Little Girls Are Harming Their Skin With Anti-Aging Products
We're talking 8-year-olds. This one breaks my heart...it's completely crazy. I'm starting to really hate the Internet.
In 2023, Sephora became the top beauty retailer for Gen Z (those under age 25), beating Ulta in a race to get them faster and younger, hoping for a lifetime user. FWIW, Google AI says Sephora.com “doesn't have public age restrictions for customers, but malls and shopping centers that have Sephora stores may have their own policies.”
Color me not reassured.
An article in Forbes Women shows how teen ‘skinfluencers’ are reaching kids as young as eight who think their skin somehow needs highly irritating products for wrinkles these kids just don’t have. “When kids use anti-aging skin care, they can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring.”
Read it and weep. The good news? Besides the obvious—getting these little ones off social media—the article also includes ways to protect young girls from anti-aging products, including legal efforts. Also see an excellent Forbes Women article on 3 ways Parents Protect Kids From Social Media’s Mental Health Effects.
While that picture in your social preview looks extreme (how old is she, 6? 7?), this is reality. I was in Ulta a couple of months ago and, in typical Shelby fashion, started talking with the woman working there.
I asked her what her biggest challenge was right now, and she said, "Mothers who bring their daughters in for anti-aging skincare." She had someone come in the week before and told the mother, "Can you at least wait until she starts her period?"
I've stopped shopping at Sephora. Teens have taken over Sephora. And, while I was a makeup-obsessed teen, too, I can assure you I wasn't spending $36 on mascara.
I'm also disgusted by the names these makeup companies call their products, knowing that teen girls are shopping for them. Better Than Sex? Orgasm. The Afterglow Collection. I've stopped buying Nars, Too Faced, and any other brand that labels their products this way.