Young girls are buying up expensive Sephora beauty products, even if they know they don’t “need” it.
Experts say there are no proven benefits of using “anti-aging” products at a young age, and that these products can actually introduce skin problems.
“With filters, people don’t really seem to realize what skin looks like,” says cosmetic chemist Michelle Wong.
Wong, who debunks skin myths on social media as @labmuffinbeautyscience and was a Reddit moderator, says she sees people post photos of normal skin that might have a pore and ask, “How do I get rid of this awful texture?”
But some skin care marketing ingrained in culture — and particularly social media — aims to solve for skin issues that don’t exist.
The idea that young people are exploring beauty products geared for adults isn’t new.
Between the lines: An 11-year-old’s skin is different from — and doesn’t have the same needs as — the skin of 20-somethings or older.
Younger skin has plenty of collagen and fast cell turnover (when new skin cells replace dead cells), and hasn’t accumulated much damage.
“All the Drunk Elephant products like vitamin C, the toner, the retinol — those are all unnecessary [for preteens],” says Nazanin Saedi, dermatologist and associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University.
And more expensive skin care isn’t necessarily better for your skin. Gentle, highly-researched products often available in drug stores — like CeraVe and Cetaphil — are likely a better bet for tweens, Saedi says.
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