Customers and employees at popular beauty retail chains such as Sephora and Ulta have taken to social media to voice their frustration at the influx of pre-teen girls wreaking havoc in their stores.
Sequoia Cothran, a Sephora employee from Tennessee, told Fox News Digital, “Makeup is subjective and there's no fact that they're Sephora girls. And there's no age limit.” “It's more about what they're looking for when they're in the store.”
“It's also the way they treat the workers there,” the 21-year-old added. “You can see the mean girl antics of these 10-year-olds.”
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In recent weeks, the video-sharing app TikTok has been flooded with posts from women describing personal experiences of being bullied by pre-teen girls, 9 to 12 years old, known as “Sephora Kids'' while shopping. It has been posted and is being spread. for beauty products. Current and former employees have also shared stories of how these young customers were treated, saying they would make a mess of the store, be rude when they didn't get what they wanted, and spend hundreds of dollars on merchandise. Parents are said to be forced to use the same.
“We're seeing this aggressive attitude toward older people,” Cothran said. “This level of disrespect towards women from children is something I've never seen before. They just don't care.”
Cothran said “Sephora kids” often push other customers around to get to items first, open sealed items instead of buying them and contaminate them, or suddenly die while helping another customer. He said he witnessed the interruption.
with some viruses TikTok topicswomen are calling for beauty stores to impose age restrictions that prohibit anyone under 18 from entering the store.
Cothran said the problem stems from the influence of social media, which is why girls flock to Sephora for the same products.
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“They all follow trends,” she said. “I think that’s where the appeal comes from.”
Dr. Brooke Jaffee, a dermatologist who posts about skincare on TikTok, said: “This phenomenon is definitely alarming, given that young girls are becoming obsessed with adult beauty products. ” he said.
In recent weeks, dozens of videos have gone viral on TikTok in which women talk about the number of pre-teen girls shopping at beauty stores and their poor behavior. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“For Generation Alpha, expensive skin care and makeup have become status symbols driven by a desire to fit in,” Jeffy told Fox News Digital. She also blamed “influencer culture and brands” as being most responsible.
“Social media filters have fueled the sales of cosmetics to children with unrealistic expectations of perfect, poreless skin,” the dermatologist added. “Add to this the fear of aging modeled after influencers, parents and friends, and a desire for anti-aging skin care is created.”
These are the psychological, aging, and discoloration effects of wearing makeup every day.
She says the most concerning behavior among pre-teen girls is the use of retinol, exfoliating acids, and multi-step regimens that are “too harsh on their normal healthy skin.” said.
“I'm not only concerned about the damage children are doing to their skin with products that don't suit their skin, but also the psychological effects of placing too much emphasis on appearance from an early age,” Jeffy said. .
Mr Jeffe said influencers needed to change their ways to avoid advertising to young children, but Mr Cothran said it was parents who needed to take responsibility. Since TikTok requires a minimum user age of 13, influencers likely don't know that their audience is elementary school-aged children, she said.
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“What's happening is that parents don't want to discipline their kids, but they don't want you to discipline them either,” said a Sephora employee.
“They're kids after all, and they're only doing what they're allowed to do,” Cothran added. So when your kids are reaching for these items, you as a parent have the authority to step in and say, “Let's take a look at this.” Please put it back. ”
Sephora and Ulta did not respond to requests for comment.
