Is anyone else alarmed by young children (preteens) getting so heavy into skincare?

In all honesty, I'm amazed that Drunk Elephant and others haven't started a diffusion line for teens yet.

Same cachet, but a lower price point and no actives.

Wow this is frightening. Plastic surgery and skincare is the new eating disorder/body dysmorphia

I was in Target today getting some skincare in the Ulta section and there was like a nine year old girl seemingly alone with an arm full of Pacifica. I had to ??? and step around her while she ogled acid treatments. Big wtf from me. I couldn't even be assed to wash my face reliably until I was 30!

Yes. My 10 and 14 y.o. nieces spend their Christmas/birthday money on DRUNK ELEPHANT stuff. I don't even buy Drunk Elephant!!

When I was 11, we were really into using the Clinique skincare set and St. Ives apricot scrub. We were into using what was trendy.

Retinols and other actives are inappropriate for young skin, but pre-teens wanting the trendy product isn't new. Just what product is currently in changes.

That being said, I'm glad the Sephora employee denied the purchase.

I’m a teacher. Last year my 6th graders were writing argumentative essays. One girl wrote her entire paper arguing that Drunk Elephant was the best skin care company. The obsession is wild.

I was until I realized I'd use all my mom's Estee Lauder starting at like age 12, lol. I guess none of that stuff had active ingredients though. I take that back, I used Stridex and Noxzema, which have actives.

I loved playing around with skincare starting when I was like, 10, when I read American Girl books that had homemade mask recipes. Then it was Noxzema and St Ive’s. I think the reason they’re so into “adult” skincare is simply because of their access to social media. They’re following and watching adult content with no filter. And it looks fun and pretty because they want to be these people.

Social media either needs to get more restrictive with the algorithms and the content they allow children to see OR (more realistically) parents need to stop giving their kids access to it before they’re 13. I said what I said.

I’m glad they denied it to her. I’m sure these preteens are seeing recs for retinol serums on TikTok but don’t fully have the understanding and level of responsibility yet to realize they would NEED to use sunscreen diligently, and so by using them they’re probably doing more damage than good by making themselves more photosensitive. Not to mention the body dysmorphia at play for such young girls to even think they need a retinol in the first place.

Wait until these children grow up, move out and are trying to live on their own for the first time - they’re used to HIGH end skincare and they probably won’t be able to afford it anymore. It’ll be a real shock for sure

Or the parents will just continue to buy for them 🥲

I didn't see any of them look at makeup which seems like the opposite of how things were when I was their age.

This is why I'm not concerned. It's just a variation of the same phenomena, but culturally right now we seem to emphasize skincare more than makeup. 

I can't even panic about kids ruining their skin cause I was putting lemon and baking soda and toothpaste and sea breeze with no moisturizer. I was abusing my skin like crazy. I didn't die, I'm fine, I grew past it 

Not really. Most of the stuff is placebo junk anyway.

My tween is one of these girls. I don't let her use retinol or Vit C or anything harsh as she has no acne issues yet but I'm fine with her Bubly cleanser and sunscreen and fun makeup. She's better at makeup than I am already and I see it as a form of self expression. She's not trying to look like a beauty queen or look cute for boys, she will use sparkly shades and draw little pictures on her cheeks. My boomer mom was critical and awful about my appearance so I try to walk the line between making sure she's doing it bc it's fun and not making remarks about her appearance that will stay with her for the rest of her life. Most of what she uses are samples I get from my Ulta orders. I'll spend money on Bubly and fragrance for her but nothing crazy. She has definitely asked for Drunk Elephant but girl did her research and assured me she'd found a tiktok account that told which products are safe for tweens but I still said no to that one 🤣

I've mentioned this elsewhere but I've read and seen the phenomenon of 25 year olds using botox so they can keep looking 16. Social Media is really doing terrible things to people's brains.

This is more of an issue with social media. How companies work with social media companies to get influencers to target and sell products to certain demographics. In this particular case look at the companies doing this, one is Drunk Elephant. A very high end and overpriced product that many dollar minded 30+ year olds know isn’t worth it. You can get better results with simpler products. So as the company sales dropped the company realised they need to target a younger more impressionable demographic. So they set up and pay these baby influencers to “try” and reccomend drunk elephant products to 11 year olds.

The parents that aren’t checking what these kids are watching and are enabling this are also a big issue.

Yes, but HOW ON EARTH DO THEY PAY FOR IT!!?? Golly gee Marie, ppl repeat after me, (clear my throat)

N O, NO, NO.

They think they need those products because the early-20s TikTok influencers they idolize are telling them they need it….because those influencers are paid to do so.

These kids gonna be learning the hard way about over exfoliating.

ugh. Being a woman is so capitalism-ly fucking stupid... If they can invent another way to hate yourself so they can sell you the solution, they will. shit disney created tweens to sell sex earlier <looks at Nickelodeon>

I wish I would’ve known about skin care when I was that age. My mom didn’t tell me about skin care or anything. But of course I’m genx. So my mom really didn’t know herself. I think my dad knew more than her. He used oil of olay on his face every nite faithfully. I wish I would’ve followed my dad’s footsteps.

I’m a teacher and my second grade students often talk about skincare. That’s all the girls ever talk about. They don’t want toys, dolls, etc. it’s very scary. I’m only 26 and I asked one of my students if she learned to braid hair by practicing on Barbie’s and she was like “ew, what do you think this is the 80’s?” I was floored. She remarked to me that all she does when she gets home is go on her iPad/phone. Very scary world we are bringing up kids in. Especially when parents are not seeing the effects of social media/screen time on these very impressionable kiddos.

I'm gonna be honest. That's on parents (and in my case older siblings).

My sister is 13, and her allowance is 20$ every two weeks. This leads me to question how these kids are buying this stuff?

She can't drive. Someone has to take her to buy these products at Sephora, Ulta. Target, etc. How are these kids getting to these places to even buy it? Someone's taking them.

Why do you not watch your kids and what they're purchasing? In my little bits case, I'm the one who buys her skincare, I know what she's using , and we talk about what works, what doesn't , nd how to tell. Why aren't these parents doing the same. Why aren't they in Sephora with their kids? 96% of these kids look too young to be trencking around the mall alone anyway.

My point is people need to take active role in watching, monitoring their children as well as an interest in their lives.

Yes, I heard an NPR report on this. It basically said a lot of kids (mostly girls, obvs) are using way too many different product, at too young an age, with little to no understanding of how the various compounds interact with each other. They're being sold a lot of expensive products that could actually cause more harm than good, and there is no regulation whatsoever addressing the issue.

My 10 year old niece asked me for a mini skincare fridge for Christmas just gone and I was gobsmacked.

We all damaged our skin when we were young. I RELIGIOUSLY used Oxy pads so I can’t say shit.

Social media and primarily TikTok are the big factors here- kids are having more access to adult content than ever before. But ultimately that’s a parenting issue.

It’s crazy too bc drunk elephant sucks, esp for the price point.

Just in regards to your edit about aggressive comments. If someone needs to treat a skin condition, they should go to a doctor not Sephora. So if anyone is criticizing you for your take, they obviously lack critical thinking skills.

I am going through this with my 8 year old daughter at the moment. She goes to a ‘quiet’ girls only catholic school in london - which is full of bitchy girls , drama, fall outs, twerking (yes, they all want to be like nicki minage !!!) and skincare… It’s not alll the girls in her class, but half. The other half are still into long pretty party dresses, pig tails and barbie dolls- as it should be . I find the problem is older girl siblings - always have the tik toks and full access to internet and youtube … this is influencing the younger siblings who look up to the older girls as being super cool with their crop tops and stanley cups. And then they influence their friendship groups. My daughter does still play with stickers, slime and age appropriate things but… i see a huge change with she’s around other girls esp those ones who are way older than their years. She looks upto those girls (they are usually more confident) and wants to fit in …

My cousin’s little girl is SUPER into skincare since it’s “the trend”, but my cousin thankfully found a good, kid-friendly brand of skincare to get her, so I think it’s cute, and it has the benefit of keeping her skin healthy.

Maybe I’m missing something, since my second cousin is being raised well and she’s the only person in that age bracket that I know, but the skincare doesn’t seem to be rooted in self-esteem issues or anything weird.

I used to buy my mom her favorite Clinique face lotion for Mother’s Day or her birthday. My dad thought anything other than Oil of Olay or Vaseline was wasteful and vain.

Only once was I denied and had to tearfully tell her why I didn’t her gift (I usually timed it to their free rewards do she’d get the little trial makeup too). She Karened that poor clerk into giving her two trial kits when she took me to buy it that year.

The power of tiktok is wild. My country does not even have Sephoras, but still many tweens know the concept of a Sephora haul. An acquaintance of mine went to a place that has Sephora with her family for a holiday, and let her tween daughter to have a Sephora haul for her birthday and filmed it to instagram. The girl picked up something from Drunk Elephant and was very hyped up and explained why she needs these products with the exactly same terms and tone of voice that influencers do. Not sure how I felt about that even, it was just strange to see a child to do this.

I guess it can be just harmless to try out correct products, and SPF and moisturizer won’t harm anyone. But somehow the speed these trends travel around the globe is astonishing these days.

Me, a 40-something, can’t use the Drunk Elephant retinol. It made my skin peel off in huge chunks. I don’t have a kid, but if I had, I wouldn’t let them use that product…

I listened to my 14-year-old niece and her cousins (twin girls, probably 12?) laughing about someone who dared to have some Drunk Elephant product in a sample size. Wtf!?

Kids today are a little over the top but I wish when I was a kid our parents knew more. My mom let me sit out in the sun for hours and she used to use one of those sun magnifying screens and baby oil. Lol. I remember tanning beds as soon as I was old enough. I know better now.

I'd be more concerned about my child shopping at overpriced Sephora.

It's great to be concerned about maintaining healthy skin, even for a 5th grader. I'd be proud of my daughter for worrying more about healthy skin than makeup.

Sunscreen is safe and vit C is safe even for pregnant women. The systemic effect of topical vit C serum is basically nothing compared to the amount of vit C from a glass of orange juice unless there's something that I don't know.

Retinol is NOT healthy for fetuses of course, but dermatologists literally prescribe tretinoin to 5th graders, which is WAY stronger than retinol. Still, I'd advise against the retinol for a 5th grader unless they consult a professional first (by professional, I mean a dermatologist, not a Sephora professional).

I find it strange that the parents aren’t at least trying to influence the purchases to items that are more appropriate for their skin. What I see in Sephora is never a negotiation of not that, try this

I wanted to obsess with skincare as a kid, and would have if I had the opportunity. I think it’s normal behavior amplified by social media.

Better question, why are the parents funding it?

My 8-yo daughter expressed interest in washing her face, so I took the opportunity to educate her and bought her Cetaphil wash and a sunscreen moisturizer. She already had Carmex for her lips. I explained why she doesn’t need more right now and educated her a bit, and she seemed content with those answers. Then in a week or two she forgot about her face routine (darn adhd lol). I think parents are just so quick to say yes and give into whatever, instead of educating their children and saying no every now and again. When I was at the age that I started being interested in makeup, my mom took me to Clinique and bought me a few good-quality products that were safe and suited for my face, and it set me up for a life of taking care of my face and using quality products. Anyways, more education from parents and more “controls” would go a long way. The advertising and media is there, so we have to do our part. Young kids also don’t need to watch Tiktok videos but that’s another story…

Absolutely ridiculous that children are thinking they need retinoids, Drunk Elephant, etc. Thanks, consumer capitalism gone awry. This just proves how powerful social media is.

I don’t care about other peoples kids using skincare. I don’t think Sephora should deny them either. It’s the parents’ job to control what their kids buy—if they don’t have a problem, that’s on them. I think the real problem is children on social media. There is no reason a 10 year old should have social media or be following 20+ year old women in the first place.

I feel like what is happening now with these young girls wasn’t far off from what happened to me 20 years ago. It all started with my mom going to one of those MLM beauty brand parties of the early 00s. She bought into the skincare routine. I wanted to take care of my skin too, but I figured I needed the acne line to… prevent it I guess? But I didn’t even have acne at that point in time. I was like 12. Well I got it and started it. Was religious about washing my face. Not too much later, I do get acne. Fast forward to having acne the entirety of my teen years, into almost all of my 20s. It wasn’t until I turned 30 that I came to the realization that my skin does not like salicylic acid, which is what is in all the acne skincare. So now I firmly believe I had blemishes for most of my life due to messing up my skin barrier with “acne” skincare.

I started using face wash and a light moisturizer at nine. Always used sunscreen and wore a hat when outside. I was judged a late bloomer for not wearing make until I was sixteen, and then not consistently. But started using a night cream in addition to my regular routine. I still don't like wearing makeup.

My sister who's only fourteen months older than me started wearing makeup in the third grade. She would often fall asleep with her makeup on only to scrub it off in the morning and reapplying before school. She didn't start a cleaning routine until she was eighteen. She didn't start using moisturizer until she was thirty.

When people meet us for the first time they often think she's ten to fifteen years older than me. We've lived pretty much similar lives skin care is the only difference I'm fourtysix and people think I'm in my thirty's, she's fourtyseven and people think she's pushing sixty.

I’m a weirdo who got into skincare around 10 or 11 and after watching a daytime tv show like The View where woman sat around and chatted about normal things. They started taking about skincare for women, I think they were in their 40’s, and a couple of them said it was never too soon to start moisturizing so I demanded my mother buy me something. The options weren’t great back then and I got Oil of Olay, a pink lotion that I’m not even sure they still sell these days on account of the thousands of other products they sell under the Oil of Olay brand. I have to admit I’m almost 64 and have very few wrinkles so if they are moisturizing fine, but the other stuff is not fine and these children need to realize what they are watching on TikTok is not always age appropriate.

Do people know the chemicals that are in these products and how harmful they can be.

Honestly, I wish skin care had been more than St.Ives when I was growing up. I had horrible skin and terrible self esteem to match. Offering teens information and products that improve their skin is a miracle. The anti aging stuff is unnecessary but them caring for their skin young will help it in the long term. They won’t be in their mid twenties with acne scars, in their 30s with premature aging. More people than ever probably wear facial sunscreen too. With the positives of course come the negatives, but when I was a teen we were just as obsessed with our skin, we just had no availability or access unless you were fortunate enough to have a dermatologist.

Yea skin care is one thing, but retinol? Their skin is still intact! Lol

The most I got as a teen was Clinique for my acne.

These young girls just need to moisturize and wear spf.

I wish they were into sunscreen as much as retinol. I am all for skincare but it has to be appropriate to the user. And hod I sound old here but where are the parents? Mixing the wrong products is a dermatologist bill in the making.

Part of me says this is about learning the consequences of your actions and says stop protecting them, they’re clearly not listening and will learn the hard way.

Part of me does not care.

A small part of me feels really bad for the girls on the fringe of this who can’t afford the makeup and skincare and don’t have someone at home keeping their head straight while all their other friends fall down this rabbit hole of consumerism.

Twenty years ago I was a skincare tween playing with product and doing research. It's not unhealthy to want to learn more about your skin at a young age and buy what you want to continue that exploration. Education over withholding /discouragement I say. 

Heavy marketing on social media. My twelve-year-old always jokes about those “10-year-old Tik Tok kids in Sephora with their Stanley cups, obsessed with Drunk Elephant, trying to buy retinol.” But guess who lost her damn mind when she came with me to Sephora and saw the Drunk Elephant display. (I mean, she’s not allowed on Tik Tok, but she’s getting the same marketing through YouTube and her friends.)

Being a mom of a tween, it is FASCINATING (when it’s not terrifying) how kids that age can be sponges for all the marketing that’s out there. I’m glad my kid talks to me about skincare so I know she won’t make unsafe choices when she’s with her friends. Just say no to retinol kids (at least for a couple of decades).

No not worried, as a kid and teen I had these interests and only had lame Proactive or horrible products like St Ives. Good for them let’s kids and girls get into what they want.

Not really. It’s never too early to start self care routines and form those habits. However, younger people should be steered toward what will actually benefit them at their level of need.

Honestly that’s about the age my acne started and I ended up with horrible drying acne scrubs (yall remember, the “you know it’s working if it burns like fire” stuff). I have trouble imagining they’re going to do more harm to their skin than I did picking stuff up at the drug store.

I definitely think there’s a certain group that are taking it too far! I’m just not sure this is a new thing, actually.

I also agree with other commenters that the marketing of high active % products to kids needs to stop. Wasn’t there a unicorn face mask that burned a bunch of kids faces a few years ago?

I was totally this kid in the early 00s, I remember my friend telling me "you don't need age defying" in the meanest tone when I was wondering why my face was breaking out after using my mom's stuff. I think teen girls are just gonna teen girl.

It’s super concerning because of the fear of anti aging and obsession with looks/faces.

I have a ten year old and a seven year old, I literally just started making them wash their faces with soap! lol! Their whole lives so far I’ve just used warm washcloths. I think it’s very sad/disturbing. My kids aren’t on social media or the internet so they’re not aware of skincare… other than me occasionally making tjrm use some face lotion in the winter.

This trend is so sad. Let kids be kids! I can’t stand how society (and parents!!) are racing through kids’ childhoods and not letting them be littke.

Someone should just steer her toward some sunscreen. That’s really the best thing she can do for anti aging at that age

I developed acne at 11. I wish I had known to buy retinol at that age! I did all the Clean&Clear lineup, Stridex, Proactive, the works. Nothing helped. Twenty years of acne and then I tried retinol and had literal overnight results. 

I really think people need to stop freaking out about preteens buying skincare, retinol and Vitamin C aren't going to hurt them. Vitamin C especially can only help.

I have never heard of stores denying products with retinoids in them to teens. It's not a controlled substance and it is a highly effective product for acne.

This take gets posted nearly every week here and there seems to be a large amount of posters who don't understand that the medical use of retinol/tretinoin is to treat acne. Which many teenagers struggle with. It is very commonly prescribed to teens with acne that does not respond to OTC products. Retinol is the watered down OTC version of tretinoin. There is nothing wrong with trying the gentler product before moving to prescription.

I have been on prescription tretinoin since I was a teen, which is much stronger than any over the counter retinol. It does NOT damage your skin. That salesperson overstepped their bounds and have advice which is blatantly wrong. For all they know the child's dermatologist recommended an OTC retinol before moving to prescription tretinoin. It's none of their business though.