When does a child actually need skincare?

I've been thinking about this question a lot lately. Partly because it keeps coming up at markets, mums asking me quietly while their little one investigates the herb cards, and partly because it's hard to escape at the moment. There's a lot of noise about children and skincare just now, videos of ten year olds with baskets full of serums and acids, and underneath all of it sits a question that's actually worth answering properly.

When does a child genuinely need skincare, and when are we handing them something they were never meant to have?

The honest short answer

Most children need far less than they're being sold.

For the majority of childhood, skin does its job beautifully with almost no help from us at all. The things that genuinely matter are simple, and I'll come to them. But the anti-ageing creams, the exfoliating acids, the vitamin C serums that fill so many of those videos? A young child's skin has no use for any of it, and in some cases it can do a bit of quiet harm.

That's not me being precious about it. It's where the dermatologists have landed too, and it's worth understanding why.

Children's skin isn't just smaller adult skin

This is the part I wish more people knew, because once you understand it, everything else makes sense.

A child's skin is not simply a miniature version of yours; its structure, composition and behaviour are genuinely different, particularly during infancy and the early years. The outermost layers are thinner, still adapting and often more vulnerable to dryness and irritation, which is why products made for adult concerns are not automatically suitable for younger skin.

Why adult actives aren't made for young skin

The word "active" gets used a lot and it's worth being clear about. Retinol, exfoliating acids like glycolic and salicylic, high strength vitamin C etc are ingredients that make something happen in the skin, and they were designed to address adult concerns: fine lines, sun damage built up over decades, uneven tone, the things that arrive with age.

A child has none of that. There is nothing there for these ingredients to work on, so there's no benefit to be had, BUT there is a real chance of redness, stinging, peeling and skin that's suddenly far more sensitive to the sun than it was. Dermatologists in the UK and beyond have been saying this consistently. Products made for adult skin can be too harsh for young skin, and the very actives that make them effective for grown-ups are what make them unsuitable for children.

Gentle cleansing is really all most children need, and it barely needs a product at all. Warm water and a soft konjac sponge does the job - a little age-appropriate, fragrance-free cleanser or emollient if their skin needs it. Oats are wonderful too, either to wash with or tied in a muslin and dropped into the bath, one of those old, gentle things that has soothed skin for generations. 

Moisturising is a real comfort for skin that runs dry or is easily irritated. You don't need anything clever, just something natural and simple, without a long list of harsh additives. Our Baby Bodhi Butter was made for exactly this, supporting delicate skin gently while it does what it's naturally designed to do, and giving it everyday comfort along the way. 

A quick word on the sun, because it's the one place where a little attention pays off. I'm not here to tell you to slather a small child in product every time you step outside, but young skin does burn easily, and childhood sunburn is worth avoiding. So on the strongest days a bit of shade, a hat, and covering up when the sun is at its fiercest in the middle of the day goes a long way. Beyond that, sensible time outdoors is a good thing rather than something to fear. We're meant to be outside -it's the burning we want to protect them from, not the daylight itself.

That's essentially the whole list. Keep it clean gently, keep it comfortable if it's dry, protect it from burning on the strongest days, and otherwise let it be. Everything else is mostly noise.

Keeping it simple

If you take one thing from this, let it be that simpler is almost always better for a child's skin.

Look for short ingredient lists, and products actually made for young or sensitive skin rather than borrowed from the adult shelf. Keep fragrance low or leave it out where you can, since it's one of the more common causes of irritation, and hold a healthy suspicion of anything promising to fix, brighten, smooth or perfect a child's face, because a child's face does not need fixing.

Fewer products, and gentler ones. That really is the whole routine.

A gentler way to think about it

The thing that troubles me most about the current conversation isn't really the ingredients. It's the idea we're quietly teaching children underneath it all. That their skin is a problem. That it needs correcting before it's even finished growing. That looking after yourself means scrutinising your own face for flaws you hadn't noticed until someone pointed them out.

I'd love for us to hand children something different. The understanding that skin is there to protect them and to tell them things, that caring for yourself can be about comfort and curiosity rather than correction, and that they get to stay children for as long as childhood lasts.

That's the whole thinking behind Bodhi & Fae, honestly. Skincare that supports rather than fixes, kept simple and made gentle, and for children especially, far more about smelling the lavender and learning what the plants are called than about routines and mirrors. The best thing we can give them isn't a serum, it's a little longer being wild and curious and comfortable in the skin they're in.

If that's the kind of thing you've been looking for, you're in the right place.

Our most gentlest offerings can be found here.