As children and young teenagers increasingly adopt the glamorous skin care routines of social media influencers in the so-called ‘Sephora kids’ trend, dermatologists are raising red flags about the potential harm lurking beneath the surface.
The fad known as the ‘Sephora Kids’ has gained popularity on social media, featuring young girls and boys eagerly flocking to Sephora shelves and then sharing intricately detailed skin care routine videos. The trend has also gained videos of retailers and shoppers complaining about the presence of young children in these cosmetic stores.Some videos show children, as young as four years old, accompanying their mothers to Sephora, where they eagerly select different skin care products. One TikTok account, called Garza Crew, has gained popularity, with over 4.8 million followers, where seven-year-old twins Koti and Haven post ‘Get-Ready-With-Me videos‘ showing them using products like toners, facial sprays and peptide serums.
Dr. Renita Ahluwalia, a lead dermatologist at the Canadian Dermatology and Plastic Surgery Centre in Toronto, said she is pleased young people are interested in skin care products and hopes through proper education they can establish healthy habits.
But there are ingredients in some of these products that harm kids’ skin, such as retinol, exfoliating acids and fragrance, which can damage the skin barrier, she said.
“The problem is when they use a whole bunch of different products that are not designed for young skin, and especially when they’re combining them because they’re doing 10 steps,” Ahluwalia told Global News.
“The risk of irritation and breakdown of the skin barrier and causing dermatitis and acne, which already young people are dealing with as their hormones shift and change. So there are a lot of areas where they can run into trouble.”