. I don’t have a skin care routine, most times I don’t wash my face when I go to bed. I’m nearly 60 and my skin is good. Probably because I’ve not covered it in chemicals and fiddled with it over the last 50 years.

I can update you on mine. At 9 her skin was greasy and full of hormonal spots. She was one of the first in her class to hit that stage (I never did, oddly, got my first spot at uni!) She's 19 and at university herself now and her skin is clear, totally. She still uses the same products she started off with as she's found they work for her.

Water is a chemical.

I agree. Why does a 9 year need to be thinking of "self care". I can just imagine this person as a teen. This is why perfectly beautiful young women end up with lip fillers, tattooed eyebrows, botox, and extreme make up like drag queens etc ... and it's sad because they look better without all of it! 😔

But your child had greasy skin and spots, so I'd agree with you in that case to help counter that. I don't think OPs daughter does, unless I missed it

Water is fine. I have deliberately not suggested anything else to my children and all 3 teens have great skin. DD uses a bit of simple micellar water when she wears make up but water and a simple moisturiser if skin is sore is ample.

yes of course it is, why do people keep saying this?

We are not talking about water, but a random conglomerations of other chemicals chosen by the "beauty" industry for scent, spreadability, colour etc.

and people keep using the word "gentle". I have no idea what they mean by "gentle" in terms of chemicals being smeared onto a child's face, and I very much doubt they have any idea either

I agree. Why does a 9 year need to be thinking of "self care". I can just imagine this person as a teen. This is why perfectly beautiful young women end up with lip fillers, tattooed eyebrows, botox, and extreme make up like drag queens etc ... and it's sad because they look better without all of it! 😔

I'd say fillers and botox is a bit more than a hop, skip and a jump away from wanting your own face wash, no?

To answer some of the other concerns -

She spends a lots of time in the sea. This means using spf. Currently I put an all over body one on her - but I dislike the feel of these on my face and she does too.

Sometimes her cheeks get a little dry. I'm unsure if a facial moisturiser would be better than the zero base I currently use.

She's shown an interest in something that I wasn't sure would benefit her - hence the question here. As I posted in style and beauty, I had hoped for a few responses from people who knew their stuff - and some have been very helpful.

She happens to be a girl - I'd be asking the same advice if I happened to have birthed a boy.

And finally, no - I'm not massively in to all things beauty as someone has suggested. But, wouldn't that be dreadful if I was? 🙃

I think moving away from Dove soap as she reaches pubity is a good thing as I don't think its actually very good for washing and properly cleaning. The number of people whos acney and 'backney' resolved after moving to a normal soap is amazing.

I think needing her to have perfect skin is an issue. Examining her face to see if there are any spots and needing products to fix those so there are no visible imperfections is an issue….and only an expectation we put on girls. Next it will be make-up to cover imperfections the skin regime didn’t fix.

I think the obsession over female appearance is an issue and one perpetuated mostly by other women. If you can’t accept her natural face and buy her products to fix it…you can’t expect her to have confidence in herself.

Can you please show me where I said I needed her to have perfect skin?
Or where I said I inspect her face??