Forget about dolls, tea parties, and dress-up games. With luxury skin care products becoming the latest fad, there is a viral new trend that is causing controversy among young girls.
Tweens share their makeup and skincare routines on social media, often referred to as “Get Ready With Me” videos, featuring favorite products from luxury brands like Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, and Charlotte Tilbury. are often offered at a high price. 100 dollars.
“Impact x Nightline,” an episode now available on Hulu, explores this trend and the concerns it raises.
Many of these “Alpha Generation” members, young people between the ages of 7 and 15, were crowding beauty retailers like Sephora and Ulta Beauty, where some customers and employees destroyed sample items. are blaming them for this. The teenagers are scooping up popular high-end skin care products, much to the annoyance of adult customers who have complained online about the treatment of inexperienced consumers.
“Why aren’t these kids at school in the middle of Thursday? Whose mom is buying this?” one social media user posted after visiting a cosmetics retailer.
However, some parents defended their teens, with one mother posting on social media: “My daughter is empathetic and has good grades. If she wants to spend her hard-earned money to go to Sephora… ” he posted. […] I’ll let her do it. ”
Adrea Garza, a mother and social media influencer, has been posting videos of her 7-year-old twin girls, Coty and Haven, on her TikTok account for years. Garza Crew has become a huge hit with her beauty content, gaining her nearly 5 million followers. There, Haven and Koti often show off their skincare accomplishments and post their routines in the popular “Get Ready With Me” trend.
“My first memory with makeup was definitely just looking at my mom and wanting to emulate her and just having fun and playing around, and I think Coty and Heaven are exactly the same,” Garza said. Told.
But Garza and her girls aren’t immune to criticism for their videos. She wasn’t worried about her twins being affected by their reactions to her videos, but she admitted that she became more worried when they started learning to read.
“I want to protect them from the very untrue, disgusting, mean things that people say, but at the same time I don’t want them to live in a bubble,” she said.
Garza, who has helped her daughters secure brand deals, argues that every generation has worried about what causes children to grow up too quickly.
She said that because of her daughters’ videos, her daughters are “financially better off than most people ever get in life.”
“I want to just lock away the innocence of my children and keep it forever, never letting them spread their wings and grow up,” Garza said. “But at the same time, I can’t wait for them to spread their wings and grow.”
The Garzas and other small influencers may be attracting millions of clicks and lucrative deals with big beauty brands, but some parents and experts say these skin care routines are Many have questioned whether it is safe for young skin and expressed concern.
Dr. Claire Wolinsky, a New York City dermatologist and influencer, told Impact that she thinks extensive routines are “almost unnecessary.”
“I don’t think I need this much skin care,” she said. “I think firstly, it’s a financial burden, and secondly, the more you use the product, the more it can irritate your skin.”
Regarding concerns from some parents about ingredients used in children’s beauty products, such as retinol and glycolic acid, Wolinsky said that while these products are unlikely to cause long-term damage, they are harmful to young skin. He advised against using it.
“I really don’t think we need to worry about systemic effects. I mean, what you put on your skin gets into your bloodstream and causes horrible side effects down the road. I don’t think we should worry about it.” “It’s frustrating,” she said.
In December, skincare brand Drunk Elephant released a statement on its Instagram page saying, “Many of our products are designed for all skin types, including children and teens.”
The statement further said that young consumers should “avoid stronger products containing acids and retinol.”
Ashley Fell, a social researcher at McCrindle University who has been studying Generation Alpha (children born between 2010 and the end of 2024) for more than a decade, says this generation’s early access to social resources makes them more likely to stay ahead of the curve. He told Impact that he has more influence than his generation. The media and the ability to convince parents to spend money on you.
“They are a very powerful generation. That’s why we say they have purchasing power beyond their age and beyond their income, and right now that’s very little,” she said.
Now that Gen Alpha’s enormous purchasing power has become apparent, it’s no wonder some beauty companies are catching their attention.
New entrants to the industry, such as Bubble and TWiISH, are now selling products made specifically with Tween consumers in mind.
“At its core, beauty is fun, and for them, beauty is a means of exploration,” said Faith Xue, executive beauty director at Bustle Digital Group. “And it’s like their version of going into your mom’s makeup shelf, except it’s a Sephora store instead. It’s the element of discovery.”
Ms Xue hit back at criticism of young girls’ elaborate skincare routines, arguing that this is their way of expression and self-discovery.
Meanwhile, mental health experts have expressed concern about the potential dangers of girls placing too much emphasis on appearance at such a young age.
“When you’re in a situation where you’re being told how to put on makeup or how to put on makeup to look like everyone else, you end up focusing on the wrong things. It becomes almost an obsession and you’re exposed to these messages. And that may not be healthy,” psychologist Jeff Gardere told Impact.