The day many teenagers and young adults have dreaded, is upon us, iPad kids are growing up- and they are taking over Sephora.
During the holiday season expensive skin care and makeup took over a large amount of Christmas lists for young girls anywhere from age 10 to 12. Stories across social media have arisen of 10, 11 and 12 year-old girls “taking over” Sephora.
The Concerns.
While the average age of girls beginning to wear makeup for the first time is 11-13, these girls were asking for extremely expensive makeup and skincare products such as Drunk Elephant- where moisturizer costs over $60. While Drunk Elephant is a good skin care brand, some of it is not suitable for young skin. Many girls were asking for or pressuring their parents into buying things like anti-aging products, such as retinol which dermatologists say that using retinol under the age of 25 is harmful to skin as is thins the skin and makes young skin more susceptible to UVA rays(UVA rays make up 95% of the UV rays that make it to earth.)
Dermatologists in the UK have seen a similar trend America has seen among young girls. They’ve expressed concerns that because of social media and what is being ingested from the media, pre-teenage girls are obsessed with aging. Many feel like and worry young kids are growing up too fast or trying to grow up too fast. In an interview with The Guardian, London dermatologist, Dr. Anjali Mahto has expressed she’s seen young girls coming in and want or use luxury skin care brands that are made for mature skin and are unsuitable for young skin. Dr. Anjali Mahto voiced her concerns that she’s worried about pre-teens using vitamin C, vitamin A (retinoids) and exfoliating acids like AHAs and BHAs. This is a concern because it can increase the sensitivity of the skin and if used all together can irritate the skin.
Social Media, Pop Culture and How Times Have Changed
Dermatologists, older customers at Sephora and Sephora workers have argued that social media has fueled this new obsession with expensive products and anti-aging skin care. Now a question asked is why do these pre-teens have so much access to social media? There is no hardcore evidence as to why, but many young adults have taken to TikTok to express their opinions on why the younger half of Gen-Z and older half of Gen-Alpha are on social media so young. They blame the iPad. The first iPad came out in 2010 and by 2011- one year after the iPad had been released, studies showed that 39% of 2-4 year olds had access to digital media. These kids have had access to digital media since their whole lives and sometimes without limitations. While some parents set limits for screen time and apps their children have access to, others don’t. Either way just by googling a social media platform one has the accessibility to make or sign into an account.
Not only this, but the younger generation doesn’t have things to idolize or obsessed over or have TV that is specifically geared towards younger generations. Many 14 year-old girls and older will tell you they grew up obsessing over boy bands such as One Direction or solo artists like Justin Beiber. Instead they obsess over older male celebrities whose content and music is not made specifically for younger generations. There are no boy bands taking over the hearts of young girls anymore. As well as this, there are no young female stars like the old half of Gen-Z watched growing up such as Sabrina Carpenter, Ashley Tisdale, Miley Cirus, ect… for young girls to idolize. Disney JR and Disney XD, something many Gen-Zers grew up watching- are both no longer in service as Disney+ exists now. While all old shows and movies from Disney JR and Disney XD are on Disney+ there are no new shows that are made for the interests of and are targeted both boys and girls who are pre-teens.
How Have Pre-Teens “Taken” Over Sephora?
Many TikTok users have taken to social media to express their complaints and disbeliefs of these young girls.
One TikTok user, @hankyute posted a video on TikTok on January 4, 2024 telling a story of her Sephora encounter. She is Korean with a very pale skin tone and expressed she wanted to find something to liven up her face, so she went to Sephora with hopes of buying the Drunk Elephant Bronzing Drops to brighten up her skin. While in Sephora she asks an employee to direct her to the Drunk Elephant section and once she’s there she sees a group of 10-11 year-old girls in the aisle. She asked the girls politely to move so she could get through and she claims the girls refused to move, acting as if it was an inconvenience to move out of the way. The TikToker opts to walk through the group of girls and makes her way over to the product they were blocking when she heard one of the young girls say, “I can see why you need that product. I hope my face doesn’t look like yours when I’m your age.” This is a mildly confusing comment as the TikToker is 20 and has young features. You can tell by the video that the TikToker wasn’t offended, but more taken aback by the comment.
Another user, @natsodrizzy, a Sephora worker named Natalia posted a video on TikTok on January 5, 2024 about an experience she had with a single girl who was maybe 9 or 10. The young girl had walked up to the register and her basket was overflowing with products. SHe wanted to and almost spent $900 on Luxury makeup and perfumes. The young girl had two perfumes on hold and when they were retrieved she asked Natalia to scan the price of them which came out to $300. Natalia was shocked that the young girl was acting like that wasn’t a high enough price and chose to continue to have her scan the other items she had, which ended up coming out to almost $900. When the girls mom and sister came over Natalia learned that her sister had spent $500. The mom freaked out when she learned the price of the young girl Natalia was helping was almost $900.The mom started arguing with the daughter telling her she was not going to spend that much and made her take something out of her bad, resulting in young girl losing her mind and being extremely upset with her mom. After arguing back and forth and the mom getting the daughter to take some stuff out the total was still around $500. Natalia thought it was insane that a parent would let a kid, especially a young 9 or 10 year old, spend that much money on makeup they are too young to be using.
Many TikTokers blame the parents for letting their kids act out in Sephora or for not raising them properly and treating others, including the parents poorly.
