But should they do something about it? Allure spoke to dermatologists, psychologists, and pediatricians—many of whom are parents of tweens themselves—to find out. Maybe that’s why you’re here: Your 11-year-old asked for night cream for their birthday. Do you get it for them? Or maybe, like me, you’re merely a concerned citizen who can’t quite wrap their head around when middle schoolers stopped using Caboodles and started using mini skin-care fridges (yep, that’s a thing).

Before we hear from the experts, though, we thought it best to go straight to the source. Because amid thousands of recent headlines about tweens’ obsession with beauty products, we’ve heard very little from the subjects themselves. And who better to tell us about what preteens are using and loving—and why—than the kids themselves? So, over the course of about six weeks—in lockstep with their parents—Allure followed the beauty lives of seven tweens ranging in age from 10 to 13.

Have you ever tried to schedule a Zoom call with a tweenager? It’s not easy. Between soccer games, swim lessons, and band practices, I met with Nicky, a 13-year-old living in Brooklyn; Blake, a 10-year-old from Washington, D.C.; Kionn, an 11-year-old in Santa Fe; London, a 10-year-old from the outskirts of Los Angeles; Olivia, a 12-year-old in the New York tri-state area; and Ginger and Geneva, 11-year-old twin sisters who live not far from Newark, New Jersey.

I am a woman in my early 30s living in New York City. My friends have infants; my youngest cousin is 21. I didn’t know what to say to an 11-year-old. But then, the Zoom screen clicked on and we started speaking a language we both understood: beauty.

Nicky is referring to the golden-hued, peptide-infused drops that tweens have taken to mixing with Drunk Elephant moisturizers to create a subtle, glowy effect. He went to Sephora to find them and watched as the last bottle was plucked off the shelf—or rather, ferociously grabbed—by another, younger preteen. Eventually, he ordered the $38 drops directly from the brand’s website.

During a matter of weeks toward the end of last fall, tweens who weren’t previously familiar with the brand caught wind of it through their favorite influencers and started flocking to its neon colors like moths to a light. “It was an explosion that was faster and bigger than our ability to educate and to talk about it,” says Masterson. And there was education that needed to be done: Some of the brand’s products contain ingredients like retinol, a form of vitamin A that can smooth fine lines, and glycolic acid, which helps resurface skin. As in, they’re not intended—nor appropriate—for tweens.

When interest among preteens reached a fever pitch in December, Drunk Elephant released a statement on its Instagram acknowledging that while, yes, many of its products are suitable for “all skin,” those with retinol and acids are not. “Not every product we have is for every person,” says Masterson. She also wants to be clear: She’s not making the case for tweens to be using a $64 moisturizer, but educating young people who happen to discover the brand about which products won’t be harmful to their skin. “It’s not like we recommend these products [for kids],” says Masterson. “If someone is choosing to [use us], then that’s a different story.”

Other made-for-adult brands that just so happen to have youthful packaging have also become big hits with tweens: Skinfix, Supergoop, and Youth To The People are among them. Glow Recipe, with its pastel color palette and fruit-inspired product ranges, is another. London, the 10-year-old living outside of Los Angeles, keeps her Glow Recipe-laden skin-care collection arranged by color, like a rainbow. When she got a $40 Sephora gift card for her birthday in September, she used it to buy the brand’s Blueberry Bounce Gentle Cleanser ($34). Why does she like it? “It's not heavy at all and it just smells really good.”

One thing that hasn’t changed since the glory days of Bath & Body Works in the 1990s is that for tweens, fragrance is paramount. Sol de Janeiro, a body-care brand founded in 2015, was best known for its Brazilian Bum Bum Cream—until preteens started scooping up the brand’s perfume mists like their millennial parents collected Tamagotchis. London used another birthday gift card to get mist number 40 (it has a real name, but tweens refer to each fragrance by the digits on the front of the bottle), a blend of vanilla and jasmine that costs $24 for a mini version. “It lasts longer than any other perfume I've had,” she says.

I received reports from several of our tweens that the hallways of middle schools across the country smell like a mixture of several Sol de Janeiro scents, which girls keep in their lockers. Among boys, cologne is a “big thing,” says Olivia, the 12-year-old from the New York tri-state area. “They sell samples of cologne to each other.” One boy will invest in a bottle—Dior, Burberry, and Valentino are among the most popular, she says—and decant it into vials that go for about $5 each. Kionn, the 11-year-old, reports that anything Jean Paul Gaultier is a big seller at his school in Santa Fe.

I offer that it sounds like a good business idea, and Olivia agrees. “It is,” she says, “until they start testing them in the halls.” There, notes of musk and sandalwood meet the sweet smells of Sol de Janeiro and…I’m getting a headache just thinking about it. “It’s so gross at this point,” says Nicky of the collective aroma. Personally, he prefers to wear Glossier You ($72) or Tom Ford Ombré Leather ($155). “I want brands that don't really care about gender lines,” he says.

Except for special occasions like holidays or birthday parties, nail polish isn’t widely used among tweens (volleyball practice and violin lessons will do a number on a manicure). Olivia says that her friends are into shaping their nails ballerina-style—in which tips are slightly squared-off to resemble a pointe shoe—but that they don’t collect polishes with nearly the same fervor as skin care. London likes wearing Glamnetic Press-On Nails ($15) sometimes, but laments the fact that most other brands don’t make nails teeny-tiny enough to fit her 10-year-old hands.

Hair products, too, seem to be less covetable to tweens—probably because influencers (of both the online and offline varieties) can’t speak to what works for hair types and textures other than their own. “A lot of my friends have wavy or straight hair, so they can't give me recommendations,” says Olivia, who uses products by Bumble and Bumble (a suggestion from her mom Grace) to style her thick curls. Grace has also passed down the Indian ritual of hair oiling to her daughter: Every few weeks, she coats her daughter’s curls with Ranavat Fortifying Hair Serum ($70) and gives her a scalp massage.

Ginger and Geneva, the 11-year-old twins living in New Jersey, get their hair done in braids or twists “every couple of months.” Before appointments, they scroll through TikTok and Instagram for style inspiration. Kionn looks to Bad Bunny, Travis Scott, and the ‘90s hip-hop duo Kris Kross when he gets braids or cornrows. He also watches barbers on YouTube and gives style recommendations to his friends.

Kionn has the unique privilege of having a mom who’s a hairstylist and can execute his vision—especially when it comes to color. Each time he and I meet over Zoom, his hair is a different shade. (“I’ve done blue, red, pink, purple…,” he says.) “I let Kionn dye his hair for the first time when he was six,” says his mom Michelle. “Saying it out loud sounds crazy to me because I never thought I would allow it. But he really, really wanted to do it.” For Kionn, hair is all about self-expression—just like makeup is for Blake, the 10-year-old living in Washington, DC.

Blake got a unicorn-themed eye shadow palette when she was about six, at which time she started experimenting with makeup—until her mom got an email from her teacher saying that she wasn’t allowed to wear it. “After that happened, I was like, ‘Okay, we have to have a talk about when and where to wear makeup,’” says Blake’s mom, Alia. Now, Blake “plays around” with makeup at home while watching YouTube tutorials. She’s also upgraded her tools: Her current collection includes Tarte Shape Tape concealer ($32) and Sephora Collection Best Skin Ever foundation ($22).

“I know a lot of adults don't think children should be wearing foundation,” says Alia. She recalls when she and Blake were shopping together at Ulta and a sales advisor was surprised the foundation they were buying was for daughter, not mother. “Blake likes to practice putting on makeup, and as a parent, I don’t have a problem with that,” says Alia. “There’s a time and place; it’s not part of her everyday routine.”

Whether or not it's mandatory, most tweens keep makeup to a minimum at school: They wear lip gloss, blush, and maybe a little clear mascara. Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, in particular, has made its way into backpacks. “I gave my Summer Fridays lip balm to my friend during an assembly and my teacher said I was being distracting and took it away,” says Nicky, who also wears a teeny bit of concealer. “He said he was going to give it back, but when I asked him for it, he said he lost it. I was like, ‘What?! That’s $30!’”

More specifically, it’s $24—but you get the point. Which brings us to…

Though it was a rite of passage for previous generations, gone are the days of going to CVS or Walgreens to buy your first cleanser. I, for one, didn’t realize there were options beyond Neutrogena until I was in college—but the tweens of 2024 have breezed right past the drugstore and gone straight for Sephora and Ulta. Some “drugstore products” like CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion ($20) and Maybelline New York Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara ($13) have made their way into tween routines, but that’s by way of Ulta, which stocks mass brands in addition to prestige ones like Nars and Dior.

Save for The Ordinary and The Inkey List—brands that have built their entire value proposition on affordability—and its own in-house collection, the same can’t be said of Sephora, where the average price of a full-size moisturizer hovers around $50.

“His passions are very different from most boys’, so I want to encourage him,” adds Nicky’s mom Rachel. Nicky receives a $25 allowance weekly, and if he chooses to siphon off some of it for a new fragrance, that’s his call, she says. Rachel covers the cost of what she calls “indispensable” items that border on hygiene products—like cleanser and sunscreen—though, “Nicky would consider all of his products indispensable,” she says.

Sephora gift cards are a hot commodity—and highly requested around birthdays and holidays—since they allow tweens to shop without the lurking shadow of a credit card-wielding parent. When Olivia gets home from shopping with her friends, she and her mom sit down and review what she purchased. Together, they talk about what the product promises to do, its ingredients, and how Olivia plans to incorporate it into her routine.

But just because a tween is in Sephora without parental supervision doesn’t necessarily mean they’re shopping. Some locations—especially those within walking distance of middle schools—have become post-dismissal destinations. “It's really fun to go there and just hang out with your friends, even if you're not going to get anything,” says Nicky. “I feel like you see more preteens and teens in Sephora these days than grown-ups.”

Before Sephora became the after-school hot spot for tweens, it was Starbucks. Before that, Nicky says, “Everyone used to have babysitters.” Sephora might want to consider employing some of its own: Late last year, reports surfaced that tweens were destroying the Drunk Elephant products on display intended to be used as testers. Instead, preteens were applying lip balm straight out of the tube and creating skin-care “smoothies” by mixing bronzing drops with moisturizer—and not cleaning up afterwards.

The tweens I spoke to would like to set the record straight: Don’t blame them, blame the kids. The 13-year-olds say the 11-year-olds are out of hand. The 10-year-olds point fingers at the 9-year-olds. “I don’t really like the image that the kids put out,” says Olivia. “It's gross the way they treat testers.” To help deflect, Masterson says Drunk Elephant is posting more content on its social channels showing that skin-care “smoothies” can be mixed in the palms of hands instead of on the tops of jars.

Even so, tweens from both coasts tell me they’ve heard that some Sephora stores aren’t allowing anyone under 14 to enter, whether or not they’re accompanied by a parent. In light of that policy, “kids are sending their mothers in to get them Drunk Elephant,” reports Olivia. (A representative for Sephora told Allure its stores do not have such policies; the retailer declined to comment further for this story.)

Among our seven subjects, there was no talk of department stores. There was also very little talk of online shopping. “I get most of my products in person,” says Ginger. For his part, Kionn likes going to Cos Bar, a luxury retailer with a boutique-like feel, specifically to sniff out colognes from brands like Tom Ford. He asks for bottles as holiday gifts and sometimes gets them as a reward for achievements like acing a test. He also enjoys checking out the grooming section at his local T.J.Maxx since the stock is forever changing.

Some tweens shop even closer to home—they borrow from the shelves of their siblings and parents. Ginger and Geneva have been known to wear their mom’s fragrances (like Tom Ford Bitter Peach and Carolina Herrera Good Girl), and treasure a bottle of Givenchy Irresistible that their older sister left behind when she moved out of the house.

London, too, takes cues from her 25-year-old sister Ashley: It was she who taught her how to massage her face with a gua sha tool, which London now keeps in the mini skin-care fridge in her bedroom along with Florence by Mills undereye patches ($36). I ask her if she’s a fan of the brand’s founder, the actor Millie Bobby Brown. “Not really,” says London.

Not once during any of our many conversations did a tween tell me that they use products to enhance their appearance or to make their skin look firmer or brighter. Nor did they say that they’re looking to prevent aging. “Anti-aging products don’t make you look better,” says Geneva. “It’s weird to look 20 when you’re 50.”

Laurel Naversen Geraghty, a board-certified dermatologist based in Medford, Oregon, says her younger patients aren’t expressing concerns about aging, either—more often, they’re in her chair because they’ve given themselves irritant or allergic contact dermatitis from introducing too many new products too quickly.

All that said, the question is no longer if tweens are using skin care but—if not for the same reasons adults are—why? When I ask our preteens, the answers I get are all variations of “it’s fun” or “it feels nice.”

“When I finish all my homework and I do my skin care and I get in bed, it feels just really good,” says Nicky. And that’s certainly valid.

Even if tweens aren’t sharing their own videos on TikTok, they’re highly in tune with what comes across their For You page. (The platform does not allow users under 13 but does offer a limited version of the app, TikTok for Younger Users, with “curated content” for that age group. As of press time, a representative for TikTok had not responded when asked if that content could potentially include beauty-related videos.) “I was looking on YouTube and TikTok and I started seeing a whole bunch of skin care and I asked mom if we could go get some,” says Blake of what prompted her initial interest about a year ago, which was piqued when she got a phone in October—about a month before her 10th birthday.

Our other six subjects are also on social media, though some more than others. Olivia pumped the brakes on TikTok after it became “a big obsession” of hers in 2020. (I can relate—but I was 27 that year, not nine.) “I know kids who scroll and scroll on TikTok and I’m like, ‘I’ve got homework to do,’” she says. She is on Instagram and Pinterest, the latter of which was a surprise to this millennial reporter. I remember using it to make a mood board for my dorm room sometime around 2012.

Pinterest—while not populated by “influencers” per se—is favored among tweens for the way it promotes discovery. It’s where London learned about heatless curls, which can be achieved by wrapping one’s hair around a tool that resembles a fraction of a pool noodle covered in fabric. London immediately asked her mom for permission to use her Amazon account to buy one.

“I think [what’s happening now] is a little bit different because it's very much about having a certain type of product, developing a whole regimen, and being engaged in the process of putting it all on,” Dr. Diedrichs says. It’s possible that such rituals could add more layers of pressure—related to status, conformity, and image—during an already-tumultuous phase of life, she continues. “We see quite a big increase in appearance-based concerns among young people [as they approach] the age of 14,” adds Dr. Fardouly. “It’s a very vulnerable period.”

For that same reason, while similar in some respects, comparing the Gen Alpha obsession with beauty products to my generation’s obsession with Beanie Babies isn’t exactly apples to apples. “I have no doubt that [tweens are] probably finding this really fun and that’s why they’re doing it. My concern is, why skin care?” says Dr. Diedrichs. “There are infinite things that could be fun and give you that sense of playfulness or experimentation [that don’t have anything to do with] the objectification and commercialization of our bodies.”

That’s not to say there aren’t positive side effects, too. “I think it's wonderful to see kids start to think about how they take care of themselves,” says Yolanda Evans, a board-certified pediatrician who serves as chief of the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. As unfamiliar hairs start to sprout and body odor begins to blossom (signs of puberty, which has been starting younger and younger in recent decades, according to research), taking care of oneself may provide a sense of autonomy for preteens, explains Dr. Evans. “It gets young people thinking about what makes them feel good and how they want to present themselves to the world,” she says.

And since tweens are starting to understand the importance of wearing sunscreen every day to prevent melanoma, there can be health benefits, too. “[I wear it] even when it's not sunny,” says Kionn, who likes the way Black Girl Sunscreen SPF 30 ($19) blends into his skin tone. “If we [as parents] can say, ‘Hey, I'll get you this Sunday Riley product that you really want, but I also want you to use this SPF cream that’s really great,’” says Dr. Naversen Geraghty. “Maybe that's a nice point of negotiation to encourage kids to take the most important step of their skin-care routine.”

Dr. Naversen Geraghty’s own kids—ages 13 and 15—have been wearing sunscreen since birth. “They’re very much into taking care of their skin,” she says. But they’re not “into” skin care in the sense that they use what some might consider “basic” drugstore cleanser, moisturizer, and SPF—just like their dermatologist mom. Rather than Drunk Elephant or Glow Recipe, her daughter asked for a “medium-size tub of Aquaphor” as a birthday gift this year.

Keeping the lines of communication open between tween and caregiver (whether or not that caregiver is a dermatologist) is of utmost importance, especially when it comes to the social media of it all. While watching a Get Ready With Me video may not be intrinsically problematic, watching 10 in a row is a different story. And even just one beauty-related video can be a domino in a cascade of content that, when consumed en masse by easily impressionable preteens, can reinforce unrealistic ideals.

“The main aim of the algorithms is to keep people's engagement and attention on the platform,” says Dr. Fardouly. “So if they think that this person is interested in [beauty] content, then they're going to feed them more and more and more of that content and then their environment can very quickly become skewed—and that's what really concerns me.”

But young people are, of course, people—and can have infinitely different responses to the same situation. “There may be groups who engage with this content and it really doesn't have any long-term consequences,” says Dr. Fardouly. But for others, being bombarded with a steady stream of beauty content could pave a dangerous path toward appearance-related anxiety in the years to come.

Dr. Fardouly says that her research has revealed that skin and hair-related insecurities are perhaps even more closely tied to social media than weight and body-related ones since we see more faces than head-to-toe bodies online. Also see beauty filters, which can blur complexions and contort facial features. Even if tweens aren’t using filters on photos of themselves, the influencers they follow almost certainly are.

At this point, you might be tempted to throw your child’s phone into the nearest body of water. And I’m not going to stop you—studies have consistently linked smartphones and social media to depression, anxiety, and loneliness in young people. But word travels fast in the tween community, so just know your preteen will probably find out how to create a skin-care “smoothie” anyway. Dr. Evans’s oldest daughter, who is 11, doesn’t have a phone or access to Instagram or TikTok, but she got curious about skin care last year. More recently, she started experimenting with makeup. “I think it's probably a combination of peer influence and media influence,” says Dr. Evans. (Her daughter does watch YouTube and television, she says.)

What’s a parent to do if their tween starts consuming contouring tutorials? First of all, take a deep breath. “I certainly try not to be too judgmental of parents, especially because young people are always attracted to platforms that their parents aren't on,” says Dr. Fardouly. “So often the parents aren't really familiar with the intricacies of that new platform, which makes it really hard.”

Hard, but not impossible. Make the effort to join the platform, then have an open conversation: Ask your kids who they follow (and follow them yourself so you see what your child is seeing), what intrigues them about their content, and address any concerns you might have (like, if a teen influencer is singing the praises of retinol). “As parents and caregivers, when we are open to hearing what our tweens’ ideas are, they listen when we offer advice or feedback, too,” says Dr. Evans.

And do your best to practice what you preach: “We find that modeling positive attitudes and behaviors is potentially the most powerful thing that parents can do for their children,” says Dr. Fardouly. So be mindful of how often you’re on your phone around your kids, and speak positively about appearance in your household. Because if previous generations have not-so-fond memories of their mothers loudly counting calories (and the body image-related issues to show for it), Gen Alpha is poised to recall talk of Botox and miracle creams. Experts aren’t saying you should hide your own multistep routine from your children, but be open to discussing what you’re doing and why you do it—and maybe curb the commentary about your jowls and why you need that new firming serum.

Because here is the cold, hard truth: None of us—whether 9 or 99—actually need beauty products. (Yes, you’re still reading Allure.) But boy, do we want them. They make us feel good, even special. Beauty rituals give us comfort and a feeling of stability—and heck, something other than the news to talk about with our friends. And is that the worst thing in the world? Probably not.

“To me, there are worse vices for kids to have,” says Dr. Naversen Geraghty. (Did I mention that before she was a dermatologist, she was an Allure editor?) “As long as the product doesn't cause them irritation and they want to use it, then fine. It's not about skin care anymore. It's a hobby. It's a pastime. It's an obsession. And sometimes it's a flex, right?” As my editor’s 40-something friend said to her recently: “I was smoking cigarettes in the school bathroom when I was 12. If my 12-year-old daughter just wants a hyaluronic acid serum to fit in, great.”

Nicky, the 13-year-old, was the first tween I interviewed, and weeks later, also the last. As we sign off, I ask him if he’s got any fun plans for the weekend. “I’m going to a 13th birthday party tomorrow, and I have no clue what to get them,” he sighs. “I’ve got to go to Sephora.”