BUENOS AIRES — Consumption of beauty products among 12- to 18 year-olds, is rising due to their promotion on social media and by influencers. The trend, which also fits into contexts of female empowerment and heightened image consciousness, is being called cosmeticorexia.
As figures show, more and more teenagers are buying and using face creams, eye creams and anti-ageing products that are both unnecessary and harmful to their skin. In a poll in Argentina, a country that adores youth and beauty, 78% of girls aged 13 to 18 said they “frequently” buy personal care products, and almost half said they had bought some type of makeup over the past year, says Ximena Díaz Alarcón, co-founder and CEO of Youniversal, a marketing firm.
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The trend is also fueling treatments such as serum injections or hormone therapies to fight skin problems such as acne. Díaz Alarcon sees an equally “disturbing” phenomenon in 3% of Argentine teenagers using anti-aging products.
Unrealistic ideals
So what is the origin of this premature desire to use makeup and creams? Buenos Aires-based dermatologist Silvina Alejandra Bruey cites websites like Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube as the “chief promoters” of makeup use among girls, “who see other girls using them on these applications and think it’s allowed.” Industry and content creators are thus creating “a new necessity” among girls and young women, she says.
Psychologist and therapist Alexis Alderete says the trend is not unrelated to established and “unrealistic” beauty ideals the media have touted for a while now. Girls are now emulating influencers, he says, while use of beauty products means they are eager to skip a phase of their natural lives to “adopt the habits of adults.”
Certain beauty products are not only unhelpful, but can also cause skin problems
Girls need accompaniment as they develop, Alderete says, to “understand that a lot of what they consume is not real. The consequences of wanting… a certain lifestyle can lead… to constant dissatisfaction and frustration. Obsessive practices — like retouching the tiniest details of pictures shared on social media — can provoke anxiety disorders, low self-esteem and body dysmorphia.”
Alderete suggests restricting mobile phone use and encouraging hobbies unrelated to technology, like reading or sports.
Adverse effects
In addition to psychological harm, Bruey warns that certain beauty products are not only unhelpful, but can also cause skin problems such as acne, irritation or even burns.
Dermatologist Marina Bois explains that children’s skin lacks certain protective mechanisms present in adult skin, and that beauty products can block pores, promoting bacteria. The solution, she says, is to “entirely eliminate the causal factor: cosmetics.”
So how should young people care for their skin? Dermatologist María Jiménez Martínez says the best practice is to keep it clean, humid and protected from the sun. The components of anti-aging products, being typically acidic, are corrosive and might provoke prolonged allergic reactions.
A broader guideline for keeping your skin health is to keep yourself healthy.
Beauty products are not to be equated with care products like cleansing or acne gels developed especially for teenagers. If you are looking for a cleansing product, says Bois, let it be natural, “without corrosive substances, or synthetic color and fragrance.”
A broader guideline for keeping your skin health is to keep yourself healthy. That includes common sense measures like eating “real food and avoiding junk or highly processed foods, exercising, drinking lots of water and getting a good night’s sleep,” Bruey says.
Parents must also talk openly to their children, Bois said, and “ask them why they want to go to school wearing makeup, and… explain patiently the harm of applying these things to your face too young. It’s one thing to play at putting on makeup before removing it, and another to apply mascara, lipstick and foundation to go to school.”
