EVERY TIME I go into Boots lately, it is absolutely wedged with kids. Groups of 10 or 11-year-olds are gathered around the priciest skin care products, having discussions about ‘retinol’ and ‘anti-ageing’.
Like, excuse me?
I need that wrinkle cream far more than you do – I spent the better part of a decade smearing various cheap mousse foundations on my face, and I am still trying to apologise to my skin.
These younger generations are equal parts impressive and terrifying. I recently showed my youngest daughter a very pretty bottle of setting spray I had just bought, but instead of being impressed, she said that as her foundation and primer were both silicone-based, this particular brand of setting spray would cause her make-up to separate. This same daughter rang me last week to ask how to use an elevator. You couldn’t make this stuff up!
Skincare has become a really important topic for younger generations, and a lot of countries are now expressing concern at the ‘skin care culture’ that has pre-teens obsessed. On the one hand, it is great that they are taking care of themselves, learning about different products and using SPF. But on the other side, it feels like we are selling yet another unattainable beauty standard to the next generation.
I thought we had learned from our mistakes, and that we knew better. We all remember the 90’s ‘heroin chic’ body type that was sold to us, and that we tried to obtain at great personal cost. The thigh gaps, and Nicole Richie’s 100lb parties, and Kate Moss’ ‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’. My metabolism has never recovered.
Glass skin is the new buzzword for blemish free, porcelain skin and you can already see where this is going. ‘Glass’ and ‘skin’ are polar opposites, with one being the largest organ of the human body and naturally textured and porous. Comparing it to an inanimate object is dangerous. The aspirational pictures often seen online are created with a lot of lighting and technology.
It’s the same concept in different packaging. Lies sold as wellness. Terrible advice that doesn’t work and that is designed to make you feel bad so that you buy more things you never needed in the first place.
We always discuss the negative impact of the beauty industry on women as if it happens by accident as if it isn’t very smart people who specifically design these trends. We have to remember that the 10-year-olds didn’t choose this trend, it was decided for them. So let’s not portray them as silly or trivial or vain for their attempts to fit in with a society obsessed with perfection. We can’t judge women for ageing and then wonder why teens and pre-teens are obsessed with trying to prevent it.
Now look, I don’t mind sharing this space with younger generations. Learning what works for your skin is so important, and self-care is crucial for lifelong health. I love seeing girls find things that interest them or that they are passionate about. I can rant for hours about how we specifically market things to young girls, only to berate them for liking it. I hate how any new trend enjoyed by teen girls immediately becomes open to ridicule.
So while I want to protect their right to enjoy this trend, I hate that they have to give young kids a new insecurity in marketing it. They should not be worried about wrinkles before they even hit puberty. Kids at these ages are often just starting hormonal changes which will cause normal skin issues, but they are being bombarded with marketing to sell them products they didn’t need in the first place.
Both of my girls have the most outrageously organised drawers that are packed with neatly lined tubes and colourful packaging. They have doubles and even triples of a lot of products, leading their collections to look more like a store display than a personal supply.
I worry about the effects of so many chemicals on developing bodies, and I cringe at the level of consumerism and waste. I worry about the type of products they are using, as a lot of them are designed for much older skin. I also worry about the amount of products they are using, and if it will cause irreversible skin issues for them down the line.
Naturally, all of my advice and warnings fall on deaf ears, as they are both of an age where they know infinitely more than me and do not need my advice. Everything I say is taken with a hefty pinch of salt, but anything seen on TikTok is given instant credibility.
Perfect skin doesn’t exist and shouldn’t be the goal. Healthy skin, which has been hydrated and nourished from the inside, should be the goal. We should encourage them to expand their knowledge and learn about what their bodies need and the impacts of various chemicals. And we should also encourage them to be wary of anyone giving advice if they are also selling a product. Especially so if the advice itself is the product – in the form of an influencer looking for likes.
I have to remind myself that this generation is growing up with intense and intelligent marketing directed at them in ways we haven’t seen before. They are constantly bombarded with images of perfection, and this is likely just a drop in the ocean for them.
More than ever, it is so important that we reaffirm our own family values at the same rate as they receive all of these other messages. And we also need to give them freedom, without judgment, to explore their interests and develop their own identities.
Maybe some of the parents tearing their hair out at the price of Drunk Elephant products are raising future dermatologists or immunologists! Maybe some of this will stick with their future selves, and maybe it won’t. As always, our role is just to guide, support and love unconditionally. The rest is up to them.
Margaret is a busy mum of two, living and working in Kildare.
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