My horror at the TikTok trend filling tween Christmas stockings this year

Of all the defining moments in a relationship, this was a particularly unexpected one. I’d asked my good friend what I should get her ten-year-old daughter for Christmas, and was now staring at her WhatsApp reply in shock and horror.

Not for this little girl toys, or games, or even Amazon vouchers so she could choose herself – nope, she wanted a Drunk Elephant eye cream she’d seen on YouTube. An eye cream containing retinol, no less.

And my friend - a normally sensible, loving mum – seemingly had no issue with her being given it. Most of her schoolmates had similar so she probably figured it was fine. “She’s obsessed with skincare,” my friend added, “They all are.”

Spoiler alert: I did not buy the ten year old retinol eye cream.

But although most dermatologists don’t recommend retinol under the age of 25, or eye cream before 20, the tween in question is far from the only one hoping for both in her stocking this Christmas.

Perhaps the equivalent of young girls walking around in their mum’s high heels and lipstick back in the day, Generation Alpha are all about skincare. Kourtney Kardashian’s then-11 year old daughter Penelope Disick posted a TikTok video of her 10 step, £400 beauty routine back in 2023, and it seemed to kickstart a movement.

The ensuing discussion about the damage the harsh products could be doing on her young, sensitive skin – the British Association for Dermatologists has warned they could cause irreversible problems, not least allergies and eczema - apparently fell on deaf ears.

And of course Penelope isn’t alone - skincare content is unrestricted on social media and many daily-routine and get-ready-with-me videos posted by users of all ages attract millions of views.

Now there’s even a term for young beauty addicts swarming the aisles of shops – a Sephora Kid – and grown women have to be quick to get their hands on the latest viral must-haves before they’re snapped up by shoppers decades their junior.

“As the owner of a natural beauty brand I’m fascinated by how many well educated adult women have no idea what’s in any of their skincare products, so how can we expect their 13 year old daughters to?” says NEOM Wellbeing’s founder Nicola Elliott.

“We blindly trust that brands stocked by big shops are safe and good, and that’s not always the case, especially as everyone’s skin is different and reacts differently.”

Aspirational beauty store Sephora launching in the UK back in March 2023 appears to have been another important milestone in this worrying craze – finally brands like celebrity favourite Drunk Elephant, that tweens had only seen on social media, were now readily available to them.

Its colourful packaging and prices ranging from £15 for the Jelly Cleanser make it wildly popular with Gen Alpha, so much so that the company’s founder has had to tell kids and tweens to stay away from “our more potent products that include acids and retinol” on social media.

Drunk Elephant’s Tiffany Masterson added, “Their skin does not need these ingredients quite yet.” She also told Ad Age, “I don’t think it’s such a new thing with kids wanting nice things that are expensive and that are out of their reach. I think TikTok pushed it over the edge, but that feels like it’s been in the last two years or so.”

Dermatologist Dr Brooke Jeffy, who specialises in tween skincare, made an online video stating in no uncertain terms that, “Drunk Elephant products may be fine for adult skin but for kiddos, it is definitely not!” She went on to explain that, “Tween skin deserves gentle care, not a pricey, extensive skincare routine… harsh chemicals aren’t meant for those in-between years.”

But is anyone listening to these warnings? In an industry already worth billions – Allied Market Research predicts the global skincare market will reach $189.3 billion by 2026 – teens are a big part of that growth.

Social media stars with filtered, flawless skin, billing a skincare routine as “self care” plus the peer pressure of all their friends being fully onboard is a dangerous combination for any tween today.

NEOM’s Nicola Elliott’s savvy 14-year-old daughter seems to have found a hack though.

“She’s taken my empty expensive skincare bottles and decanted a mild, safe moisturiser into it,” laughs Nicola.

“That way she has the kudos of the brand on her dressing table, without any of the danger”.

Here’s hoping that’s one bit of influencing that will take off.