SACRAMENTO, California — When Scarlett Goddard Strahan was in fifth grade, she began to worry about wrinkles.
By the time she turned 10, Scarlett and her friends spending hours on TikTok and YouTube influencers promote products to achieve today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowing”, flawless complexion. Scarlett developed a comprehensive skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers.
One night Scarlett’s skin started to burn violently and blister. The constant use of adult products had ruined her skin. Months later, there are still small bumps on Scarlett’s face and her cheeks turn red in the sun.
“I didn’t want to get wrinkles and look old,” says Scarlett, who recently turned 11. “If I had known it would affect my life like this, I would never have put these things on my face.”
Scarlett’s experience has become commonplace, experts say, as preteen girls across the country flock to beauty supply stores to buy expensive skin-care products, a trend captured in viral videos with the hashtag #SephoraKids. Girls as young as 8 are reporting to dermatologists with rashes, chemical burns and other allergic reactions to products not meant for children’s delicate skin.
“When children use anti-aging skin care, they can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring,” says Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a dermatologist in Scottsdale, Arizona, who has posted her own videos on social media refuting influencers’ advice.
Parents and child psychologists are more concerned about the trend’s effects on girls’ mental health than its physical damage for years to come. Extensive data suggests that a fixation on appearance can affect self-confidence and body image, and fuel anxiety, depression and eating disorders.
The skin care obsession offers a glimpse into the role that social media plays in the lives of today’s youth and how it shapes the ideals and insecurities of girls in particular. Girls experience high level of sadness and hopelessness. Whether social media exposure causes mental health problems or is simply correlated with them is a matter of debate. But for older teens and young adults, it’s clear: Long time on social media has been bad for them, period.
Young girls’ fascination with makeup and cosmetics isn’t new. And neither is it for children to conform to idealized standards of beauty. What’s different now is the scale, says Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens, a nonprofit that studies how digital media affects children’s development. In an age of filtered images and artificial intelligence, some of the beautiful faces they encounter aren’t even real.
“Girls are bombarded with idealized images of beauty that create a beauty ideal that is very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve,” Perry says.
The obsession with skin care is about more than just the pursuit of perfect skin, explains 14-year-old Mia Hall.
It’s about feeling accepted and part of a community that has the lifestyle and look you want, says Mia, a New Yorker from the Bronx.
Skin care wasn’t on Mia’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. Girls became friends over their skin-care routines.
“Everyone was doing it. I felt like it was the only way I could fit in,” Mia says. She started following beauty influencers like Katie Fang and Gianna Christine, who have millions of young followers on TikTok. Some influencers are paid by brands to promote their products, but they don’t always disclose it.
Mia got hooked on “Get Ready With Me” videos, in which influencers film themselves getting ready — for school, for a night out with friends, packing for a trip. The hashtag #GRWM has been viewed more than 150 billion times on TikTok.
“It’s like a trance. You can’t stop looking at it,” Mia says. “So when they say to me, ‘Go buy this product,’ or ‘I use this and it’s amazing,’ it feels very personal. When I get what they have, I feel connected to them.”
Mia started saving her $20 weekly allowance for trips to Sephora with friends. Her daily routine included a cleanser, a face mist, a hydrating serum, a pore-tightening toner, a moisturizer, and sunscreen. Most were high-end brands like Glow Recipe, Drunk Elephant, or Caudalie, whose moisturizers can cost $70.
“I get really jealous and insecure when I see other girls my age who are really pretty or have great lives,” she says.
According to Charlotte Markey, a body image expert and psychologist at Rutgers University, the level of detail and information girls get from beauty tutorials sends a troubling message at a vulnerable age, as girls go through puberty and find their identity.
“The message to young girls is, ‘You are a never-ending project that you have to start now.’ And essentially, ‘You are not OK the way you are,’” says Markey, author of “The Body Image Book for Girls.”
The beauty industry is cashing in on the trend. Last year, consumers under the age of 14 accounted for 49% of drugstore skin-care sales, according to a report from NielsonIQ, which found that households with teens and preteens spent more on skin care than the average U.S. household. And in the first half of 2024, a third of “prestige” beauty product sales at retailers like Sephora will be driven by households with preteens and preteens, according to market research firm Circana.
The cosmetics industry has acknowledged that certain products are not appropriate for children, but has done little to dissuade kids from buying them. For example, Drunk Elephant’s website advises that children 12 and under should not use its anti-aging serums, lotions and scrubs “due to their highly active nature.” That guidance appears on the site’s FAQ page; there are no such warnings on the products themselves.
Sephora declined to comment for this story.
Ingredients like retinol and chemical exfoliants like hydroxy acids are inherently harsh. For aging skin, they’re used to stimulate collagen and cell production. Young or sensitive skin can react with redness, flaking and burning, which can lead to infection, acne and sensitivity if used incorrectly, dermatologists say.
Dermatologists agree that a child’s face typically needs only three products, all of which can be found on drugstore shelves: a mild 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 pushing for industry accountability. Lee and other critics say popular brands are using colorful packaging and product names like “Baby Facial” to attract younger buyers, in the same way that e-cigarette companies and alcohol brands have created fruity flavors to appeal to underage users.
Lee points to Europe as a good example. The European Union last year passed legislation limiting the concentration of retinol in all over-the-counter products. And one of Sweden’s largest 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 one way to protect children’s skin health, finances and mental well-being,” the company said.
Across the country, concerned mothers are visiting dermatologists with their young daughters, carrying bags full of skin care products for their child, wondering: are these OK?
“A lot of times, moms will say exactly what I say, but they want their child to hear it from an expert,” says Dr. Dendy Engelman, a Manhattan dermatologist. “They say, ‘Maybe she’ll listen to you, because she certainly won’t listen to me.’”
Mia’s mother, Sandra Gordon, took a different approach. Last spring, she noticed dark spots on Mia’s face and panicked. Gordon, a nurse, threw all of her daughter’s products in the trash.
“There were Sephora bags on top of bags. Some things were opened, some not opened, some were full. I threw them all away,” she says.
Mia wasn’t happy. But now that she’s in high school, she thinks her mom was right. She’s switched to a simple routine, using just a cleanser and moisturizer, and says her complexion has improved.
In Sacramento, California, Scarlett missed early signs that the products were damaging her skin: She developed a rash and felt stinging within days of trying viral skin-care products. Scarlett thought she wasn’t using enough, so she slathered on more. Then her cheeks erupted in blistering pain.
“It was late at night. She came running into my room, crying. All her cheeks were burnt,” recalls Anna Goddard, Scarlett’s mother, who didn’t realize the extent of Scarlett’s obsession with skin care.
When Goddard read the ingredients in each product, she was shocked to find retinol in products that appeared to be targeted toward children, including a face mask with a cat’s face on the packaging.
What worries her mother most is the psychological impact. The comments from children at school have caused ongoing fear and uncertainty.
Goddard hopes for more protection. “I didn’t know there were harmful ingredients in children’s skin care products,” she says. “There needs to be a warning.”
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