In Oct. 2023, the TikTok account Garza Crew posted a video with their young daughter doing a GRWM routine using the skincare line Drunk Elephant. Negativity flooded the comment section, with people accusing their mother of being a “bad parent” for letting them use these products.

“Imagine having a five to six step skincare routine before your adult teeth are fully grown in,” TikTok user Kyla Bayer said in a Jan. 8 comment.

The Garza Crew and many other young girls mainly in Generation Alpha are now being labeled as “Sephora Kids,” or young girls going into makeup stores like Sephora to buy products traditionally for older women, like anti-aging creams. Taking over the store, ruining testers and even being rude to staff, these young girls want some of the most expensive (and potentially harmful due to their age) makeup and beauty products ASAP.

Drunk Elephant released a statement on Instagram Dec. 8, 2023, stating that their products were safe for kids and tweens, with an exception.

“Many of our products are designed for all skin, including kids and tweens. First, I would say stay away from our more potent products that include acids and retinols — their skin does not need these ingredients quite yet,” they said.

The recent beauty trend has sparked the questions of if there is a true age limit on these makeup and beauty products and if the Internet is doing more harm than good when it comes to what young girls believe to be beauty standards.

Both older generations of women and social gerontologists are noting the effects that social media and societal pressures are having on young girls and their attitudes towards aging and perfectionism.

Growing up fast in Sephora’s beauty aisle

There have been fierce opponents towards these young girls going into beauty stores like Sephora and Ulta. CEO and founder of Skinnygirl Bethany Frankel posted in a Jan. 8 TikTok that “girls that are my daughter’s age, that are her peers, talk to me like I’m their peer. ‘So what do you think of the Dior? Do you have the Drunk Elephant? Do you have the Charlotte Tilbury?’ And I’m like, ‘B****, you’re 14.’”

One of the main factors gravitating young girls towards these makeup and anti-aging products is social media. A 2022 Pew Research Center study found that 95% of teenagers (those ages 13-17) use Youtube and 67% use TikTok. The beauty industry is a large topic on social media platforms for women. For example, a 2023 study on beauty influencer marketing by Influencer Marketing Hub discovered that 82% of Instagram beauty influencer followers are women compared to 18% being men.

Along with influencer marketing, the stress of fitting in and social media filters also have impacted how young girls view themselves and the products they feel they need, according to Dr. Brooke Jeffy in a Jan.10 interview with Fox News. This online pressure can also have mental health effects, with eating disorders, suicidal behavior, and body dissatisfaction being found as potential effects from using social media, according to Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Social media filters have created unrealistic expectations of perfect poreless skin fueling sales of makeup to kids … Add to that a fear of aging modeled by influencers, parents and friends and the desire for anti-aging skincare is born,” Jeffy said.

Growing up, many now young adult women had their own specific stores catered to them, like Limited Too or Justice.

However, these types of stores specifically catering to young girls slowly started to disappear in the 2010s. For USC student and TikTok personality Stephanie Chen, bringing them back might be part of the solution.

“I am advocating for the creation of stand-alone Sephora youth stores, distinct from existing Sephora locations, providing a focused and immersive beauty experience for girls who are under 15, capitalizing off of the successful precedent set by stores like Victoria’s Secret and PINK,” Chen said.

Too young for products and societal standards

According to The Dermatology Group, young women “can and should start using these products as early as your 20s. This is the age when these products will be the most productive.” Nevertheless, there are girls as young as 12 years old watching, following and even creating their own anti-aging skincare routines online.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking care of your skin and adopting good habits at an early age. But there’s a point where preteen and teenage skin-care regimens can feel like indoctrination into a beauty cult, which can involve a quest for an unattainable holy grail,” dermatologist Laurel Geraghty told The Cut in a Nov. 2023 interview.

According to social gerontologist and community educator Jeanette Leardi, how society views aging has evolved.

“Since the 1960s, when an increasingly materialistic and affluent American business world started marketing products to children and teens and valuing youth over age, there has been a growing tendency to distance oneself from older people as ‘not there yet’ by mocking them as weak, clueless, and greedy,” Leardi said.

The “digital divide” between younger and older social media users contributes to society’s ageist issues, especially since older adults produce a limited amount of online content, according to a 2020 study.

From Muhlenberg College professor Dr. Francesca Coppa’s perspective, not all social media is terrible. However, there are aspects that contribute to negative attitudes surrounding getting older.

“Part of what’s bad is that many parts of social media have blurred the lines between interaction and commerce, so that you have someone who feels like a friend constantly trying to sell things to you. And the sheer number of products that you can be exposed to online is pretty terrible,” Coppa said.

When it comes to aging and getting older, women are viewed differently than men are. A Sept. 2023 article from the Generations: American Society on Aging stated that “in the media, older women are most often presented as ‘aging gracefully,’ which is required to remain relevant, or you will not be seen. This message essentially says that if society is to celebrate women getting older, those women need to look a certain way.”

This phenomenon according to Leardi is known as gendered ageism.

“Older men are often considered experienced and distinguished, while older women are thought of as past their prime … In the workplace and in healthcare, older women’s opinions, skills, and needs tend to be dismissed more readily than older men’s,” Leardi said.

With the average age of kids downloading a social media account being about 12 years old, exposure to these ideas and products can start early.

Leardi believes that in order for women to be able to age in peace and for young girls to have a needed support system, there are first steps to take.

“Let’s examine our own thoughts, feelings, and hopes about aging … Let’s ask ourselves ‘Who benefits from making us afraid to age?’ … [And] let’s become more supportive rather than competitive with one another for the attention and validation from others,” Leardi said.