Halfway through November, a beauty store opened at Lennox Town Center just outside of Upper Arlington. At Sephora, shoppers can find 340+ trending brands and explore upcoming products. Sephora is known to be a welcoming beauty store for all types of people. However, younger customers are spending a large amount of money on products that may not benefit their skin in the ways that they see online.
The current high school student generation grew up wearing Justice and children’s lip balm from Target. Now, (most of) Generation Z has grown into products that suit their age. However, the following generation is growing up faster than expected.
Sophomore Mia Harrison reflects that, when she was younger, she didn’t spend her time in beauty stores.
“I shopped at Justice, Journey Kids, and Old Navy,” she said.
Social media is now inspiring kids to shop at stores geared towards teenagers and adults. On social media, users make videos detailing their experiences with the Sephora kids. Harrison has paid attention to these videos and is following along with the stories.
“I typically see older people, like older Gen Z or millennials, talking about how the Sephora kids are too young to be shopping there and how they’re damaging the stores and being rude to the workers,” Harrison said.
The so-called “Sephora kids” are typically in Generation Alpha, and they are becoming a hot topic on the internet. The main issue with the kids is the growing destruction of the products in store. In Sephora, the testers are damaged.
“They’re dirtier, and some of them are locked up so you can’t test certain things anymore,” Harrison said.
Generation Alpha roughly contains people born in 2010-2024. The oldest of Generation Alpha are currently pre-teens. This younger generation is born into the era of growing technology and is becoming very familiar with social media. That being said, social media might not always have a positive impact on Generation Alpha.
The current younger generations are growing up with high-end, name-brand products. According to Mintel, 56% of US tweens say they use makeup to express themselves and their style. Mintel defines US tweens as those who are aged 9-11 years old.
According to CNBC, many kids in Generation Alpha have become budding experts in serums, toners, moisturizers, and sunscreens. These actions are an attempt to mimic the “cool teenagers” they are watching on social media. When Harrison was younger, not much was different, except for the actions being mimicked.
“I wanted to seem older than I was,” Harrison said. “I wanted to be like the big kids.”
This younger generation is said to know more about these skincare products than their parents do. This can be a problem when a parent is not paying very close attention to their child’s routine.
Medical Assistant Amanda C. at Dr. D. Neal Mastruserio’s office is aware of the younger generation, and the products they use.
“There is definitely a younger crowd coming in that has their own regimen, very into skincare, so there have been a couple instances where we had to tell them to stop using products,” Amanda C. said.
Some brands have grown popular online and kids are becoming more educated in the beauty world.
“The awareness is definitely there in the young age kids more than it ever was” she said.
A popular skincare brand used by tweens, teenagers, and even adults is Drunk Elephant. Drunk Elephant says their philosophy is to stay committed to using ingredients in their products that directly benefit customers’ skin health. Their products are in bright color packaging and are appealing to the consumer eye. However, Drunk Elephant isn’t exactly made for young skin.
“Today, a girl came in for acne using a Drunk Elephant product at home, and we discussed with her to stop using that and to start some more bland products,” she said.
Not only are dermatologists seeing the effects, but Sephora shoppers have noticed the kids too. When Harrison was in Sephora, she had run into a group of kids looking to purchase skincare products.
“They were buying Drunk Elephant,” she said.
Drunk Elephant and other skin care brands are not necessarily bad for kids’ skin; there are benefits for kids starting skincare at a young age.
According to the Biome website a cleanser, moisturizer, and sunscreen are safe and just enough for kids’ skin. The problem with doing more than using a gentle cleanser is the risk of stripping the natural oils on the face and disrupting a kid’s pH balance. Biome does not recommend for kids to use a toner. Any skincare product that doesn’t have harsh chemicals or synthetic fragrances should be safe for kids to use.
