When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan began to worry about wrinkles.
By the age of 10, she and her friends were spending hours on TikTok and YouTube watching influencers promote products to achieve today’s beauty aesthetic: a radiant, flawless, luminous complexion. Scarlett developed an elaborate skincare routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers.
One night, Scarlett’s skin began to burn intensely and blisters appeared. Overuse of adult products had taken a toll on her skin. Months later, Scarlett’s face still has small bumps and her cheeks turn red in the sun.
“I didn’t want to have wrinkles and look old,” said Goddard, who recently turned 11. “If I had known my life would be so affected by this, I would have never put this stuff on my face.”
According to experts, Goddard’s experience has become common: Preteen girls across the country are flocking to beauty stores to buy expensive skin care products, a trend captured in viral videos with the hashtag #SephoraKids, which has brought girls as young as 8 to dermatologists’ offices with rashes, chemical burns and other allergic reactions to products that are not intended for the sensitive skin of minors.
“When girls use anti-aging skin care products, they can cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring,” said Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a dermatologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, who has posted her own videos on social media refuting the advice of influencers.
Beyond the physical harm, parents and child psychologists are concerned the effects of this trend on mental health of girls in the years to come. Numerous data suggest that fixation on appearance can affect self-esteem and body image, fueling anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
The skincare obsession offers a glimpse into the role social media plays in young people’s lives and how it shapes the ideals and insecurities of girls in particular. Girls are experiencing high levels of sadness and hopelessness.
It’s a matter of debate whether exposure to social media causes — or merely correlates with — mental health problems. But for older teens and young adults, it’s clear: Prolonged time on social media has been bad for them, period.
Girls’ fascination with makeup and cosmetics is not new, nor is the fascination of minors adhering to idealized beauty standards. What’s different now is the scale, warned Kris Perry, CEO of Children and Screensa nonprofit that studies how digital media impacts child development. In an era of filtered images and artificial intelligence, Some of the beautiful faces you see aren’t even real.
“Girls are being bombarded with idealized images of beauty that set a standard of beauty that could be very difficult, if not impossibleto reach,” Perry added.
They use their savings to buy at Sephora
Skincare obsession is about more than just the quest for perfect skin, explained 14-year-old Mia Hall.
It’s about feeling accepted and belonging to a community that has the lifestyle and look you want, said Hall, a New Yorker from the Bronx.
Skin care wasn’t on Hall’s radar until she started eighth grade last fall. It was a topic of conversation among girls her age, at school and on social media. The girls bonded over their skin care routines.
“Everyone was doing it. I felt like it was the only way I could fit in,” Hall said. She started following beauty influencers like Katie Fang and Gianna Christine, who have millions of young followers on TikTok. Some influencers get paid by brands to promote their products, but they don’t always mention it in their posts.
Hall got hooked on the videos of Get Ready With Me (Get Ready With Me) where influencers record themselves getting ready for school, going out with friends, or packing for a trip. The hashtag #GRWM has over 150 billion views on TikTok.
“It’s like a trance. You can’t stop looking at them,” Hall said. “So when they say, ‘Go buy this product,’ or ‘I use this and it’s amazing,’ it feels very personal. Getting what they have makes me feel connected to them.”
Hall began saving her $20 allowance on trips with her friends to Sephora. Her daily routine included a facial cleanser, a spray face cream, a hydrating serum, a pore-tightening toner, a moisturizer, and a sunscreen. Most of them were high-end brands like Glow Recipe, Drunk Elephant, or Caudalie, whose moisturizers can cost $70.
“I get very jealous and insecure when I see other girls my age who look really pretty or have wonderful lives,” she says.
The level of detail and information girls receive from beauty tutorials sends a worrying message at a vulnerable age, as girls are going through puberty and defining their identity, said Charlotte Markey, a body image expert and psychologist at Rutgers University.
“The message to young girls is that, ‘You are a never-ending project that you need to start now.’ And, essentially, ‘You are not okay the way you are,’” added Markey, author of The Body Image Book for Girls.
Youth-promoting products purchased by children
The beauty industry has been cashing in on this trend. Last year, consumers under the age of 14 generated 49% of sales of skin care products at drugstores, according to a NielsonIQ report that found households with teens and tweens spent more than the average American household on skin care products. And in the first half of 2024, one-third of prestige beauty product sales at stores like Sephora were driven by households with tweens and teens, according to market research firm Circana.
The cosmetics industry has acknowledged that certain products are not suitable for minors, but has done little to prevent children from purchasing them. Drunk Elephant’s website, for example, recommends that children 12 and younger not use its anti-aging serums, lotions and scrubs “because they are very active.” That warning is on the site’s FAQ page, but there are no such contraindications on the products themselves.
Sephora declined to comment for this story.
Ingredients like retinol and chemical exfoliants like hydroxy acids are inherently harsh. On aging skin, they are used to stimulate collagen and cell production. Young or sensitive skin can react with redness, peeling and burning that can lead to infections, acne and hypersensitivity if used incorrectly, dermatologists warn.
Dermatologists agree that the face of A minor normally needs only three itemsall of which are available on drugstore shelves: a gentle cleanser, a moisturizer, and sunscreen.
A California bill that sought to ban the sale of anti-aging skin care products to children under 13 failed this spring, but Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee says he plans to continue seeking accountability from the industry. Lee and other critics say popular brands use colorful packaging and product names like “baby facial” to attract younger buyers in the same way that e-cigarette companies and alcohol brands created fruity flavors that appeal to minors.
Lee notes that Europe is setting the right example. The European Union enacted a law last year limiting the concentration of retinol in all over-the-counter products. And one of Sweden’s leading pharmacy chains, Apotek Hjartat, said in March that it would stop selling anti-aging skin care products to customers under 15 without parental consent. “This is a way to protect children’s skin health, finances and mental well-being,” the company said.
