The Sephora Ten Year-Old Pandemic

03.27.24

Chronically Online

By: Hope Rasa

 The internet is no stranger to making children the butt of the joke. Children who have gone viral like Lil’ Tay, Bhad Bhaby and Ryan’s World experienced intense mockery at the hands of people, often adults, online. In recent months, however, the internet hasn’t been picking on a single child, but rather a type of child. Social media has been tearing apart “Sephora ten-year-olds” — young girls who shop at beauty stores like Sephora.

The internet’s main gripe with the presence of young kids in Sephora is that they’re annoying and destructive. Social media users, most of them adults, are using memes, rant videos and skits to complain about and make fun of “Sephora ten-year-olds.” Content creators tell stories of tween girls misbehaving in makeup stores; trashing displays, speaking rudely to fellow patrons, mistreating staff, etc. Sephora employees post skits and storytimes about young customers they deem entitled.

Taking it a step beyond employees reenacting their experiences, actual videos of children misbehaving in Sephoras have also gone viral. For instance, a controversy recently emerged online in response to a TikTok video of two young girls wearing blackface with makeup from a Sephora display. “We are extremely disappointed by and do not condone the behavior and hostility of these shoppers at our Prudential Center location, and as such, they were asked to leave our premises and are no longer allowed to shop with us.” Said Sephora in a statement to the New York Times. 

Aside from their statement to the New York Times about the incident with children doing blackface in one of their stores, Sephora has not officially addressed the matter of Sephora ten-year-olds. Plenty of people online are calling for Sephora to implement an age restriction in their stores to keep Sephora ten-year-olds out.

Aside from their behavior in-store, adults on social media also have general concerns with young people shopping at stores like Sephora in the first place. Viral skits and storytimes often depict Sephora ten-year-olds buying a very specific assortment of products. Many of these products are expensive and not meant for children. This includes things like Drunk Elephant skincare, Dior lip oil and of course, retinol products.  

Retinol is a form of vitamin A that is often used in skincare products for its acne-treating and anti-aging effects. Internet users have been quick to point out the issues with children using retinol. According to Vogue, retinol can be used by teens to treat acne. However, retinol shouldn’t be used to treat anti-aging in children, who show no signs of aging. Not only is using retinol on young skin often unnecessary (unless being used to treat acne), but it can also be harmful. 

“Many products have what we call “active” ingredients — like salicylic acid, retinols, peptides. They are more suitable for mature skin to target wrinkles or skin with specific concerns like acne. But for tweens and teens, these ingredients can do damage, irritate the skin and cause the reverse effects they are hoping to achieve,” assistant clinical professor of dermatology and board-certified dermatologist and pediatric dermatologist Carol Cheng MD said In an interview with UCLA Health.

In addition to the side effects they may experience, one of the most prominent concerns over children using retinol, or any skincare or makeup whatsoever, is that they may be doing so for the wrong reasons. Concerned adults online question whether some young girls are buying beauty products as a result of toxic beauty standards. Between ages 8 to 14, girls’ confidence levels decrease by 30%, according to Time Magazine. 

Social media can worsen the already vulnerable self-esteem of young girls. A study from the University of Glasgow found that adolescents who used social media more (respondents were asked to rate their social media usage on a six-point scale from “less than one hour” to “six plus hours”) experienced lower self-esteem. The fact that the typical age range of Sephora ten-year-olds overlaps with the age during which girls’ self-esteem takes a dip during puberty is concerning to many social media users. 

Low self-esteem can leave young girls vulnerable to advertising for beauty products on social media. According to the Pew Research Center, almost one in three U.S. teenagers say they are on YouTube or TikTok multiple times a day, and one in five say they’re on these apps constantly. The combination of young girls’ high rates of self-esteem issues and substantial social media usage creates the perfect opportunity for beauty companies to market to them. In an interview with NPR, Denish Shah, a marketing professor at Georgia State University, said that the nature of social media consumption combined with many teens' preoccupation with appearance makes kids prime targets.

This isn’t to say every young girl showing interest in makeup or skincare is the victim of low self-esteem and internet marketing tactics. It’s perfectly normal for children to experiment with makeup as they get older. It’s the fact that interest in beauty products for adults seems to be rising fast among young girls. Even though there is cause for concern around “Sephora 10-year-olds,” that doesn’t make it acceptable to mock and belittle them as much as people have been doing online. Almost half of teenagers (aged 13 to 17) have experienced cyberbullying, according to Pew Research Center, with offensive name-calling being the most common form. It has never been okay for adults to make fun of children. Internet users now use the Sephora ten-year-old phenomenon as an excuse to bully any young girl who posts herself with makeup online. 

It’s also worth noting that although Sephora may not be the best place for children to spend their time, there are few alternatives. Children have very few third spaces, that is social settings besides school and home. Very few U.S. cities are walkable, and not everyone lives a convenient distance from a public park or playground, so kids can’t exactly ‘go outside and play’ like they used to. A study from the University of Georgia found that there are “play deserts”, counties that lack proper play areas, scattered throughout the U.S. About 7% of the U.S. qualifies as a play desert. Besides public playgrounds, there are few places besides somewhere like a mall where children can spend time for free. In today’s society, adults who find themselves irritated over children’s presence in Sephora must ask themselves if they have anywhere else to go. 

For better or for worse, some children are showing interest in beauty. This should come as no surprise, with social media growing and third spaces for kids dwindling, the interests and hobbies of kids these days will be vastly different compared to previous generations. Even though kids wandering around a store tailored toward adults may seem odd or annoying, they’re still just kids who deserve to express and explore their interests as anyone else does.