The Netmums Podcast - S16 Ep13: Clear Conversations: Navigating Teen Acne with Phoenix and Dr. Alia

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Clear Conversations: Navigating Teen Acne with Phoenix and Dr. Alia In episode two of our special Netmums mini-series on teen skin, host Wendy Golledge chats with mum Sarah and her teenage daughter Phoenix, alongside Consultant Dermatologist Dr. Alia Ahmed from Purifide (by the makers of Acnecide). Together, they share honest, real-world insights into managing blemish-prone skin – without turning the bathroom into a battleground. Phoenix reveals how she’s built a skincare routine that works for her (even after a late night), Sarah opens up about supporting her without nagging, and Dr. Alia breaks down the essential steps for healthy, spot-prone skin – all with a myth-busting, practical approach. In this episode, we cover: Skincare battles – how to reduce conflict over products and routines at home Daily routines that work – Phoenix’s consistency tips for clearer skin Expert steps – the importance of a strong routine: cleanse, treat, moisturise (and protect with SPF!) Myth-busting – why toothpaste and certain “miracle” cures can make things worse Parent pointers – motivating teens without sounding like a drill sergeant Boys skincare – why it matters just as much and how to get them on board Whether your teen is a skincare enthusiast or needs a little nudge, this episode offers expert advice, practical tips, and reassurance that clear skin is about finding what works – not chasing perfection.

Welcome back to this special Netmums podcast series. I'm Wendy, and this is episode two of our mini-series on teen skin. Today, we're talking skincare routines, which can be hard to get into and can even become a bit of a battleground in some households. Joining us, we've got Mum, Sarah, and her teenage daughter, Phoenix, along with our expert Dr. Alia from Purified by the makers of Acnecide. to walk us through what a great teen skincare routine can actually look like. No pressure, no perfection, just clear, simple steps that can really help. Phoenix, hi, welcome back. Hi.

Thank you for joining us. So, if you're anything like me when I was younger, you know you should wash your face every night, but that doesn't mean you actually do. Do you stick to a skincare routine? I feel like I really do. I think even when I was like a lot younger, still in primary school, I would still wash my face even though I wouldn't put anything else on my skin

You're much better than I was And then especially now because I actually do have problem skin I'm quite good with it because anything that will help So since you started breaking out You've been religiously good at doing it Sarah do you have to remind her Or is it just she's just good all by herself

She's very diligent She's very diligent She will even come home You know three sheets to the wind and I'll be like, right, off to bed, I've got to do my skincare first. So, if anything, it's the other way around, she has to remind me. I, at a grand old age, still do not do that. I'm very impressed.

So what does a typical morning look like in your house? Be honest, is it chaos in the bathroom and are you elbowing siblings out of the way to do your skincare? I have two younger brothers, so they tend to take quite a while in the bathroom in the morning. and they also shower in the morning I don't shower in the morning I can't be bothered but yeah

but I mean now that we've kind of gotten used to it we've been doing it for so many years now so we tend to go in an order the same order every morning so it's not too bad and with that routine do you change up your routine to try different products? Not very frequently

say if I go to a dermatologist and they say to start using this then I'll start using it but I don't just Like every week, be like, no, I need something new. I try to wait and see what works first. So, Sarah, over the course of the journey with acne that you guys have been on, have you found yourself, have you been that mum stood in the supermarket, looking at all the products just trying to decide what can help?

Not really, no, I've been dictated to by Phoenix, really, in the beginning. Sounds very right. And since then, by specialists. she's seen two dermatologists one left to go to a different clinic that wasn't convenient for us so she's got another one now so I've been guided by them

I haven't no I don't go into supermarkets unless I really have to certainly not to the skincare aisle well you're very lucky not to have clashed with each other about skincare I've got a 13 year old daughter who's just starting to tell me that I don't know what she should be using or when she should be using it?

I think it's quite a common problem, isn't it? I've got friends who really clash with their teenage daughters over, not just skincare. I mean, obviously there's clothes. I've got, I mean, I think sometimes, to be honest, I think that sometimes mothers, there's a bit of projection going on. They sort of want their daughters to be like a little mini, perfect version of them.

I've got friends who battle with their kids about what they're eating, worry that they're putting on weight, worry that their skin isn't good. I don't think that's helpful personally. So let's bring in our expert, Dr. Alia. Dr. Alia, can you help us out by breaking down the steps of a skincare routine, partly so that I can have this battle with my daughter when I get home, but just so we know what the steps are and why they're so important?

Yeah, sure. So if you've got spot-prone skin or skin that's breaking out, then it's really important to cleanse twice a day. So making sure that you're removing the impurities of the day and then preparing your skin for your treatments because most people will be using either product that's got some sort of treatment or an active in it or you'll be using a medical treatment if you're seeing a dermatologist for example so cleansing very important then your treatment area and actually with cleansing something like the purified daily cleanser it's very good

at preparing your skin for whatever treatment you're going to put on next and it's good at reducing oil and it's good at reducing shine so these are all things that are important especially if you've got breakout prone skin. Then your treating phase, if you're having emerging spots, I quite like spot patches, especially those that contain salicylic acid, because that is working to unclog the pores, remove that, remove those impurities, and the spot patches from purified also have soothing ingredients. So when you've got that painful, large or red spot coming up, actually this is a good way to bring it back down to the normal skin tone that's usual for you. And also can help to reduce the inflammation that's associated with it that can be painful and then later you're less

likely to develop a mark or a blemish because of it so that's another step and then moisturising is important because we need to make sure that your skin is not too dry from the products that you're using and again so you're not actually having extra irritation on top of having acne because when you have acne your skin is inflamed when your skin is inflamed it can look flaky or scaly so you do need to have some level of moisturiser and then sunscreen is important for everyone and it's better to get into the sunscreen habit early so you can take it through your whole life so going back to the cleanser you mentioned the purified daily cleanser what makes it so good for spot-prone skin so what I like about it is that the formulation is very light it goes on

easily and it washes off easily so when you're rushing in the morning you know you're late for school late for college or wherever it is that you're going you need something quick it's also got some good actives in there so it's got zinc which reduces oil and shine it's also got glycerin which helps to rebuild your skin barrier. So then you're not having that dry, really tight feelings. I always say to people about cleansers, when you wash your cleanser off, your skin shouldn't feel tight and begging for moisture.

It should just feel like your normal skin. So that's something about this purified daily cleanser that I really quite like. And then you talked about the treatment step. What are the things that we should be looking for in that treatment step? The ingredients that actually help. Sure.

So salicylic acid is an important ingredient, especially if you have spot-prone skin because, like I mentioned, it's unclogging pores, it's removing dirt, removing impurities, and it's almost kicking out one of those factors that you need to develop acne. So that is an important ingredient to have. Other ingredients like zinc are important to reduce that oil production. And then, of course, there are other antibacterial ingredients that you can have in products like benzoporoxide, for example, that can help with inflammation and bacteria. so when I had acne as a teenager I used to find that it at times it really hurt if you've got one of those emerging spots that's doing its best impression to be a mountain they really hurt and if you're trying to like lay on that side it can really hurt so what can you do for that side of things in this situation I think direct spot treatment is really helpful and I would recommend using the purified power patches prior to those those being around, I would tell people to put salicylic acid directly on their skin. So not toothpaste, like my mum used to tell.

Not toothpaste. So salicylic acid is the hero ingredient for an emerging spot. And if it's present in a spot patch, even better, because you can put it on, forget about it. And then you're less likely to touch it because it's a natural thing. When you have a spot, you do want to have a go, or you feel like you need to touch it. Or it's painful, so you're trying to relieve pain by pressing around it, all of these things. And then you could be making it worse, because then you're introducing infection. So I think a spot patch is great for that type of situation have you had lots of crazy advice phoenix have people kind of the toothpaste example is a genuine thing my mum used to say what's the craziest thing you've been told

to put on your face oh my god let me think um i don't know there's so many you were horrified because i suggested tea tree oil yeah because i would sting it would sting my skin like i know that it's not necessarily a bad thing to put on your face but i feel like with problematic skin it would it would just irritate my skin. Is it bad? It can be yes and this is why combination products that take those ingredients that can be irritating and then combine them with soothing ingredients like for example there's centella if you've heard of that that is a very soothing ingredient so we see that a lot in products that are for spot-prone skin because it helps to soothe that and take away the power I guess of those really strong ingredients so what about SPF is

Again, is there a problem that that might clog the skin, might cause breakouts to get worse? Not necessarily. Sun protection is really important in the day, especially when you have acne, because it helps to prevent the dark marks that you can get that then bother you two or three years down the line. So there are so many formulations of SPF. Most people can usually find one that suits them and suits their skin. Purified, have a daily moisturiser with SPF in it. So you can do two things at once.

so you can moisturise your skin, keep it hydrated, and protect it from the harmful effects of the sun at the same time. And what factor should we be looking at? Ideally, should it be above factor 30. So Phoenix, do you use SPF? Put you on the spot. I do, I do. I use factor 50.

Is that okay? That's perfectly fine. That's perfectly fine. I love the number 50. So in terms of routine stuff, do you find that you manage to stick to all of those? steps. Yeah, I think so. I think once I do it once, it's very easy to do it again. I have everything, I do it every morning, every night before I go to bed. It's actually away from the

brothers. Yeah, away from my brothers. I have to keep it away from my brothers. But for someone who is struggling, how can we encourage teenagers or how can we advise parents to help their teenagers to use a routine without sounding like a drill sergeant? Yeah, so actually I hear this a lot in clinic with families and parents and young people how do you get over that so I for those people and obviously Phoenix you're very lucky because you're very you know a lot about skin care and then you've been educating mum so that's brilliant and then sometimes it comes the other way so parents are educating their child so I encourage open conversations looking really closely at products looking at ingredients looking at reviews as well it's important because you can access all this

information online and being comfortable with products and understanding why they work because it's very easy for a parent to say, well, I used this, this and this, therefore you will also use this, this and this. But your child's skin may be different to yours. It may be a different tone. It may be more likely to be dry than yours or more likely to be oily. So all of those factors have to be taken into account. So having more open conversations, involving relevant experts when you can, I think can be important. And looking for results. So if something is really not working, I don't think is worth continuing. Or if it's making things worse, it's definitely not continuing. And what time limit would you put on that? What

you're kind of, okay, we've been trying it for X weeks, enough's enough. What would you recommend? So up to three months. I know that sounds like a long time, but your skin takes a month to turn over. So you need a month to really know if something's working. But I do say if it's been six weeks and things are getting worse, then stop what you're doing and we need to have a rethink. And what would you say to parents of boys out there? I know that one of my friend's sons, he's like, I'm not using moisturiser, don't use that. What's the dermatologist say to them? I actually think boys are really stoic, so they want to use things. They're also looking at social media. They're also thinking about what product their sister or their mum or what other female in the house may have,

and they're wondering if they can use it, but they don't talk about it. So I think, again, with boys, young men, we need to have the conversations about skincare early and say, okay, well, actually, your skin is just as important as your female sibling's skin. So you need to have your own routine. And looking for the products that feel comfortable for them, so they don't feel like, they're doing something that everybody else isn't because most boys are looking for something well thank you again for joining us it's been lovely to chat to you and to anyone listening remember there are solutions out there there are things you can do that will help your skin and there are real things

you can use that will get to the root cause of your acne to find out more about purified you can follow them on instagram or TikTok or search for them on amazon