When people walk into a Sephora store nowadays they are sure to find messed up samples and dirty displays. The perpetrators? 10-year-old girls, Sephora’s newest and most controversial demographic.
These ‘Sephora 10-year-olds’ are young Sephora shoppers who love skincare products from Drunk Elephant, Sol De Janeiro and Glow Recipe, according to Vice. Alongside the expensive price tag for many of these products, Sephora shoppers and employees have claimed that these children display entitled behavior, according to Allure.
“Sephora 10-year-olds have literally nudged me in Sephora in the Irvine spectrum, and have been very violent and extremely rude,” avid Sephora shopper and sophomore Nami Motwani said. “I don’t really know how a 10-year-old somehow managed to push me over, but it happened many times.”
To help rectify this issue, Sephora should dedicate a separate kid-friendly section containing cheaper products. Additionally, there should be labels indicating age appropriateness for certain products that are not suitable for premature skin, such as retinol.
Exposure to social media has caused overconsumption to grow due to the increased promotion of short-lived trends. This has created the false idea that kids need to grow up quicker and participate in the latest trends to fit in as well as the belief that items can easily be replaced, a mentality that differs greatly from past generations.
“One thing that comes to my mind is we always had one pair of shoes each year for school, and when I look at my own kids, they have probably six or seven,” parent and math teacher Melanie Clarke said. “I took care of my stuff because I knew I wasn’t going to get it again until the next year. I think kids now know that their stuff is going to be replaced if they destroy it, so they don’t take as much care.”
In order to more healthily participate in online trends, Sephora should have a kid friendly section with brands such as Bubble and BTWN, two skincare brands with cheaper price points and targeted towards a younger demographic. Adding labels for products containing ingredients harmful to younger skin will also encourage them to reconsider before buying, which will help reduce overconsumption.
Others argue that these children are being too harshly judged, as young girls naturally want to emulate the older people they look up to. Additionally, many stores for pre-teens such as Justice have either closed or moved online, causing many children to start shopping in stores for older consumers such as Sephora and Lululemon, according to Allure.
Despite these claims, the environment children grow up in today is vastly different from previous generations, meaning that young girls imitating their idols is more than just harmless fun. Alongside health concerns regarding young children putting active ingredients on their skin at a young age, social media has changed how children grow up by giving them access to a slew of information and heightening the pressure to conform, according to junior Vy Tran.
“My sister doesn’t use social media, but she’s a middle schooler, and all her friends do,” Tran said. “They feel really pressured to feed into different trends to try and feel older. It’s really upsetting, watching all these kids try and grow up so fast.”
By giving 10-year-olds a dedicated space in Sephora for kid-friendly products and also placing labels on products containing active ingredients harmful for young skin, these children will still be able to participate in trends. At the same time, they can emulate their role models in a healthier manner that won’t damage their skin, while also being prompted to think twice before purchasing a product.
