- I don’t want my young daughter to grow up to be a “Sephora kid” who is obsessed with makeup.
- I’m teaching her young about the dangers of the beauty industry and how she can damage her skin.
- I’m also teaching her that beauty isn’t tied to makeup, and filters make people look perfect.
I love skincare. I love how it makes me feel in the morning before I start my day or in the evening as a special treat. I love it so much that I co-founded a beauty brand once sold at Target and Nordstrom.
But when my daughter, now in pre-k, becomes a tween and asks me to buy her skincare or makeup products, I will refuse until she gets older.
“Sephora kids” is a name for Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids who are so obsessed with skincare that big beauty retailers are complaining about kids causing havoc at their stores, and summer camps are banning tweens from sneaking skincare inside.
Many moms set rules about the skincare products their kids can buy, but I don’t think kids should use makeup or skincare at all until they are older. Here’s why.
I want my daughter to understand makeup doesn’t equate to beauty
My young daughter has started telling me that she wants to wear my makeup to look beautiful. I tell her that makeup is meant to make you look fancy, not prettier. I try to emphasize that she is already beautiful.
It’s great to like makeup, but I don’t want her to grow up thinking that she is not good enough and that some product is magically going to “improve” her.
We have social media to blame for this belief. Young kids are engaging with social media filters and AI edits — all of which can easily make skin look flawless.
Studies are now showing that increased social media use is connected to higher rates of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem in teenagers.
I hope to avoid some of that as my daughter grows into a teen, so I’m teaching her now.
I’m teaching my daughter how to tell if what she sees on a screen is real or fake. When we watch content together we talk about what filters were probably used and how to tell that a video is all or part AI.
I hope this becomes so ingrained in her that whenever she sees a beauty influencer on social media, she’ll wonder if they’ve used filters or AI to make themselves look perfect.
She’ll be too young to wear a lot of the products
When she’s a tween, my daughter won’t need collagen-boosting ingredients Since young people’s skin is already collagen-heavy, oxidative damage will arrive much later.
If she asks what brand of exfoliator I recommend, I will say, “Skip it,” because scrubbing will damage her skin barrier, leading to irritation and peeling.
When she sees a viral skincare trend, I want her to ask, “Is this right for me?”
Currently, clinical products meant for aging skin — like retinol, peptides, and vitamin C — are trending. But these products could do more harm than good to youthful skin.
Beauty overconsumption is a real issue she needs to avoid
I am guilty of overconsumption, but I’m trying to teach my daughter better shopping hygiene. She’ll learn she doesn’t need four morning cleansers and seven mascaras in her bathroom cabinet.
I want her to avoid chasing the dopamine rush of shopping or falling for “RFOMO” (retail fear of missing out).
Makeup and skincare products are also incredibly wasteful. When she sees a skincare product, I hope she’ll see the individual parts that must be thrown out and take up space in a landfill: the plastic bottle and cap, the dropper, and the pump.
Before you think I’m an outlier in the beauty industry, even the CEO of Sephora agrees with me, saying teens only really need three products.
I’m not against skincare or beauty; I just want my daughter’s first beauty counter experience to be age-appropriate — guided by knowledge, power, and confidence. In doing so, I hope she never calls herself a “Sephora kid.”
