How young is too young to use skincare products? The social media trend impacting GA teens

Wendy Corona
·3 min read

Before social media, we had magazines and TV commercials, but now tweens have ads and influencers 24/7 in their hand.

Those influencers have done a good job on tweens managing to make them feel they need expensive skincare routines.

Tweens’ skin is youthful, hydrated and at its best. So why are tweens putting so much attention to buying pricey products for multi-step cleansing routines?

Channel 2′s Wendy Corona has learned that early exposure to products can be harmful to their young skin and even go deeper.

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Sharon Doering is busy at Olansky Dermatology and Aesthetics in Buckhead with younger patients and their parents.

“My fear is that maybe we will begin to see allergic dermatitis at younger ages because these girls are exposing to so many products at a young age,” Sharon Doering said. “I go back to less is more.”

But on social media, influencers are finding success touting multi-step skincare routines with numerous products to young people.

“We were like, ‘Oh, that looks fun.’ Like we should get started into it,” tween Avery Doering said.

And they did.

With their parents’ permission, Corona spoke with a group of 6th and 7th-grade girls. Each one brought in some of their products to show her.

They confessed to spending 15 to 20 minutes on their morning and nighttime routines, up to 40 minutes total a day.

“I saw it on YouTube and social media a lot, so I just started doing it,” tween Cate Garner said.

Titania Jordan is the chief parenting officer at BARK Technologies, a child protection app.

“When you introduce social media, the comparison trap, everybody’s filtered lives and influencers, into the mix, you really have a problem on your hands,” Jordan said.

Her concern is what’s starting on the surface with shaping unnecessary skincare routines may quickly go deeper with young users.

“It becomes problematic when an excessive amount of time is being spent in a place that isn’t really uplifting or good for your mental or physical health,” Jordan said.

And too much exposure to products that youthful, more fragile skin with less barrier receives, the more likely it is to develop a delayed allergy or hypersensitivity.

“Sometimes these can be delayed by years, but it’s created by the exposure. The more the skin sees X ingredient and the longer it sees it, the higher the risk for allergy down the line,” Sharon Doering said.

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Recognizing the trend some brands are clarifying who their products best serve.

“Maybe some good habits will come out of this, but also just making them recognize that they need to do less,” Sharon Doering said.

Doering said young skin needs only three things: cleanser, moisturizer and sunblock. No serums and nothing with retinols or acids.

“There are products that she tells me not to get. Like retinol. That’s more for older skin,” tween Jane Jenne said.

“If it has retinol or like acids, aren’t good for your face,” Garner said.

The tweens told Corona that the packaging, the experience and the feeling they get, are a boost…

“It makes me feel grown up,” Jenne said.

“It makes me feel like on trend,” Garner said.

“It makes me feel like expensive almost,” tween Madeline Benedict said.

Jordan said feeling part of something and sophisticated isn’t bad, it just needs to be balanced.

“You are enough, and you don’t need to spend hours in the bathroom trying to fit some perception that isn’t reality,” Jordan said.

The professionals at Olansky Dermatology recommend before you let your child put anything on their skin, do a patch test for 7 to 10 days to see if there’s a reaction. They’ve seen their share of kids with rashes to products that simply didn’t suit their skin.

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