Should children be using beauty face masks? Dermatologists say no, but a growing number of companies are targeting a new generation of kids who have grown up with TikTok skincare and make-up routines.
Drunk Elephant is popular amongst Gen Alpha shoppers – Drunk Elephant
The cosmetics industry and parts of the internet have been abuzz since the launch of Rini earlier this month, a beauty company pitched at children as young as three and backed by Canadian actress Shay Mitchell.
Its bundle of five child hydrating face masks, including “everyday” varieties named Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn, sells for around 35 dollars (30 euros) on its website.
Another growing US-based brand, Evereden, sells products for pre-teens such as face-mists, toners and moisturisers and claims annual sales of over 100 million dollars.
Fifteen-year-old American YouTuber Salish Matter unveiled her brand Sincerely Yours in October, drawing tens of thousands of people- and police reinforcements- to a launch event at a New Jersey mall.
“Children’s skin does not need cosmetics, apart from daily hygiene products- toothpaste and shower gel- and sun cream when there is exposure,” said Laurence Coiffard, a researcher at the University of Nantes in France who co-runs the Cosmetics Watch website.
Child-focused beauty products are part of a broad society-wide trend. Many girls in Gen Alpha- a marketing term for youngsters born between 2010 and 2024- are adopting skincare, make-up, and hair routines more typical of older teenagers or their mothers.
The most precocious have become known as “Sephora Kids”- a reference to the popular French beauty retailer- as they seek to copy popular TikTok or YouTube influencers, some of whom are as young as seven.
Coiffard cited research showing child users of adult cosmetics and creams had a higher risk of developing skin allergies in later life, as well as being exposed to endocrine disruptors and phytoestrogens which can disrupt hormone development.
Molly Hales, an American dermatologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, spent several months posing on TikTok as a girl of 13 who was interested in beauty routines. After creating a profile and liking several videos made by minors, the algorithm of the Chinese-owned site “saturated” her and fellow researcher Sarah Rigali.
The duo went on to watch 100 videos in total from 82 different profiles. In one, a child smeared 14 different products on her face before developing a burning rash. Another showed a girl supposedly rising at 4:30 am to complete her skincare and make-up routine before school.
The most popular videos were titled “Get Ready with Me,” with the routines featuring on average six different products, often including adult anti-ageing creams, with an average combined cost of 168 dollars.
“I was shocked by the scope of what I was seeing in these videos, especially the sheer number of products that these girls were using,” Hales told AFP. Her research was published in US journal Pediatrics in June.
Several “disproportionately represented” brands, such as Glow, Drunk Elephant, or The Ordinary, market themselves as healthy, supposedly natural alternatives to chemical-laden competitors. The top 25 most-viewed videos analysed by Hales contained products with an average of 11 and a maximum of 21 potentially irritating active ingredients for paediatric skin.
The pitch from new child brands such as Rini, Evereden, or Saint Crewe is that they are orienting tweens and teens to more suitable alternatives. “Kids are naturally curious and instead of ignoring that, we can embrace it. With safe, gentle products parents can trust,” Rini co-founder Mitchell told her 35 million Instagram followers.
Hales said she had “mixed feelings” about the emergence of the trend, saying there was a potential benefit of providing less harmful products to young girls. But they are “really not necessary” and “perpetuate a certain standard of beauty, or an expectation around how one needs to care for the health and beauty of the skin by using a very costly and time-intensive daily routine,” she said.
The products risked “steering girls away from better uses of their time, money, and effort,” she added.
Pierre Vabres, a member of the French Society of Dermatology, believes there is also a pernicious psychological effect of exposing children to beauty routines- and then seeking to sell them products. “There’s a risk of giving the child a false image of themselves, even eroticised, in which they are ‘an adult in miniature’ who needs to think about their appearance in order to feel good,” he told journalists in Paris this month.
On Friday, France demanded a series of measures from Shein to demonstrate that the products sold on its website comply with the law, but dropped its initial request for a total three-month suspension of the online platform, which had been based on the sale of child-like sex dolls and prohibited weapons.
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At a hearing before the Paris court, a lawyer representing the state said that Shein must implement controls on its website, including age verification and filtering, to ensure that minors cannot access pornographic content. The state asked the court to impose a suspension of Shein’s marketplace until Shein has provided proof to Arcom, the French communications regulator, that these controls have been implemented.
Shein deactivated its marketplace- where third-party sellers offer their products- in France on November 5, after authorities discovered illegal items for sale, but its site selling Shein-branded clothing remains accessible. The state invoked Article 6.3 of France’s Digital Economy Act, which empowers judges to order measures to prevent or halt harm caused by online content.
“We don’t claim to be here to replace the European Commission,” the state’s lawyer said. “We are not here today to regulate; we are here to prevent harm, in the face of things that are unacceptable.” At the time of writing, the hearing is still ongoing.
In a statement issued last week, the Paris public prosecutor’s office said that a three-month suspension could be deemed “disproportionate” in light of European Court of Human Rights case law if Shein could prove that it had ceased all sales of illegal products. However, the public prosecutor’s office said it “fully supported” the government’s request that Shein provide evidence of the measures taken to stop such sales.
France’s decision comes against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny of Chinese giants such as Shein and Temu under the EU’s Digital Services Act, reflecting concerns about consumer safety, the sale of illegal products, and unfair competition. In the US, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Monday that he was investigating Shein to determine whether the fast-fashion retailer had violated state law relating to unethical labour practices and the sale of dangerous consumer products.
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BasicNet’s Kappa turns back the sporting clock for its new AW25 collection, which celebrates “local heroes in football” with a community-focused campaign “honouring the places and people that inspire a lifelong love of the game”.
Image: Kappa
The campaign shines a light on local talent Tyrone Marsh in his hometown of Bedford, revisiting the streets, pitches and community spots “that shaped his football journey”.
Local photographer Simon Gill, who had pictured Marsh during many home and away games, not only “captures the Bedford Town player in the spaces that helped define his skill”, but also highlights the brand’s “rich football heritage with contemporary streetwear energy, creating visuals that pay tribute to community, culture and grassroots football”.
The journey includes Hartwell Drive, the early days of his after-school kickabouts, Hillgrounds Road, synonymous with Bedford football culture, and then onto Faraday Square, locally identified by the concrete pitches and community spirit.
To reflect that journey, the AW25 collection “offers a sense of nostalgia” with Kappa’s long-standing history in fashion and sports “seen through the Omini logo placements and 222 Banda strip”.
The campaign sees Marsh wearing Kappa styles including the Lyman and Uriah Track Tops paired with the Ulrich Track Pants in classic colourways including navy and light blue.
The wider collection includes track tops, track pants, shorts, polos, sweatshirts and T-shirts, available at select retailers across the UK including 80s Casual Classics, Terraces Menswear and RD1 Clothing.
UK footfall down in November? Blame the Budget and bad weather. Those two important factors damaged shoppers’ desire to venture out, resulting in an albeit slender 0.8% year-on-year dip in footfall last month, with all types of destinations suffering. It was also the seventh consecutive footfall decline, noted the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC)/Sensormatic report
Image: Nigel Taylor
That meant visits to high streets were down 1.2% in November and down from a 0.6% rise in October; shopping centre footfall dipped 1.3% last month, down from a 0.9% dip in October; and retail park visits were down 0.4% in November, but were better than a 0.5% dip in October.
The BRC also noted that November’s Storm Claudia prompted many consumers to search online for Black Friday deals throughout November, leading some to not visit physical stores on Black Friday.
But there was good news, with some northern UK cities – including Manchester and Sheffield – continuing to buck the trend, “recording positive footfall for the eighth consecutive month”.
So with many shoppers holding off on store visits until this month, Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “With the Golden Quarter in full swing, retailers are continuing to invest what they can to entice customers into stores over Christmas.
“However, as we approach the New Year, given the downward trend in footfall across recent years, we need a comprehensive strategy to revitalise our high streets and shopping centres, from better transport, affordable parking, to a reformed planning system to enable faster, better development.”
Andy Sumpter, Retail Consultant EMEA for Sensormatic, added: “November may have been dominated by caution, but there are glimmers of hope. The Golden Quarter isn’t over yet, and with four of our predicted Top Five shopping days still to come, the festive season could deliver the lift retailers need. A last-minute rush may top off the year, turning caution into celebration. With the right balance of value, convenience, and experience, there’s still time to make December count.”
Politics8 years ago