If you are the parent of a tween (kids between the ages of 9 and 12), there's a good chance that they're in love with all things skin care. Many tweens are flocking to expensive skin care brands and are completing multi-step routines that can be found by popular beauty influencers on TikTok and Youtube.
Journalist Linda Wells highlighted potential issues with the "clean girl" trend on her blog Airmail. Skin care ingredients such as retinol are put into products designed for mature skin, which many tweens and parents may not be aware of. Many of the trending eye creams, toners and charcoal masks can cause irritation or acne, a tween's worst nightmare.
This doesn’t mean that tweens can’t start good skin care habits early, rather that tweens and their parents need to double-check if the ingredients in certain products they are using are beneficial for their skin. Here are some trending products that tweens can try out from the brands that they know and love.
2. Drunk Elephant Jelly Cleanser
Though many of Drunk Elephant’s products are
popular with tweens, the high concentrations of vitamin C or glycolic acid in their serums may not be suitable for their skin, and they tend to be more expensive. This makeup melting cleanser is only $16 and is gentle on skin – a much better choice.
3. Sol de Janeiro Crush Cheirosa 68 Beija Flor Perfume Mist
The viral Brazilian Crush Cheirosa 68 Beija Flor Perfume Mist is the perfect affordable body spray for tweens. With notes of Brazilian jasmine, pink dragon fruit and sheer vanilla, it’s young and fresh.
4. MZ Skin Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Serum
MZ Skin is a bit pricey for tweens, but if they must, the Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Serum is a hydrating serum safe for all skin types
and ages. It will add plumping and hydration gently.
5. Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops
Glow Recipe is attractive to tweens because of their viral,
fruit-themed serums and creams, but many of the AHA and BHA formulas can be too exfoliating on young skin. Their bestselling Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is a better choice as it helps calm redness and inflammation while restoring the skin barrier, which are both great for acne-prone skin.
6. Bubble Cloud Surf Moisturizer
Bubble is a great choice overall
for young skin because it’s formulated for the younger crowd. Cloud Surf is a gentle
water-based moisturizer for normal to combination skin as well as sensitive
skin. In addition to moisturizing, it helps minimize pores and rebalances oils.
7. Environ Focus Care Moisture+ Vita-Complex Super Moisturizer+
Tweens might want Environ Skin EssentiA AVST Moisturizer because
it’s Hailey Bieber-recommended, but is not appropriate for tween skin as it
contains vitamins A (AKA Retinol) and C, which are powerful skin resurfacers. A
better choice is Environ Focus Care Moisture+ Vita-Complex Super Moisturizer+,
a gentle all-purpose moisturizer that can be later combined with some of their
more targeted moisturizers as the need arises.