PARIS: Should children be using beauty face masks? Dermatologists say no, but a growing number of companies are targeting a new generation of kids who have grown up with TikTok skincare and make-up routines.

The cosmetics industry and parts of the internet have been abuzz since the launch of Rini earlier this month, a beauty company pitched at children as young as three and backed by Canadian actress Shay Mitchell.

Its bundle of five child hydrating face masks, including “everyday” varieties named Puppy, Panda, and Unicorn, sells for around 35 dollars (30 euros) on its website.

Another growing US-based brand, Eve­r­eden, sells products for pre-teens such as face mists, toners, and moisturisers, and claims annual sales of over 100 million dollars.

Fifteen-year-old American YouTuber Salish Matter unveiled her brand “Sincerely Yours” in October, drawing tens of thousands of people — and police reinforcements — to a launch event at a New Jersey mall.

“Children’s skin does not need cosmetics, apart from daily hygiene products — toothpaste and shower gel — and sun cream when there is exposure,” said Laurence Coiffard, a researcher at the University of Nantes in France who co-runs the Cosmetics Watch website.

Child-focused beauty products are part of a broad society-wide trend.

Many girls in Gen Alpha — a marketing term for youngsters born between 2010 and 2024 — are adopting skincare, make-up, and hair routines more typical of older teenagers or their mothers.

The most precocious have become known as “Sephora Kids” — a reference to the popular French beauty retailer — as they seek to emulate popular TikTok or YouTube influencers, some of whom are as young as 7.

Coiffard cited research showing child users of adult cosmetics and creams had a higher risk of developing skin allergies in later life, as well as being exposed to endocrine disruptors and phytoestrogens, which can disrupt hormone development.

‘Get Ready with Me’

Molly Hales, an American dermatologist at Northwestern University in Chicago, spent several months posing on TikTok as a girl of 13 who was interested in beauty routines.

After creating a profile and liking several videos made by minors, the algorithm of the Chinese-owned site “saturated” her and fellow researcher Sarah Rigali.

The duo went on to watch 100 videos in total from 82 different profiles.

In one case, a child smeared 14 different products on her face before developing a burning rash.

Another showed a girl rising at 4:30 am to complete her skincare before school.

The most popular videos were titled “Get Ready with Me”, with the routines featuring on average six different products, often including adult anti-ageing creams.

“I was shocked by the scope of what I was seeing in these videos, especially the sheer number of products that these girls were using,” Hales said. Her research was published in the US journal Paediatrics in June.

Several “disproportionately represented” brands, such as Glow, Drunk Elephant and The Ordinary, market themselves as healthy, supposedly natural alternatives to chemical-laden competitors.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2025