My Teen Skincare Life by Angie Greaves

Angie Greaves is an award winning and Sony nominated TV and radio presenter who has been in the industry for over 25 years. She has worked with some of the greatest names in broadcasting and interviewed some of the biggest stars in entertainment. She is currently the presenter of Drive Time at Smooth Radio. When she is not presenting she works on Feeling Fab, which is an online platform that she founded with the aim of offering uplifting advice. Angie took time out to tell me about her teen skincare life.

When I first came across skincare products I was so young and it was so long ago I can't put a date on it. All I do remember is my mother telling me on a daily basis to cream my skin. In creaming my skin it wasn’t just my face she was talking about, it was my arms, legs, feet and elbows heels, and definitely my elbows. There was always a pot of Vaseline at home, Johnson’s Baby Lotion and either Ponds Cold Cream or Nivea. Things have very much changed now.

My mother was my main influence when it came to skincare, health, beauty and evolving from teenage years to womanhood. I didn’t see many, if any, images of myself on screen or in magazines when I was growing up, so the only black woman I could take advice from on a daily basis was my mother. I think Caribbean women who came to the UK got a shock to their systems due to the change in climate. The natural Vitamin D that the Caribbean has to offer through daily helpings of sunshine brought the natural oils out of their skin. Coming to the UK where the Vitamin D is in much shorter supply meant that a skincare regime needed to be found quite quickly and adhered to, and it was probably trial and error. Natural Vitamin D is good for the skin, and is much better than the Vitamin D that comes out of a bottle or in tablet form.

I can remember the rise of skincare and cosmetic parties and attending a party for Jafra Cosmetics. Fashion Fair was the main brand I can remember being available for Women of Colour. They were always brands in Boots, (the ever faithful No 7 for example which was and still is great), but I did gravitate towards hair shops that sold Afro hair products as there were skincare brands that were from the USA that you couldn’t buy in the local high street chemist.

What I have learnt about my skin since my teen years is that it has changed. I’m no longer a teenager and when you’re in your teenage years your skin is still developing. I could get away with not taking my makeup off if I’d been out partying but I wouldn’t dare do that now. As you get older the moisture in your skin decreases as does the elasticity, so those nuggets of advice about always moisturising with upward strokes start to echo in your ear. I now thank my Mum for constantly telling me to keep my skin clean, and always remove my makeup at night so that my skin can breathe at night whist my body is repairing itself.

My skin’s best product now believe it or now is water, and lots of it. Cleansers, toners, moisturisers and exfoliators are a must but with age comes wisdom and I now realise that a lot of the food we eat has quite a lot of chemicals and these can affect our skin. So a good diet with lots of fruit, vegetables and water is a must. Diet has a lot to do with how we age, so whilst I do love anti-ageing creams we really should look at our diets as well.

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