In the past year I have noticed an alarmingly high amount of girls younger than high school age on TikTok showing their makeup and skincare routines. Instead of playing with friends, or saving up money for new toys, these kids are going into fancy makeup stores and spending money on products they don’t need. Not only can that be damaging to a young person’s skin, but a large waste of money and time.
Now if these kids were using play makeup such as eyeshadow and lipgloss, it may not be viewed as such a problem. Experimentation with makeup is normal, but not on this level. These young kids are buying makeup and skincare from high end makeup stores. They invest their money in expensive brands such as Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe and Rare Beauty. Some of those products can cost upwards of $50 for a single item.
So, whether parents or the kids themselves are spending money for those things, it is a waste.
An important aspect of why using skincare products at a young age is harmful is the unnecessary physical problems it can cause. Harsh chemicals like retinoids and hydroxy acids are made for more aged skin, so when those products are introduced to young skin they can lead to rashes, irritation, and even acne. Another physical effect is how it alters the natural skin cycle.
Dermatologist Dr. Abigail Waldman expressed her professional concern about this subject. She explained that when you are a child, your skin is working exactly the way it is supposed to and doesn’t require expensive makeup and other products. Everything that these kids are buying in skincare is already happening in their natural skin cycle.
Children’s skin is thin and fragile, so when introduced to harsh chemicals, it can cause premature skin damage, which is the total opposite of what the user is trying to achieve. Many of these kids are subject to misleading information that skincare is a cure-all comes from social media.
People like to say Gen Z is spoiled and addicted to technology, but the real problem users are Gen Alpha. When I was younger, I spent my time immersed in the world of Barbies and make- believe. I couldn’t care less whether people thought I was pretty or not.
But I can not count how many times I have walked into restaurants and seen kids sitting at the table with iPads and phones, instead of socializing with family or coloring on a paper menu. The time they could be playing outside with friends and bonding with family is spent on social media, where they learn harmful lessons about appearance and body image instead of learning helpful lessons.
The things seen on social media feed into the need to buy products that make you more attractive, or a more desirable body type. But, what kid’s can’t understand is that social media is fake. A seven year old doesn’t understand that one skincare product isn’t going to prevent you from having skin difficulties in the future. They don’t have the tools to comprehend that.
Gen Z started to get more advanced technology at a slightly older age, around 12 and 13, so the messages about body image and appearance have been learned from other places.
Not that social media isn’t also harmful to Gen Z, but the Gen Alpha kids are more susceptible when receiving these damaging ideals. They are at a significantly younger age and at a time in their life when learning about the world is so crucial.
These kids are in such a rush to grow up and become attractive because of the people they see on Instagram and Tiktok.
Unhealthy consumerism among young kids now is a large difference between the two generations. Looking back on it myself as someone from Gen Z, I feel bad for the kids who believe everything they see on the internet purely because they are not mature enough to realize it. Instead of spending hours watching makeup tutorials and skincare hauls, they should be worrying about the next book they are going to read, or the next playdate they are going to have. Not how they can make themselves prettier like the adults on their screens.