Are 10 Year Olds Taking Over Sephora?
Introduction
Imagine this: You’re browsing the aisles of Sephora when you spot a skincare serum that you’ve been meaning to get. It’s the last one. As soon as you reach over to grab it, a girl about the age of 10 or 11 snatches it before you can, claiming she needs it more than you. What would you do?
Social Media & Influencers
All throughout TikTok, stories of tween girls invading Sephora stores are rapidly emerging. We’re noticing testers being broken or destroyed, and more pre-teens begging their mothers for hundreds of dollars worth of skincare and makeup. Some users are even claiming that the kids are not only rude to workers but other customers as well. While it’s normal for us to experiment with beauty products as we get older, many adults are saying they grew up using drugstore makeup or going to stores catered specifically to tweens.
As more customers are sharing their negative experiences, people are quick to pinpoint the culprit behind this phenomenon: social media and influencer culture. This idea of needing to be grown up at a young age can be seen in your everyday ‘Get Ready with Me’ videos or beauty routines. Influencers giving the spotlight to some of their favorite products can also have an indirect effect on the younger demographic, causing them to purchase the same, viral products. Social media has taught preteens to fear aging while simultaneously pushing them to act older. Unfortunately, these pre-teens are feeling a lot of pressure from their peers and what they see in the media to conform to an adult-like beauty standard. And while this is true, we also can’t help but wonder: Where are the parents?
Skincare for Tweens
Despite the uptick in sales, young people were warned against using products they see on the shelves of Sephora. Most of these skincare lines are meant for adults, containing ingredients like retinol or alpha hydroxy acid. It’s just not formulated for young people's skin. According to experts, tweens should opt for gentler products instead. Using multiple products and having an extensive skincare routine is only setting their skin up for disaster. Just because that bottle of moisturizer is $80 doesn’t mean it’s the best product for you.
What Should We Do?
As more kids are destroying Sephora stores, shoppers have been throwing out possible solutions in an attempt to stop this madness. Some people have suggested getting rid of testers altogether, and only getting to use it when asked. Others jokingly said we should start ID’ing customers that enter the store.
While a majority of shoppers are against tweens shopping at Sephora, there are those who argue that these kids should be allowed to. “We’re witnessing the death of the tween age.” People are pointing out that tweens nowadays don’t have the resources that we had growing up. Places like Claire’s or Justice are basically almost gone, and kids are no longer kids anymore because there’s no space for them to be one. Whose side are you on?
