Care for Your Skin

Teens get zits, pimples and acne, but there are some things you can do to care for your skin.

First is prevention. With a few simple steps you can minimize the amount of pimples you get, and help rid yourself of the existing ones.

Wash your face daily. Teenagers produce more oil in their skin than adults or children, this is due to the hormone fluctuations you go through in puberty. This oil combined with dead skin leads to pimples. So, if you wash your face daily, you can help get rid of this oil and the dead skin causing breakouts. Some teens even need to wash twice daily. However, don’t overwash or your skin might produce even more oil.

Don’t scrub too hard. While exfoliating seems to make sense because dead skin causes clogged pores, if you use too harsh of products you can spread bacteria, and further damage already irritated skin. So, use gently formulated scrubs that do not have fragments of fruit.

When treating areas that have broken out, do not use too harsh of washes, scrubs, etc. These effectively kill the top layer of your skin, leading to more dead, dry, flaky skin, and thus more clogged pores. In addition, never pop or pick at your acne, even with a sterilized needle. It basically causes the bacteria and oil, etc. to recede further into the skin, resulting in great inflammation, infection, and often spreading of more zits. In addition it can lead to scarring.

Avoid touching your face. If you can help it, do not touch your face at all. Many of the bacteria that cause zits resides on the skin, and when you touch your face you basically shove that bacteria into your pores.

If you wear make-up, be sure it is oil free. Also, if you suffer from existing break outs, or want to avoid more, try to find make-up that is labeled non-comedogenic, which means that it will not clog your pores.

Do not get sun burns as this leads to your skin shedding faster than normal, and thus more dead skin to clog pores, thus more acne.

If you are prone to breakouts, consider switching sunscreens, and avoiding any sort of heat or friction which leads to breakouts. For example do not wear hats; the hatband could leave a nice row of zits. Do not use sticky gels or pomades, as many of those can cause more zits. Avoid helmets or anything that rubs against your skin, as this leads to friction, causing more pimples.

Also, remember that exercise is a great way to shed the body of unwanted oils, dead skin, etc. It cleans out the pores, but only if you remember to shower right after you exercise. If you sit around all sweaty, your zits will get worse.

Lastly, the best skin care for pimply teens is any skin care that uses consistency. Most teens will not need a prescription skin care product, rather they can buy something at the drug store that will work well. Start at the earliest sign of acne to avoid more, and consistently use the same products, and follow the same routine.