The phenomenon is as intriguing as the name it gave itself: #SephoraKids is the rallying hashtag on social networks for many preteen girls who are passionate about beauty and skin care products. Like flocks of starlings, groups of very young girls now chronically invade the aisles of specialized stores, including those of the famous black and white French brand: Sephora – lovers of semantic irony will note that the name of this biblical character literally means “little bird”. These very young consumers are looking for blushes, glosses and glitters, but also – and I never tire of this novelty – anti-aging creams, skin tighteners and other flesh plumpers…
Where the hell did these little girls aged 9 to 13 go to invent a (expensive) need to fight against fine lines and wrinkles? On social networks, of course – TikTok and Instagram in the lead – where some of their fellow influencers explain to them, while slathering themselves with retinol in front of the greedy eye of their phone, that for perfect skin, the master- word is from an-ti-ci-per.
An increasingly early craze
This new fashion is quite difficult to quantify, but let’s still give two indicators. First, the hashtag #SephoraKids had been seen some 597 million times on TikTok at the beginning of March. Then, data from Statista, cited recently by the BBC, show that, driven by an increasingly early craze, the children’s skin care market is expected to experience an annual growth rate of around 7.7% until ‘in 2028, the year when it would reach a global volume of 380 million dollars. At the same time, the number of product users is expected to reach 160.7 million worldwide by the same year.
There are of course a thousand things to say about this phenomenon. A thousand things to say about the effects of social networks on the image and self-esteem of our children. A thousand things to say, too, about the effects of retinol on such young skin – in summary, the dermatologists I briefly questioned on the issue do not recommend truly not. But there is also a point, almost anthropological, which is illustrated in this example: it is the extent to which the omnipresent and infinite prescription of the Internet collides head-on with the good old transmission from generation to generation. Discussion with parents. Advice from elders. The example. Imitation… In short: the family conservatory, which transcends cultures and social classes. Of course, it is not a question of making the latter the alpha and omega of self-construction.
Firstly because there are families where transmission is dysfunctional, even toxic. Then, because the family unit should never be a closed vacuum. Intergenerational transmission has always been hybridized, and fortunately, by changes in morals, by advances in scientific knowledge and by the competition of other prescriptions – those of friends, films, books, advertisements or magazines . However, today, even the simplest and most loving advice is undermined by the infinite prescribing capacity of the Internet.
A childhood at the mercy of toxic algorithms
At all ages of life, for the little things (the first “beauty routine”) as well as the big things (how to raise your child – sorry, we say “parenthood” in the world of algorithms), the dizziness of the decision, the infinity of possibilities, the obsession with perfection are falsely appeased by the prescriptions of millions of Internet coaches. With this idea that TikTok necessarily knows better than the elders. It’s the arrogance of the present mixed with the kif of the algorithm.
Of course, it is still too early to know how far these developments will go, and whether there will not be, by swinging the pendulum, adjustment mechanisms. But at the youngest level, in any case, we can only see the hypocrisy of a society which claims to protect childhood and which leaves it more and more at the mercy of toxic algorithms. And note that far from quenching anxiety, these millions of hashtag tips end up feeding it. At the risk of sounding a bit tart (anti-aging), let’s remember that the frame and transmission, which have such a bad press, can be vectors of self-confidence. And that’s not a small subject for new generations.
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