Deoderants and Face Cleansers for my Pre-teens

[gradmama]

Hi everyone,
My preteen daughters are into everything womanly. They have varying stages of acne and are developing sweat glands etc. My 11 yr.old athlete in particular is very sensitive about her skin and sweat. Here's the problem, I've been insisting that she use Tom's and and not a Secret anti-persperant. She claims that it doesn't work, she doesn't want sweat stains, etc. I feel for her, but don't want her using that junk. When it comes to acne, she is using over-the-counter salycidic acid pads and scrubs (as do I). I would like us to also find more natural ways of dealing with acne.
Note: I admire those who make their own cleaners. I'm not at a stage in life where I know that I would do/keep that up. So I'm looking for pre-made suggestions.
Thanks for any/all help.

[fek&fuzz]

It's her body, her sweat glands - let her use what she wants.

[gradmama]

Okay, well, it is my understanding that anti-perspirants are harmful to the body. I'm trying to teach my girls the best I can to use products that are the least harmful to the body/environment.

[fek&fuzz]

Originally Posted by gradmama

Okay, well, it is my understanding that anti-perspirants are harmful to the body. I'm trying to teach my girls the best I can to use products that are the least harmful to the body/environment.

So give her the information, but let her buy and use what she feels comfortable with. And frankly, Tom's of Maine doesn't work. It just covers up the B.O. with freesia scent or something.

A young girl has enough issues dealing with her changing body and surging hormones without having to be embarrassed by the way she smells because of an ineffective deodorant/antiperspirant.

[calebsmama03]

Sorry you're not getting helpful answers thus far!
Natural deodorants are really hit or miss - mostly miss! : I've wasted enough money on them to know. I have yet to find anything really great, but my current combo of using the crystal stick (I use Lafe's but also heard thai is good) immediately after showering then putting some Now long lasting deod cream (their version of the famed Lavilin, wchich now has chemical junk in it THe Now also comes in a stick) seems to work the best. I still sweat and sometimes have to reapply if I'm out in lots of heat. It's the aluminum in the antiperspirants that makes them particularly bad. If you can't convince her to go natural, maybe just getting a commercial one w/o the aluminum in it? I've tried Adidas deod (not antipersp) with "cottontech" and it does help control sweating along with odor. It unfortunately has troclosan (antibacterial) in it, though.

For facial care, when I wasn't making my own with honey, etc I really liked Juice Beauty and Mychelle. Both are pretty natural and have some acne-specific products. Unfort. both are $$$ hence my switch to honey and other natural things with those products as an occasional boost. I also like the Burts blemish stick. Helping her skin will be a multipart approach though. Making sure she gets plenty of water is key. I also find adding probiotics, B vitamins and cod liver oil (high in vit A as well as EFAs/omega 3) to help immensely. You'll also want to teach her to be careful about readingf labels (natural or not) because there are some ingredients that are very comedogenic always (SLS/SLES, wheat germ oil, cocoa butter) and some that can help one person while triggering breakouts in the next (coconut oil and shea butter, for example). Be diligent about hand creams (hands go on the face often), hair products, etc in addition to make-up and facial products. You'll be SHOCKED to see just how many "acne" or "non-comedogenic" products actually have comedogenic ingredients in them! A good site for info on ingredients to avoid is http://www.zerozits.com/Articles/acnedetect.htm Their products are full of chemicals but I like their database of ingredients rated by potential for conedogenic effects.

In the end, I agree to an extent with what the PP was saying but wouldn't completely let her choose something I feel is harmful. I'd really start working with your DD on respecting her body in general so she'll *want* to be more mindful of what goes in/on it. Also, teaching her (or maybe leaving some "breadcrumbs" but allowing her to stumble on the info herself) about WHY conventional antipersp is so bad, and why these chemicals are so bad to put on your skin may be the better route. It may take a while but I'd *hope* that as she learns about what these things can do to her body, her future fertility, the environment, her skin in the future (lots of chemicals are thought to cause premature aging/wrinkles) she will *want* to avoid them without any motherly "nagging", KWIM? The EWG skindeep site has lots of good info and links. Also try the green guide. If you feel strongly she should only use natural and she is just dead set against it, maybe try a compromise. Look at the EWG ratings for each product in question and tell her she can choose whatever she wants so long as it has a rating of (X) or better (look at them yourself first and pick what feels like a good compromise to you).

Good luck! I hope you both find something that works!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

If she wants a conventional deoderant, and you want something aluminum free (IMO, the most important part about a deoderant) then try the Adidas Cotton Tech. It is made from ground cotton to absorb sweat instead of containing aluminum. I didn't care too much for the smell (I had powder, but there are several flavors), but it really works on sweat.

[Daniel's Kitty]

I have had pretty good luck with Lily of the Desert Aloe face wash. I know it isn't the greatest, but I love it.

[moderngal]

the only Tom's deodorant that works for me is the apricot scented one. i've tried a bunch of different ones, and that one works best for me.

[gradmama]

Hey thanks for all the tips! I'm learning more about this stuff than I ever thought I would need to know. My girls and I will experiment, and I will for sure try to educate them while giving them as many choices as possible. Thanks.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by calebsmama03

Natural deodorants are really hit or miss - mostly miss! : I've wasted enough money on them to know.

Just wondering, did you try Fun 'n' Fresh/Cool 'n' Fresh? (BertSherm Products) It came out around 20 years ago, was last seen probably well over 10 years ago.

Robert

[lovbeingamommy]

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

Hello, above is a website that I use quite often. It rates the toxicity of many products that are on the market. In America the cosmetics industry is not regulated very much and a lot of the chemicals that are in products (that women use frequently) we use may have a whole bunch of problems. You can search this website for a product and find out the ingredients and possible side-effects from them. It really opened my eyes...Honestly, I will never use an anti-perspirant with aluminum in it again. Anyhow, there are a few companies that I buy all of my products from now...they are allnaturalcosmetics.com and MiEssence (all organic from Australia). Lastly, many of the chemicals that we put on are skin are absorbed into our body and have a cumulative effect. I hope this helps...

[calebsmama03]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Just wondering, did you try Fun 'n' Fresh/Cool 'n' Fresh? (BertSherm Products) It came out around 20 years ago, was last seen probably well over 10 years ago.

Robert

Never heard of them. That also would have been a little before my time I've been experimenting with natural deodorants for maybe 6 or 7 years - shortly after college. I've tried too many to count!

[Katheda]

We just got some Funk Butter from Oyin (http://oyinhandmade.com/oyin/index.p...&products_id=7) in the unscented and the black cedar fig. I've used the unscented over the weekend. It was fairly hot & humid and I did sweat a bit but not to the extent that I normally do and there was absolutely no odor at all.

For my 13 year old, what I have done with everything is get a variety of products and let her try and choose which works best for her. I think, what's even more important than what type of product she use is that she gets to choose, own her decision and be respected for it. At this age, there is so much more involved in every decision than what meets the eye. Developmentally, they are in a crucible and extra care needs to be had for everything.
I think that if you showed her the health information, gave her a variety of choices and just stocked up her bathroom with differnet types, let her experiment and figue out what works for her. It will be very empowering for her to make an informed choice and be respected for it.