Young girls are using anti-aging products they see on social media. The harm is more than skin deep

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan started to worry about getting wrinkles. By the time she turned 10, Scarlett and her friends were spending hours on TikTok and YouTube watching influencers tout products for achieving today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowy,” flawless complexion. Scarlett developed an elaborate skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers. Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, poses for a portrait at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada) One night, Scarlett’s skin began to burn intensely and erupted in blisters. Months later, patches of tiny bumps remain on Scarlett’s face, and her cheeks turn red in the sun. “I didn’t want to get wrinkles and look old,” says Scarlett, who recently turned 11. “If I had known my life would be so affected by this, I never would have put these things on my face.” Scarlett’s experience has become common, experts say, as preteen girls around the country throng beauty stores to buy high-end skin care products, a trend captured in viral videos with the hashtag #SephoraKids. Girls as young as 8 are turning up at dermatologists’ offices with rashes, chemical burns and other allergic reactions to products not intended for children’s sensitive skin. “When kids use anti-aging skin care, they can actually cause premature aging, destroy the skin barrier and lead to permanent scarring,” says Dr. Brooke Jeffy, a Scottsdale, Arizona, dermatologist who has posted her own social media videos rebutting influencers’ advice. Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, poses for a portrait at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada) This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. More than the physical harm, parents and child psychologists worry about the trend’s effects on girls’ mental health — for years to come. But to older teens and young adults, it’s clear: Extended time on social media has been bad for them, period. Viral skincare products from Bubble, West & Month, and Bolero sit on 11-year-old Scarlett Goddard Strahan’s dresser at her home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada) Young girls’ fascination with makeup and cosmetics is not new. What’s different now is the magnitude, says Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens, a nonprofit that studies how digital media impacts child development. In an era of filtered images and artificial intelligence, some of the beautiful faces they encounter aren’t even real. “Girls are being bombarded with idealized images of beauty that establish a beauty standard that could be very hard — if not impossible — to attain,” Perry says. Scarlett Goddard Strahan, 11, and her mom Anna Goddard pose for a portrait at their home on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Juliana Yamada) Saving allowances for Sephora hauls The obsession with skin care is about more than the pursuit of perfect skin, explains 14-year-old Mia Hall. It’s about feeling accepted and belonging to a community that has the lifestyle and look you want, says Mia, a New Yorker from the Bronx. Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park while holding some skin care products she uses regularly on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. I felt like it was the only way I could fit in,” says Mia. She started following beauty influencers like Katie Fang and Gianna Christine, who have millions of young followers on TikTok. Some influencers are paid by brands to promote their products, but they don’t always mention that. Mia got hooked on “Get Ready With Me” videos, where influencers film themselves getting ready — for school, for a night out with friends, packing for a trip. You can’t stop watching it,” Mia says. “So when they tell me, ‘Go buy this product’ or, ‘I use this and it’s amazing,’ it feels very personal. Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) Mia Hall, 14, watches Katie Fang GRWM videos on Tik Tok on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) “I get really jealous and insecure a lot when I see other girls my age who look very pretty or have an amazing life,” she says. The level of detail and information girls are getting from beauty tutorials sends a troubling message at a vulnerable age, as girls are going through puberty and searching for their identities, says Charlotte Markey, a body image expert and Rutgers University psychologist. “The message to young girls is that, ‘You are a never-ending project to get started on now.’ And essentially: ‘You are not OK the way you are’,”’ says Markey, author of “The Body Image Book for Girls.” Products promoting youth, purchased by kids The beauty industry has been cashing in on the trend. Last year, consumers under age 14 drove 49% of drug store skin sales, according to a NielsonIQ report that found households with teens and tweens were outspending the average American household on skin care. And in the first half of 2024, a third of “prestige” beauty sales, at stores like Sephora, were driven by households with tweens and teens, according to market research firm Circana. Mia Hall, 14, regular skincare products on display on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. Drunk Elephant’s website, for example, recommends kids 12 and under should not use their anti-aging serums, lotions and scrubs “due to their very active nature.” That guidance is on the site’s FAQ page; there are no such warnings on the products themselves. Young or sensitive skin can react with redness, peeling and burning that can lead to infections, acne and hypersensitivity if used incorrectly, dermatologists say. Dermatologists agree a child’s face typically needs only three items, all found on drugstore shelves: a gentle cleanser, a moisturizer and sunscreen. A California bill aimed at banning the sale of anti-aging skin care products to children under age 13 failed this spring, but Democratic Assemblymember Alex Lee says he plans to continue pursuing industry accountability. And one of Sweden’s leading pharmacy chains, Apotek Hjartat, said in March it would stop selling anti-aging skin care products to customers under 15 without parental consent. “This is a way to protect children’s skin health, finances and mental well-being,” the company said. One mother ‘got rid of them all’ Around the country, concerned mothers are visiting dermatologists with their young daughters, carrying bags filled with their child’s skin care products to ask: Are these OK? “Often the mothers are saying exactly what I am but need their child to hear it from an expert,” says Dr. Dendy Engelman, a Manhattan dermatologist. “They’re like, ‘Maybe she’ll listen to you because she certainly doesn’t listen to me.’” Mia’s mother, Sandra Gordon, took a different approach. Last spring, she noticed dark patches on Mia’s face and became alarmed. Gordon, a nurse, threw all her daughter’s products into the trash. Mia Hall, 14, poses for a portrait in her neighborhood park on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, in Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) In Sacramento, California, Scarlett missed early signs the products were hurting her skin: She developed a rash and felt a stinging sensation, within days of trying out viral skin care products. Scarlett figured she wasn’t using enough, so she layered on more. All of her cheeks had been burned,” recalls Anna Goddard, Scarlett’s mother, who hadn’t realized the extent of Scarlett’s skin care obsession. When Goddard read the ingredients in each product, she was shocked to find retinol in products that appeared to be marketed to children — including a facial sheet mask with a cat’s face on the packaging. “I didn’t know there were harmful ingredients being put in skin care that is marketed to kids,” she says. 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