anti-aging creams popular with teenage girls are too aggressive for young skin

Young schoolgirls, the “Sephora kids”, reproduce the actions of adult beauty influencers when it comes to using cosmetic creams. It is not without risk, warn dermatologists.

Pre-teen girls under 14, nicknamed “Sephora kids”, addicted to beauty products, are filmed on social networks generously applying successive layers of anti-wrinkle creams, anti-dark circles gel, plumping or mattifying serums to their faces… This phenomenon has been popularized in the United States, and it is also arriving in France. You can see this by typing “skin care routine”, ritual for the skin, in a search engine.

These products are actually intended for adults. In adolescence, anti-wrinkle or anti-bags under the eyes are not really useful. These are products designed for mature skin. On the contrary, they can trigger skin irritations, especially if they contain active ingredients such as glycolic acid, retinol, or certain forms of hyaluronic acid, underlines Doctor Marie Jourdan, dermatologist in Paris. On young skin, these substances attack the epidermis, and can trigger redness or even burns.

Certain preservatives or perfumes can also be poorly tolerated by fragile skin and trigger contact allergies. Even though the cosmetics market is highly regulated: using these products on adolescent skin is a misuse.

Teenage girls want to take care of their skin

For dermatologists, during adolescence, it is possible to take care of your skin with a simple moisturizer and sun protection in summer, and possibly with acne treatment if necessary. At this age, that’s enough. It should also be remembered that certain cosmetic products also contain substances classified as endocrine disruptors. They can interfere with the hormonal system. They are suspected of influencing growth, neurodevelopment, and even fertility. Layering layers of cosmetics on a daily basis from adolescence can lead to a cocktail effect, the long-term consequences of which are unknown.