Last week, I watched a news story about the alarming increase in spending on makeup and skin care among young girls. I had to chuckle a little because before I became a Personal Image Consultant, I was once a young girl. But for whatever reason, my mom did not monitor what I did in the beauty realm. I lived in a small town long before stores like Sephora and Ulta, so I didn’t have many potentially harmful products available to me. However, I do remember loving makeup, perfume, and clothing. One of my fondest memories was when my family received some Estee Lauder products in the mail. These included a full-size Youthdew perfume. I loved it, but looking back, it was really strong! For skin care, I don’t recall spending much money on it beyond a cleanser from the drug store. The potentially harmful practices I participated in were overplucking my heavy uni-brows and lightening my blonde hair with Sun In. Overall, what I did was pretty tame.
Tween Skin Care Advice
Fast forward to today. Young women seem to be obsessed with skin care products. Social media is largely to blame, with thousands of TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram videos describing what to use and when. In a recent story on WABC-TV New York, the average skin care regimen costs $168. And Northwestern University reported that girls as young as seven years old are using skin care products.
What could be wrong with that? Many young girls like to try products, and it’s just part of growing up, right?
Well, there’s a notable difference between skin products of yesterday and today.
The change in skin products today is the amount of “active” ingredients in them. These can include citric acid, salicylic acid, glycolic acid, hyaluronic acid, retinol, Vitamin C, and other products. As adults, these are the additions we want in our skin care. But for children and young teens, these same products can cause harm. According to dermatologist Dr. Brooke Jeffy, adult products target age-related issues like wrinkles and can harm the skin barrier of kids. And unfortunately, videos that tweens are watching often feature products with these ingredients.
As a Personal Image Consultant, I’ve noticed that adults do not really understand how to buy and use skin care. So it’s not a surprise that tweens don’t either!
Speak With a Personal Image Consultant
If you’d like to discuss skin care or need a color analysis, reach out to me at beth@bethdivinestyle.com.
Read my next blog for ideas about purchasing skin care.
Keep it sassy, Indy.
Beth Divine, MA, AICI-CIC, Personal Image Consultant
References
Jarvis, Rebecca. “Tween skincare: Research finds girls using treatments experts say they shouldn’t be.” WABC-TV New York, June 12, 2025, https://abc7ny.com/post/northwestern-university-research-finds-girls-young-7-using-skincare-products-doctors-say-shouldnt-amid-tiktok-trend/16707263/.
