The beauty industry is witnessing a controversial new trend: companies are increasingly targeting young children with skincare and cosmetic products, driven largely by social media platforms like TikTok. This development has sparked serious concerns among dermatologists and child development experts worldwide.
The Rise of Child-Focused Beauty Brands
Earlier this month, Canadian actress Shay Mitchell launched Rini, a beauty company specifically targeting children as young as three years old. The brand markets itself as offering products that parents can trust, with bundles of five hydrating face masks featuring child-friendly designs like Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn selling for approximately $35.
Another prominent player in this emerging market is US-based Evereden, which sells face mists, toners, and moisturizers for pre-teens and claims annual sales exceeding $100 million. The trend gained further momentum in October when fifteen-year-old American YouTuber Salish Matter unveiled her brand Sincerely Yours, attracting tens of thousands of people to a New Jersey mall launch event that required police reinforcements.
Dermatologists Sound the Alarm
Medical experts are expressing serious concerns about this growing trend. Laurence Coiffard, a researcher at the University of Nantes in France who co-runs the Cosmetics Watch website, states clearly: Children's skin does not need cosmetics, apart from daily hygiene products.
According to research cited by Coiffard, child users of adult cosmetics and creams face higher risks of developing skin allergies later in life. These products may also expose children to endocrine disruptors and phytoestrogens that can interfere with normal hormone development.
The phenomenon of Sephora Kids has emerged, referring to Generation Alpha children (born between 2010 and 2024) who are adopting elaborate skincare and makeup routines typically associated with older teenagers or adults. Some influencers promoting these routines are as young as seven years old.
TikTok's Role in Driving the Trend
American dermatologist Molly Hales from Northwestern University conducted revealing research by posing as a 13-year-old girl on TikTok. After creating a profile and engaging with content made by minors, the platform's algorithm saturated her feed with similar content.
Hales and her colleague Sarah Rigali analyzed 100 videos from 82 different profiles, discovering concerning patterns. One video showed a child applying 14 different products before developing a burning rash, while another featured a girl waking at 4:30 AM to complete her skincare and makeup routine before school.
The most popular Get Ready with Me videos featured an average of six different products, often including adult anti-aging creams, with routines costing approximately $168 on average. The top 25 most-viewed videos contained products with an average of 11 potentially irritating active ingredients for pediatric skin.
Psychological Impacts and Industry Response
Pierre Vabres of the French Society of Dermatology highlights the psychological risks, warning that these beauty routines can create a false image of themselves, even eroticised, in which they are an adult in miniature who needs to focus on appearance to feel good.
New child-focused brands argue they're providing safer alternatives. Rini co-founder Shay Mitchell told her 35 million Instagram followers that instead of ignoring children's natural curiosity, we can embrace it with safe, gentle products parents can trust.
However, Hales expresses mixed feelings about this emerging trend. While acknowledging potential benefits of providing less harmful products, she emphasizes that these routines are really not necessary and risk steering girls away from better uses of their time, money, and effort while perpetuating potentially harmful beauty standards.
