During teenage years, many girls begin their love affair with maintaining their beauty. If your once-lazy-about-her-looks daughter has started demonstrating a passion for perfecting her appearance, she may be entering this self-improvement focused stage. As her mom, you can play a part in helping her learn to highlight her natural beauty and develop a style and grace all her own.

Mom and Daughter Bonding

Beauty treatments often provide the perfect opportunity for mother-daughter bonding time. Instead of letting your teen girl experiment with face masks, try out new styles or perfect her makeup skills alone in her bedroom, join in the fun. Share your expertise with your teen daughter to help her build her makeup skills. You can even allow her to experiment on you, an opportunity that she will likely relish.

Start with Skin

Creating a beautiful canvas is vital to maximizing your teen’s potential. Encourage your teen to take care of her skin, washing it two times a day and treating it with moisturizer. Also, remind her that too much time in the sun, even at her age, can lead to irreparable skin damage and even skin cancer. Tell your teen that maintaining her skin now can lead to a lifetime of good looks, and remind her that part of taking care of her skin is applying UV protection.

Keep It Natural

Many teens jump into makeup application with two feet and, as a result, end up with initial efforts that look almost clownish. As your teen takes her first tentative swipes with the makeup brush, remind her that the key to good makeup application is highlighting, not covering up, her natural beauty. If your teen seems to struggle with grasping this concept, it may be helpful to look through some magazines together to find images of beautiful people. Your teen will likely see that a little makeup goes a long way.

Picking a Look

During teen years, girls often experiment with looks, trying to decide where they fit in among the fray. As your teen begins to decide who she wants to be, discuss her look with her frankly, talking about where she gets her inspiration as well as what image she is trying to portray. Talking about these things can help your teen realize that picking a look is about deciding what you want others to think about you and that the image you put out to the world is one you should be proud to take ownership of.

Social Beauty Treatments

The practice of gathering with peers and engaging in beautifying procedures is a classic one. You likely gathered with your friends and did your nails or applied face masks at sleepovers when you were a teen, and your teen girl will likely do the same. Encourage your teen to have friends over, because they offer a wonderful opportunity for friendship building and socialization with peers. Join in, if you are welcome.