There’s barely a month left until Christmas and the first catalogs are already in hands of thousands of families. But this year, among dolls, constructions and car tracks, something unexpected has appeared: construction kits. skin care aimed at girls. unicorn masks, jade rollers “to play spa” and even “children’s” serums. On TikTok, creators like Mommy of three and Alottameg They accumulate thousands of views criticizing the fact that these products are promoted as toys. The alarm has gone off: what is facial care being part of the letter to the Three Wise Men?
A global phenomenon that reaches children’s catalogs. What the Christmas brochures show is not an anecdote: it is part of an international trend. According to The New York Timesactress Shay Mitchell launched Rini, a brand of masks aimed at girls as young as 4 years old, whose promotional images caused massive rejection on networks and among dermatologists.
And the data increases the tension. A Nielsen IQ study has pointed out that American households are spending more than $2.5 billion annually on beauty products for girls between 7 and 12 years old. In Spain, in addition to the boom on TikTok, stores already include children’s spa kits in their toy sections. More and more girls are asking for jade rollers, creams and creams on their Christmas lists. glowmasks peel off or antioxidant serums.
dand the Sephora kids to the toy aisle. According to Yale Medicinemany children and preteens are “obsessed” with creating skin routines copied from TikTok and Instagram: scrubs, serums, masks, night creams… Even without having acne or any dermatological problem. Dermatologist Kathleen Suozzi explains that: “Our study shows that 20% of tweens and teens spend more than $50 a month on products they don’t need, sometimes layering five or more products.”
The phenomenon has a name in digital culture: Sephora kids. The academic study of Rachel Wetstone and Jane Grant-Kels details that Girls between 8 and 12 years old show routines of between 6 and 12 products on social networks, many of them designed for adult skin. In these videos, exfoliating acids, retinoids, concentrated vitamin C and steps that imitate a 10-step adult routine are repeated. Beyond the skin risks, the authors warn of the ethical effects: premature aesthetic pressure, misinformation and economic exploitation of an extremely impressionable public.
When skin care becomes a feminine role. In parallel, children’s advertising has been pushing girls towards the field of aesthetics for years. The Women’s Institute analyzed toy advertising in the Christmas campaign and found that:
- In 38.5% of advertisements aimed at girls, archetypes linked to beauty or the role of caregiver/mother/wife appear.
- The color pink dominates in almost a quarter of toys for girls, while boys appear linked to vehicles, action, professions such as pilot, police or military.
- 11% of advertisements sexualize girls, while no examples of sexualization of boys were detected.
In that context, that sets of skin care As a toy “for girls” it is not an anomaly, but one more piece of a puzzle: that of a female childhood associated with aesthetics, beauty and body care from a very young age. As we already explained in Xatakathe Alpha generation (born after 2010) is growing up under an “early ritual” of aesthetic care, driven by algorithms that serve them videos of perfect skin, filters and routines, often before they have reached puberty.
Dermatological risks. There is broad medical consensus here. According to KidsHealthmost children and teens only need three things: a mild soap, a fragrance-free moisturizer, and sunscreen. For their part, acne-prone adolescents can use versions oil-free of moisturizer and photoprotector, but always with medical advice. In addition, they emphasize that anti-aging products (anti-wrinkle, blemishes, firmness…) are not necessary and can cause just the opposite: acne, irritation, burns or eczema.
However, between different sources The ingredients that most worry about trends in preteens are:
- Retinoids and retinol, which can cause severe irritation, peeling, and photosensitivity.
- AHA/BHA acids such as glycolic or salicylic acids, associated with redness and chemical burns in children’s skin.
- Fragrances, one of the main triggers of allergic dermatitis in children
- Drying alcohols, which damage the skin barrier
- Chemical sunscreens, more irritating than mineral ones
- Comedogenic oils such as coconut, cocoa or lanolin, which clog pores and can aggravate cosmetic acne.
There is a psychological impact. From Yale Medicine describe how some children They begin to feel a real compulsion to maintain long routines, to the point of affecting sleep, social time, or even school performance. The Wetstone and Grant-Kels clinical study points to growing anxietyconstant comparisons, and teenagers who feel “insufficient” if they don’t replicate the routines they see on TikTok. For their part, the case of girls between 10 and 12 years old who speak openly of fear to “get old”, a meaningless concept at his age. And some come to think that “without products they are not worth enough”, a symptom of what several experts They are already beginning to identify it as infantile cosmeticorexia.
It is not the first controversial toy. But the first with real assets. For example, children’s makeup cases have existed for decades: barely pigmented shadows, almost transparent lipsticks, peelable nail polishes. They were toys.
However, the current difference is twofold: on the one hand, the products imitate real cosmetics, with active ingredients (although in low concentration) and claims typical for adults: illuminates, blurs pores, anti-aging, repairs barrier. On the other hand, they are not sold only as a game, but as a routine, as a habit of care and self-care. That is, as something that is not used from time to time, but every day.
As The Guardian detailsdermatologists already treat 10-year-old girls who use vitamin C, retinol and exfoliants “because they saw it on TikTok.” This is not a mask with friends: it is the idea that they should “take care of themselves” to avoid non-existent wrinkles.
Is this really a toy? Christmas catalogs raise an uncomfortable question: at what point did a face mask become a normalized children’s gift? It is not about demonizing that a girl plays at imitating a “spa” from time to time. The problem begins when what was a specific game becomes an obligatory ritual, what was fantasy becomes an anti-aging treatment, and what was fun becomes precocious aesthetic consumption.
Among so many cleansing foams, serums and sticks glowperhaps the key question is not what cream do girls need, but what messages need to change adults, both in advertising and at home. Because the most urgent thing is not to improve the luminosity of your skin, but to protect something much more fragile: your right to a childhood that does not begin with worrying about not aging.
Image | FreePik
Xataka | The cosmetics industry has found a new market: the problem is that they are girls under 10 years old
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