A couple months ago, Charlie got his first small pimple on his chin. Recently he’s had another pimple on his chin along with some small bumps on his forehead, most likely from always resting his glasses on his forehead when he’s reading or doing online homeschool. There’s no doubt that he’s grown a drastic amount in 2021; his face, height, weight, and voice have all changed in his 11th year of life, and his body will continue to change even more in the coming years. He doesn’t have any major skin problems yet, but it was definitely time to start him on a good skincare routine.

The same two brands kept coming up over and over again in tween skincare recommendations online – Cerave and Cetaphil. Both lines are gentle on tween, teen and even adult skin. Cerave’s products are notable for their moisturizing properties while Cetaphil is great for sensitive skin. Both brands have been around forever and I’m pretty sure Cetaphil was my first cleanser when I was around Charlie’s age!

I opted to get the Cerave Hydrating Foam to Cream Cleanser because I personally like when face washes foam, so I never really liked Cetaphil’s popular Gentle Cleanser.

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For lotion I chose Cetaphil’s Daily Oil-Free Facial Moisturizer with SPF 35 so that he also has sun protection.

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We’ve talked to Charlie about the importance of taking care of your skin, including washing and moisturizing twice a day, not touching your face, and regularly cleaning his glasses. These late tween years really caught me by surprise because our life was largely at a standstill during the pandemic, and I hadn’t given much thought to things like skincare. But there is no stopping kids from growing up!