IS SOCIAL MEDIA
HARMING
SELF CONFIDENCE?
BY: DEBORAH WILLIAMS
W
e recently commissioned an independent survey of more than 3,000 mums with daughters aged between 7-14 years.
The survey shows Australian mums are increasingly worried about their daughters’ self-confidence when it comes to body image and problem skin.
Almost 15% of the mothers surveyed were worried that their daughters are spending an excessive amount of time on social media while almost as many said their biggest concerns for their daughters growing up is that they will not have enough self-confidence. More than 20% of the respondents said that they worry about their daughters developing problem skin as a result of not looking after their skin. “Some girls are becoming self-conscious about their body image as early as the age of nine,” says Deborah Williams, Girl Lane co-founder and pharmacist. “The biggest factors contributing to tweens’ and teens’ body image problems include media and peers.”
“As mothers we need to address body image and problem skin issues appropriately from an early age,” continues Williams. “Our advice is to ensure your tweens understand how media images are manipulated, and to approach the topic of problem skin with care.”
“Most skin damage occurs before the age of 17. “Over half the mothers surveyed say their daughters feel very conscious and ‘super sensitive’ Developing good skincare habits helps to promote healthy skin later in life. For tweens it is important when they are experiencing problem skin and they cleanse their face morning and night with pimples, but over 30% of mothers surveyed appropriate face wash and to apply sunscreen believed that their daughters do not need to use daily. Regular skincare will help boost selfskincare products or do not believe there are confidence and help keep skin problems at bay.” suitable skincare products available.” 100
Peninsula Kids – Autumn 2017
ASK THE PHARMACIST:
Q. A.
I have really thick and long hair. My hair also is greasy and frequently has dandruff. What should I do? You are not alone. Every single day there are girls dealing with the same problem. The flaky scalp is most likely dryness and not dandruff. Dry scalps are especially common amongst girls and during winter. This is because most shampoo and conditioner has a pH of 8-10 but the scalp has a pH of 5.5. And so this pH imbalance leads to dry scalp, and your scalp responds by producing too much oil and the cycle goes on. Make sure you rinse shampoo out really, really well, and limit hair washing to no more than 2-3 times per week. If you are washing your hair every day it will become more oily. If it gets oily in the short term, just use a good quality dry hair shampoo at night before bed (so your hair doesn’t stay white all day!). You will also find that tying it back will stop irritation from excess oil. Also, only use shampoo once, not twice per wash as its not needed. Gently wring out excess water and then apply conditioner from the mids to the ends of your hair. Your scalp does not require conditioning, and by focusing on the mids to ends you will ensure hair is manageable but scalp is not overly oily. Sometimes if your scalp gets really flaky you need a treatment from the Doctor, so a visit to your GP is a good option if the above hasn’t made much of a difference after 2 weeks.