Drew Barrymore on How She Handles Her Daughters' Interest in Skincare: 'Beauty Is for Everyone' (Exclusive)

The mom of two wants girls to safely celebrate self-expression

• Drew Barrymore is talking with her daughters, 9-year-old Frankie and 11-year-old Olive, about skincare

• The mom of two has partnered with Dove to raise awareness of anti-aging skincare being marketed toward tweens

• Barrymore says her daughters are into skincare, but she's keeping an eye on what they use and explaining to them why it matters

Drew Barrymore wants all girls, especially her own, to get the right message about beauty.

The daytime host and actress, 49, chatted with PEOPLE about her partnership with Dove on the #TheFaceof10 campaign — which brings together powerful voices to raise awareness of the anti-aging skincare trend that can foster premature appearance anxiety in young girls.

Like many moms of tween and teens, Barrymore tells PEOPLE she's having conversations about skincare at home with daughters Frankie, 9, and Olive, 11.

"They're really into skincare because that's really a lot of what they see and what their friends are into. So I'm just always trying to keep track of what products are age-appropriate and not too active for their skin," Barrymore shares.

"I know that there are also a lot of anti-aging products out there, and I just want to make sure that young girls, while they're really invested and in love with skincare — and there are many things that they could be interested in that would be far more perilous — are making sure that their skin is safe and the messages they're receiving are healthy."

From her perspective, Barrymore is very conscious of "the mental gym and what's inside our heads."

"That, to me, is more important than what's in our beauty routine. I think the things we tell ourselves inside our minds should remind us that beauty is for everyone. We can make sure the ingredients are age-appropriate, and the messages are really about the joy of it rather than worrying about anti-aging."

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The mom of two says she's "definitely invested" in addressing this trend in young girls.

Growing up in the acting industry, the girl mom recalls starting to wear makeup for work at "8 or 9."

"I had so much fun playing with color," she recalls. "I think there are so many things girls can do to express themselves, but I've definitely seen how the trends, through social media, are so bullish on skincare."

"For me, beauty has always been about positive messaging at any age. I'm such a Dove girl, and they're so ahead of the curve on talking about how we see ourselves versus how we think we should be seen, and the cause and effect of that. I think that's a great responsibility that companies have, and I think Dove does it in a way that's just so much more impactful."

Between her experience in acting and her own venture into the beauty space, Flower Beauty, Barrymore says she can "definitely" see differences between how girls relate to beauty now compared to how they did while she was growing up.

"I think that definitely for my generation's youth and even millennials, this is not the rhetoric or sort of marketing that we were pushed towards," she says. "I do think it's a very different world."

She continues, "When I started Flower Beauty, it was the beginning of the influencer era, so I've definitely seen multiple evolutions in beauty and skincare, but for me, whether it's Flower or Dove, positive messaging and emotional and mental empowerment are so crucial. The messages always have to be about loving who you are, working with what you've got and having fun with it. It's about being joyful and not in a scramble to be something different than who you are."

Barrymore notes she tries to lead by example, "keeping it natural" with her own look.

"I don't judge the process of what people want to do to make themselves feel better because life is short, and that's a very personal decision. But I think with me, skincare is what I've invested in over any other treatments or things as I've gotten older. It's important for me that my daughters know we embrace who we are and work with what we've got."

"I personally don't even love the anti-aging messaging for myself," she admits. "And I'm 49. Because there's no such thing as anti-aging. Aging is a privilege, and aging is also inevitable. So to fight that and have anything that has the word anti already has a little bit of a sort of negative skew, and to me, that's just not the tone that I want in my beauty routine and definitely not for my girls."

Related: Mom Defends Taking Daughter, 10, to Buy Makeup at Sephora: 'They Didn't Do Anything Wrong' (Exclusive)

Barrymore prides herself in tackling big subjects, like the downsides to skincare trends, with her girls, basing their conversations on "honesty" above all else.

"I'm always talking about honesty. If it's the truth, we're gonna find our way through," she shares.

She also tries to encourage her daughters to "ask yourself, without feeling like there's any judgment or blame coming at you, at your part in something. I really talk to them about that and how I know it's hard. I'm really aware that we really can only control ourselves and not other people or the exterior world, so when we self-explore, we can find what we can learn from it and what we can do."

Barrymore continues, "I encourage them to ask, 'What is your part in something, and how can we be honest and brave to tell the truth?' Because I don't want them to fear that the truth will get them in trouble. I think it will set us free to get on the right path to figuring anything out."

The mom of two is enjoying embracing her girls' unique interests as they figure out their own passions.

"I never did athletics when I was a kid. I would do dance and stuff, but I loved karate. So I love it when my girls get into sports. To me, girls in sports are so awesome. It's the coolest thing I've ever witnessed. Whether my one daughter is doing figure skating or my other daughter is doing soccer, I will be there at every event. I will not miss one, because it's so important for me to support them in that area. I also like it when they're creative and artistic — when they put on a dance, or they do a play at home, or they dress up. They're the fun things that are ageless and timeless."

Barrymore hopes her daughters and the girls reached by this campaign will recognize the truth about finding joy in their lives.

"I want every female at every age to know that with every single day and year, you tend to get better, a little wiser, a little more knowing, and a little more calm. Aging is such a beautiful thing."

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