Scrolling through on my “for you” page on TikTok, I have seen countless videos reviewing and promoting beauty products. With many young teens watching and wanting to follow social media trends.Buying these expensive skincare and makeup products from stores like Sephora and Ulta while also trying to keep up with social media trends places an immense pressure on parents to buy the latest products for their children. This is a problem for young girls because most of these skincare products are hurting them rather than helping them.
Recently, young girls between the ages 9-13 have been buying makeup and skincare, rather than toys, earning them the name“Sephora kids”. Influencers such as Evelyn Unrah, a 13-year-old girl who creates “Get ready with me” videos, is a prime example of children buying expensive beauty products that harm their skin.
These makeup and skincare products add up quickly in your shopping basket and contribute to the skincare market generating $147 billion in 2021, according to Health Hive. With products from brands like Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe and Fenty Skin, gaining favor from younger girls as a result of influencer brand deals from creators like Mikayla Noguira, Kornelia Ski and Gabriella Rongstadwhich in their “get ready with me” videos. As a result, the influencers that are promoting these products are also encouraging the overconsumption of these products, as seen in the whipped sunscreen trend, where influencers use more product than needed. These products range from $40-70 and many families can’t afford them. Social media has put so much pressure on parents to buy expensive products for their girls and keep up with the latest makeup and skincare trends.
On top of these products being so expensive they are also harming young skin, rather than helping it. With early teens buying products that are not intended for their age, like anti-aging skincare, they are actually damaging their skin barrier. According to UCLA Health, many of these skincare products, like Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe serums contain “active ingredients”, meaning that these ingredients are made for mature skin and when a younger girl uses this product it will do damage to their skin. Skincare products like Retinol serums, anti-aging serums and eye creams, can cause irritation to the skin, rather than helping it. This is a problem for many young children because they use these products with active ingredients and then they end up with damaged skin.
Social Media has put so much pressure on these young girls to use these makeup and skincare products. Many influencers use the term “porcelain” when referring to beautiful, poreless, smooth skin. This gives many young girls a goal to achieve “porcelain” skin through these skincare and makeup products. In reality, no one has “porcelain” skin because poreless, smooth skin isn’t real. Now when young girls scroll on TikTok and see these influencers with perfect skin, beautiful makeup, it gives them the idea that that’s what beauty is all about.
However, when it comes to buying these products these young girls don’t read the ingredients and many don’t know that these skincare products are actually really harmful. If we use social media to reverse what influencers did when they affected these young girls, many kids could go back to being kids again. When it comes to makeup and skincare, influencers should make videos showcasing natural beauty instead of heavy makeup products and harmful skincare. If influencers could display more of a younger user friendly skincare products and routine. According to Mayo Clinic tweens only need 3 products: A gentle cleanser, a hypoallergenic moisturizer and sunscreen. Teaching young girls to embrace their natural beauty and use skincare products the right way could really benefit the Sephora kids.
