Putting moisturiser regularly on children

[meitaimama]

My friend gave her dd and my dd moisturiser to slather liberally over their bodies after they had dried off after having a shower together today. I was OK with it, and dd thought it was great fun... but my friend told me that she gets her kids to do this twice a day. Apparently it will give them great skin and they need to do it in the dry SA climate. She tells me her own mother used to rub olive oil all over them every day when they were kids and now they all have fantastic skin as adults. TBH I've never really noticed her skin before - it looks fine but not glowing with supernatural health.

So is this really a good idea? I'm not fanatical about keeping chemicals off dd's skin (she loves to put on makeup) but don't see the point in putting stuff on it when her skin looks fine to me! We don't regularly put anything on dd's skin - maybe once a month I shampoo her hair if it's looking grotty and occasionally we use soap if she's really filthy but most of the time plain water seems to clean her OK. Are we dooming her to become a dry, wrinkly adult??

The olive oil sounds a bit better than Nivea, which my friend was using today but I don't want to have to deal with a greasy child every day!

Sarah

[Nyree]

Sheesh! I wouldn't be putting Nivea on myself regularly, let alone a child (I'm kinda fussy about chemicals though). My DD LOVES slathering on the moisturiser, but it's organic stuff, so I'm happy with that. Not that she needs to - she's always had great skin, but she loves to copy Mummy

I spend the first 27 years of my life in SA without needing to moisturise twice daily. Sounds like a bit of overkill/brainwashing.

[Jakaluma]

I wouldn't put commercial moisturiser on myself let alone my child. Full of chemicals and crap, and probably helping dehydrate their skins. Olive oil? Yip, maybe if they had dry skin, though I"d probably use Beauty and the Bees moisture creams http://www.beebeauty.com/32-moisturecreams.html

What makes our creams unique - and unlike any that you have used before?

First an explanation as to why you have to keep repeatedly applying that expensive, fluffy, exotic, pink cream with a French/Natural name from the chemist/beautician/'natural' product range… 99.9% of moisture creams commercially made are oil-in-water emulsions stabilised with a cocktail of chemical emulsifiers and preservatives.

These water based creams initially feel light and fresh on application but evaporate rapidly as they contain a small amount of (usually) petrochemical mineral oil in a lot of (free!) water and chemical emulsifiers. These not only emulsify and absorb the natural protective fats from the skin surface... As they evaporate they leave no trace of protective oils, hence actively promoting and creating drier and drier skin.

Not surprisingly, after using these products for up to 12 years, women in their mid thirties find that their skin is in a chronically dehydrated condition.

Or women with oily skin find that as they use these light creams - usually in conjunction with a strong, degreasing, chemicalised 'face wash/cleanser' - their problems get worse and worse as their skin produces more and more oil in response to this harsh treatment.

[Marmee]

I don't see a problem with moisturising a child's skin umpteen times a day.....if their body is in obvious need of it. I also much prefer to use oils or vegesorb or we also have used the A'kin brand.

DD used to need moisturising 3 + times a day. We used apricot kernel or olive oil with a mix of essential oils. Yes, she was greasy, but it was the best thing for her.

She also has oils internally. This makes soooo much more of a difference than putting external oils / creams on the skin. Treat your body from the inside

[emd]

I never use it much on the girls unless they have a dry patch (eg Sophia has had a dry red mouth from eating mandarines lately). But I do put it on Billy, because he gets mild excema. I should do it on my hands and face as I get very dehydrated from breastfeeding, but having never been in the habit of using creams I just forget to do it. I would expect that unless you have a problem with dry skin, you wouldn't need extra care?

[moo]

What everyone else said. My dd likes to use my organic coconut body butter stuff in the same way I do.

Absolutely agree with Marmee that looking at what we do to our skin internally is paramount as well.

[naturalmamma]

I definitely wouldnt be putting the mainstream chemical concoctions on my children or myself. Moisturising regularly is fantastic though and teaching our girls from a young age is ideal. Remember that when skin becomes dehydrated it leads to premature ageing and with all of the 'crap' in our food, water and air affecting us in more ways than we realise, it is really beneficial to moisturise. (everybody is different though).

I only use chemical free natural products after researching the chemicals in our skin care products. Really scary!!! I found a website called Naturally Divine, which is fantastic.. Handmade totally natural. You could eat the stuff and it wouldnt hurt you>

[strata]

few blobs of oil in the bath is nice, seem to get out feeling nice and moisturised. can make the bath slippery though. think it is important to protect the skin from the outer chemical elements also. I understand sesame oil is good to put on the skin nightly during or after a bath. it helps to protect from the sun, by building up the skins natural uv protection.

[lcorteen]

wow, I never knew that strata - interesting! We put almond & essential oils in the bath sometimes and yes, it does make th bath slippery, but the kids get used to it and are extra careful when they know its there.

I am not happy when other people put 'mainstream' chemicals on or in (via food) my kids... we try as much as possible to limit them at home and accept that the occasional friend or rellie will do this based on their own beliefs and lack of respect for ours... I sound a bit more cranky about this than normal b/c have just spent 4 days with rellies trying to shove crap down my kids throats constantly... but it normally doesn't worry me that much as it doesn't happen that much.