‘Sephora kids’ are using anti-aging creams. A new study says harms aren’t just skin deep

If you recently witnessed a 10 -year blow with an anti -wrinkle cream of $ 80 – either in real life, or in a certain number of Tiktok videos “Get Ready With Me” – You are probably already aware of the The “Sephora Kids” skin care trend This means that young people demand anti-aging products thanks in part to what they see on social networks.

Now a new study Posted in Pediatrics This month, the first article evaluated by peers of the genre, noted that the skin care solutions promoted to Tiktok offer not only little or no advantages for children and adolescents, but they can actually be harmful. And the risks go beyond skin damage (although there is that too), note the authors.

“It is problematic to show girls who devote so much time and attention to their skin,” said Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine Author of Chicago dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in a dermatology. press release.

“We set a very high level for these girls. The pursuit of health has become a kind of virtue in our society, but the ideal of” health “is also very wrapped in the ideals of beauty, slimming and whiteness.”

The authors in the study Analyze 100 unique videos by content creators aged seven to 18, with an average of 1.1 million views each. On average, each diet had six products, totaling around $ 230 CDN. On the upper end of the scale, some girls used more than a dozen products on their faces, the authors said.

They found that only a quarter of skin care routines included the use of sunscreen, the most popular videos contained an average of 11 active ingredients irritating for young skin (such as Hydroxy acids) and content creators have often superimposed several active ingredients or the same in several products.

In a video, the authors say that a girl applied 10 different products on her face in 10 minutes.

The videos also sometimes had a racial coded language which emphasized a “clearer skin”, noted the authors.

The problem with the “children of Sephora”

THE “Sephora Kids” trendWhere children as young as eight or nine use anti -aging skin care products bought from beauty retailers such as Sephora, began to increase in popularity last year – just like attempts to stop it.

In California, for example, Alex Lee, a member of the State Assembly, was Pushing a bill that would prohibit the sale of anti-aging products which contain powerful and difficult ingredients for children under the age of 18. In May, CBS reported that the bill died quietly without a vote.

And last December, The Order of Chemists of Quebec has published a warning The fact that certain skin care products designed for adults and popularized on social networks are avoided by children because active ingredients can be harmful to young skin.

Products often contain strong active ingredients that young skin is not properly equipped to manage, said Dr. Julia Carroll, dermatologist and speaker at the University of Toronto, who was not involved in this study.

The younger skin is generally more sensitive, so ingredients like alpha-hydroxy acids and retinoids can cause irritation, drying, coat and dermatitis, Carroll at CBC News told.

“This can actually raise their skin aware and give them an allergy to life to an ingredient,” she said.

The trend also creates an addiction where children think they need a 10 -step routine, added Carroll: “When they really need a soft cleaner, a moisturizer and a sunscreen.”

Gen Alpha stimulates sales

Canadians spent nearly $ 9 billion on beauty and personal care products in 2024. Statistics Canada, Households began to spend “a lot” more in personal care after the COVVI-19 pandemic, increasing by 30% in 2023 compared to 2021.

In the meantime, Generation alpha continues to generate sales of skin care In the United States, according to recent data from Nielsen. A global MINTEL Marketine Intelligence Report This year noted that this digital generation has also planned to spend 5.5 billions of US dollars by 2029, while the oldest in the cohort will be 19 years old.

The members of Gen Alpha, who were born almost between 2010 and 2024, consult the influencers of beauty and their routines as sources of inspiration, according to the Mint report.

“However, this acceleration in skin care oriented towards adults often results in routines that favor appearance on health-a gap that the beauty industry must fill,” he adds.

For the moment on Tiktokwhere there are about 18.3 million videos “Get Ready With Me”, Gen alpha influencers Show their skin care routines and “hauls” on videos with millions of views and comments.

In the study of the pediatric journal, the authors found that these products tend to be strongly marketed with young consumers. They too concerned with concern That it is “almost impossible” for parents and pediatricians to follow exactly what children or adolescents see.

“We see children as young as eight or nine years who use anti-aging ingredients they have picked up on Tiktok,” said Carroll.

“You prepare children for an unrealistic standard of beauty that is not really suitable for an eight -year -old child, nine, 10 years old. They already have a generally perfect skin, so to put them on this road, this early can be quite harmful.”