If you are tired of seeing tweens and teens browse the anti-aging products at Sephora while you’re really looking for something to reduce your wrinkles, then you may have one less thing to worry about — if you’re in California, that is. A new bill wants to protect children from the risks of using adult cosmetic products by banning them from purchasing them.
Alex Lee, a California assemblymember, introduced the bill this week to protect kids under the age of 18 from anti-aging products. “Kids don’t need anti-aging products. The beauty industry knows that, and some companies have acknowledged the issue. But their statements — absent real and meaningful action — are performative and fall short of responsible behavior. We have to stop the beauty industry from exploiting our youth. It’s time we take action, and my bill is a common-sense measure to protect kids from unnecessary and potentially harmful anti-aging products,” Assemblymember Lee said in his bill proposal. He believes that the beauty industry is cashing in on Sephora kids.
The rise of viral skin-care products on TikTok introduced younger children, both Gen Z and Gen Alpha, to beauty products that children had never used before. Drunk Elephant is one of the most popular brands among them. Yes, the products are colorful and pretty on a tween’s beauty shelf, but in those vibrant bottles are usually lots of active ingredients. Products like retinol and Drunk Elephant’s popular Babyfacial are formulated with harsh ingredients on a skin barrier. Those ingredients are made for more mature skin. But for a 16-year-old who has a much more delicate skin barrier that’s more prone to irritation? Not okay.
Last year when we went shopping with kids who frequent Sephora, one 11-year-old said she walks into a Sephora whenever she sees one because “there’s so much pressure to look perfect.” Her 12-year-old friend goes to the retailer for lip balm and doesn’t know how other kids her age can afford Drunk Elephant. Other products some of the kids liked were the Ordinary’s hyaluronic-acid serum, Dior’s lip oil, and the Glow Recipe moisturizer.
The proposed California bill would ban the sale of products with vitamin A as an ingredient, so all retinol and retinoid products and products with AHAs, including glycolic acid, vitamin C, and citric acid. These products, which are often labeled as anti-aging, not only harm the skin barrier of young kids but also send a message that they need to start caring about preventative aging measures at such a young age. As for their lip oils and Glow Recipe moisturizers? Those are fine. I don’t know how kids were affording them to begin with, as most retinols or anti-aging products aren’t inexpensive (Drunk Elephant’s is $76 and Paula’s Choice is $89). Hopefully, they don’t start digging into their parents’ beauty products like one 10-year-old aspiring beauty YouTuber told us.