Kids Obsessed With Skincare Routines: A Dermatologist’s Advice

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Eight, nine, ten-year-old girls, making videos about their multi-step skin care routines that get millions of views. Pre-teens, fixated by face care. Flocking to popular retailers, and spending hundreds of dollars on pricey products. Nine-year-old Dylan tells WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty that’s exactly what got her into skin care, too. “I feel like YouTube and all my friends doing it,” says the little girl.

“She was using a couple little things that I thought were harmless,” explains Dylan’s mom, Brittany Newcomb. Brittany says, “Her face started getting a little patchy and red, and then all of a sudden her eyes were bloodshot.” Brittany took to her own social media accounts to sound the alarm. She told her followers, “I took (Dylan) to the doctor.” And, “Immediately, I started to freak out and I felt like a horrible mom.”

Brittany continues, “Why would I allow her to use this stuff? It’s so silly in the first place.”

But she is not alone.

Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist dermatologist Dr. Sarah Taylor knows exactly what these tweens are seeing online. She grimaces as she paints the picture of the popular videos: “This girl with this puffy headband, nine-years-old, is like, ‘I’m going to take you through my 12-step skincare routine.'”

Taylor continues, “I have seen a lot of localized, superficial skin irritation in the last several months because of all of the products that these younger people are using.”

Dr. Taylor says these are the ingredients and products to avoid for young skin: retinol, alpha or beta hydroxy acids, fragrance, dye, sheet masks, and one more thing: “I would say is a no no…is a scrub of any sort.” Taylor says scrubs are often made with pumice, bamboo, even walnut shells, and do more harm than good to young skin.

She says there are two things tweens can use: cleanser and sunscreen.

Brittany got rid of Dylan’s multi-step skin care products. Now, Dylan has age-appropriate products to use. She says, “I have Cerave lotion and then just something for my lips.” Brittany is relieved her daughter’s skin is back to normal. She says she learned a lesson, explaining: “I feel like we can all do a little more research at times before we say yes.

Dr. Taylor says she tells her young patients: you have the best skin right now. Enjoy other things, because all of these multi-step skin care routines will come later in life.