Dermatologists are sounding the alarm
Tiktok influencers make children keen on anti-wrinkle cream
March 2, 2024, 11:54 a.m
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Influencers are authorities, especially for children. They make the little ones want all kinds of products. However, it becomes irritating when eight-year-olds suddenly beg their parents for anti-wrinkle cream. Dermatologists are sounding the alarm, but even the profiting companies aren’t happy.
Little girls rave about moisturizer and beg their parents to buy them anti-wrinkle cream. Children’s cosmetic videos are taking over Tiktok, with thousands following elementary school students on the platform in the USA alone. The trend focuses primarily on products from the French brand Sephora, which is why the trend gets its name: Doctors warn about the health and psychological consequences for the “Sephora Kids”.
In the clips, eight to twelve year olds pose in front of the mirror with their hair tied back tightly and imitate make-up tutorials by showing off their new cosmetic products. Like prominent beauty influencers, the “Sephora kids” test products from luxury brands, such as moisturizers for $76 (70 euros). “How can these little girls spend so much on skin care?” a Sephora saleswoman commented on the children’s clips on Tiktok.
Dermatologists do not believe in using creams and lotions on children’s skin. Ingredients such as retinol are completely unsuitable for them. The US dermatologist Danilo Del Campo sees the consequences in his practice. “Visits to the doctor because of skin reactions caused by incorrect use of products have increased,” he says. “Many of the influencers are more trusted than doctors. And most parents are not aware of the risks.”
Girls think they have to correct blemishes
The doctor isn’t just concerned about the damaged skin. Some girls also suffered from low self-esteem. “They think they have to correct cosmetic defects that actually don’t exist,” says Del Campo of his experiences with the children.
The saleswomen in the Sephora stores are also not happy about the new young customers. In videos they show vandalized dressing tables with spilled products. The company, which belongs to the luxury group LVMH, did not respond to inquiries from the AFP news agency.
Some mothers see their girls’ videos as a harmless game. The psychoanalyst Michael Stora, who specializes in online behavior, accuses parents of using such videos to turn their children into fetishes. The girls in the videos “don’t play with dolls like you would expect at their age – they are the dolls,” he says.
For her part, Solène Delecourt from the University of Berkeley, California, criticizes that the clips “contribute to a very stereotypical portrayal of girls and women on the Internet.” Delecourt researches social inequality and published a study in the journal Nature in February that found online images increase gender bias, particularly against women. The “Sephora Kids” videos worry them all the more. “This is not about women, but about little girls who are already subject to these strong social pressures,” says Delecourt.