Almost immediately after stepping into the new year, the internet was swept with another epidemic, which usually consists of a major climate change event or a brand new celebrity scandal. This time, however, the populous was beginning a conversation about the new generation of kids (Generation Alpha) in the context of beauty stores, the most discussed being Sephora. Discussions about the younger generation have not been new, and they range from concerns over their lack of education to their behavioral and attitude problems. But for some reason, this conversation has come to a climax over the increasing presence of young children in big beauty stores and how much of a problem it is becoming. With a simple search of “sephora ten year olds” on TikTok, there is video after video of all kinds of people ranging from customers to current or ex-employees complaining about kids being in these beauty stores, and almost every single one starts with something like, “I’m so glad we are having this conversation…”. The main issue isn’t with makeup products, however. Instead the majority are taking issue to young children gravitating towards skin care products, for a number of reasons. There is concern over the fact that kids ranging from ages 7-12 years old are after skin care products that they may not need, or that have harsh chemicals that are harmful for their skin. There are complaints over their treatment of said products (specifically messing around with testers) and their behavior with customers who are also trying to buy the same products, as well as their general attitude in the store. There seems to be a lack of control by the parents who are not putting their foot down and are allowing their kids to spend hundreds of dollars on products they shouldn’t need, which is a common observation noted from numerous employees. All of these complaints seem to lead to one question: who is to blame? Should the kids learn to respect both customers and products in the store? Should parents do their research and prevent their kids from blowing money on potentially unnecessary products? Or should the company put age restrictions to resolve the issue for customers? No one is certain, but this conversation reflects the deep concerns that everyone shares regarding the future of the young generation.
the problem
Amongst customers and employees alike, complaints stem from two key issues. One is that the kids are too young to be shopping in these stores. Kids who come in are mainly shopping for skincare products that they don’t need at their age and contain chemicals that are extremely harmful to their skin. This also comes from the second key issue, which is their behavior in stores. Their attitude shows that they have not been taught how to behave in public, shop for products and understand their worth, or how to interact with employees and customers in a retail setting. In order to understand the source of these complaints, let’s look at the stories and opinions that numerous people have shared regarding young kids in beauty stores through a series of TikToks.
Ex-employee Jordyn explained that there was a section of the store called the Beauty Studio, that had been closed off to the general public during COVID. She said that the studio “was reserved exclusively for our makeup artists and aestheticians to do…their paid services.” It was also being graded health wise so it was Jordyn’s job to keep the place clean in case of random checks. However, one day she saw a girl grab a basket full of makeup that she had not paid for, “put the basket of makeup on the counter, and she starts unboxing things.” In Jordyn’s words, “she starts taking her Dior concealer out of the box…and putting it on her f*cking face.”
In her TikTok, a customer named Caroline says that the girls “are rude to the associates, they are rude to other customers, they cut customers off, I have heard little girls scream at their parent…” She had even seen bullying amongst girls in the store because many of them were buying expensive products and they would look down on girls who couldn’t afford the same.
Olivia is an employee at Sephora who had an encounter with a 10-year-old who asked about the Drunk Elephant retinol oil serum. She said that they did, but warned her that “this is a very strong serum. you really probably don’t need it for your young skin.” The girl said that she didn’t care about what she had to say so Olivia led her to the Drunk Elephant section but then tried to tell her again that “this serum is so strong, even I can’t use it because it’s too strong for my skin.” Again the girl disregarded her, but then the mom came in, looked at the serum, and asked if the girl needed it to which she responded, “Oh the worker told me I should get it.” The mom got angry and asked Olivia, “Why are you trying to upsell my daughter?” to which she apologized for the confusion and clarified that she actually advised against it. The mom is still angry and goes around the store with her daughter, and then goes to checkout where Olivia is the cashier. She repeatedly asks if the serum is safe for little girls, and Olivia repeatedly answers that “it’s not really safe for younger skin, retinol is usually for people 25 and older, but I can’t tell you what to do.” Despite this, the mom apologizes for her earlier behavior and continues to buy the serum along with other anti-aging products for her child.
who’s to blame?
Of course when a problem like this arises, everyone’s first instinct is to point fingers in the hopes that someone will take responsibility. Though some of these kids seem to be old enough to know better, many people are blaming their parents for their lack of control over their children. Some are urging parents of the new generation to teach their kids respect, as well as basic money sense when it comes to expensive products in a beauty store. Others believe that parents should be doing research whenever their kids are asking for skincare products to see if a) it is a necessary expense and b) if the product itself will be harmful to the child’s skin. The general consensus is that parents should learn to say no and put their foot down instead of enabling their behavior.
Some argue that children should not be exposed to media that encourages the consumption of these products, and although there is a belief that parents should be monitoring this to some degree, influencers on the Internet share some of this responsibility. With the rise of content creators on numerous platforms, there comes a wave of beauty influencers who are paid to try out products and set trends with skincare and makeup. For content creators, there is no concrete way of knowing what their demographics are as well as whether or not they are reaching their target audience. But for beauty influencers, their main demographic has now become the young generation of teens and tweens. With their promotional content being plastered everywhere, today’s children feel compelled to live up to that standard to maintain popularity. This is only possible by buying the products that influencers are “selling” to their young audiences. This is why there are people who argue that influencers share a piece of the pie of accountability and should be using their platforms to educate their impressionable, young audience with the contents of these products rather than encouraging them to obtain their beauty and popularity by spending hundreds of dollars on unnecessary products.
The most interesting take, however, was from Maalvika on TikTok who explained that the real problem is that the beauty industry has packaged health and sold it as a beauty product. She believes that “if we all came on here every day…and we said, ‘I’ve been a slave to the beauty industry my entire life, nothing by sunscreen and Vaseline has every really helped me…this wouldn’t be happening.” Maybe all it takes is for both influencers and regular people to admit aging and wrinkles are beautiful so that kids don’t feel compelled to look a certain way and give in to unnecessary products that only uphold a standard. So instead of blaming parents, we should also take some level of responsibility in responding to this epidemic so that societal beauty standards are finally abolished.
Lastly, many customers who have complained are calling for age restrictions in stores so that kids are not allowed to shop and products are reserved for the so-called “correct demographic”, which are adults for whom these products are a necessity. Though this sounds like a feasible solution, it may not work in favor of a company who is trying to sell products and make revenue despite any ethical obligations to the public. Some are urging brands who have been the center of this epidemic, namely Drunk Elephant, to issue warnings and statements regarding the contents of their product so that parents and children alike know what they are paying for. The brand issued an instagram post addressing the question regarding if kids and tweens can use their products to which founding partner Tiffany Materson said, “Yes!”, but then proceeded to provide a slight warning saying they should “stay away from our more potent products that include acids and retinols—their skin does not need these ingredients quite yet.” Many in the comments viewed this as another way to make sales rather than actually addressing the issue. User @1975casey who said, “NONE of this is appropriate for children. The only skin care children need is sunscreen and as for teens a simple face wash and moisturiser will suffice. Nothing that costs $100.” However others were happy with this official clarification, as user @girlwhogoogles said, “THANK YOU for posting! As an old person in their 30s, its crazy to see tweens use such expensive products! But Im glad a good chunk of your line is safe for them!”. It’s hard to say what the next steps should be, but clashing opinions over who should take responsibility as well as mixed opinions over the subject in general have made it even more difficult to pinpoint who should take accountability.
The solution(?)
Will beauty store companies like Sephora state the complaints and instill age restrictions? Unlikely. The issue isn’t drastic enough for the company to lose sales and customers, no matter how young they may be. Should skincare companies like Drunk Elephant issue statements to warn against the contents of their products? Of course, especially when their products contain harmful chemicals to their biggest demographic. However, they will likely hold the belief that they have no obligation to do so and will still try to sell and cater their products to as many people as they can. Do parents and influencers share the same level of responsibility when it comes to kids’ exposure to media and what they are influenced to buy? Possibly, especially since parents’ lack of control has led to attitude and spending problems, and influencers are not being mindful of their audiences when advertising products. However, influencers are not entirely ethically obligated to stop promoting products, since it is a large part of their job. Parents and kids alike have a responsibility to know what products they are buying, how much they are worth, and whether or not they are necessary. Furthermore, it may not be smart to rely on company statements for recommendations about their skin. That may be the only feasible solution for now, but this situation is a great example of what we may face in the future with the younger generation. Day after day there are complaints of “iPad kids”, kids that are not listening to teachers or adults, kids that are uneducated, and so much more. The issue could stem from their continued exposure to the internet and their desire to grow up too fast, but in a world where almost everything depends on technology and the internet, there does not seem to be an easy solution.