The truth about 'Sephora kids' taking over TikTok: Children as young as 7 are using dozens of products on their faces - putting them at risk of lifelong skin allergies
The 'get ready with me' video is one of the most popular formats for TikTok influencers to show off their elaborate beauty regimes.
Children dubbed 'Sephora kids' are getting involved in the trend, with terrifying consequences.
Scientists from Northwestern University found that children as young as seven are using over a dozen products on their skin every day.
These expensive routines are putting children at risk of skin irritation, sun sensitivity, and developing lifelong skin allergies.
By creating dummy accounts posing as 13-year-olds the researchers collected 100 videos from the TikTok 'For You Page'.
On average, girls aged between seven and 18 used six different skin care products in their routines, with some using far more.
The survey also revealed the vast sums of money that youngsters are willing to spend on products.
Teenagers' routines cost an average of $168 (£124) with some girls using products that cost over $500 (£370) in total.
Searching for 'skin care' or 'skin care routine' on TikTok will return thousands of videos, many of which have hundreds of thousands or even millions of likes.
These videos largely feature young women showing their complicated, multi-step skincare routines.
For example, one video with over 4.1 million likes recommends a routine of six different treatments including Vitamin C cream, hyaluronic acid, and 'chemical exfoliants'.
Yet the study found that many younger users on the app were showcasing routines with even more steps.
While these routines promised to deliver 'glassy' or 'glowy' skin, the researchers found that they actually put teenagers at high risk of skin irritation.
The top-viewed videos analysed by the researchers contained an average of 11 potentially irritating ingredients.
Corresponding author Dr Molly Hales, a dermatologist at Northwestern University, says: 'That high risk of irritation came from both using multiple active ingredients at the same time, such as hydroxy acids.
Those ingredients could trigger an allergic condition called contact dermatitis which can limit the kinds of soaps and shampoos that people can use for the rest of their lives.
Dr Hales adds that there was also a risk from 'applying the same active ingredient unknowingly over and over again when that active ingredient was found in three, four, five different products.'
However, the video creators appeared either unaware of the risks or unconcerned by the potential negative impacts.
For example, in one video a young social media user applied 10 different products to her face in six minutes.
Senior author Dr Tara Lagu, a pharmacist and health services researcher from Northwestern University, says: 'As she's applying the products, she begins to express discomfort and burning, and in the final few minutes, she develops a visible skin reaction.'
In another post, a 'teenage girl in braces' smeared 14 products on her face while instructing her viewers on the proper methods of application.
By the end of the video, the girl's face becomes visibly inflamed and red as she says: 'This is what my skin looks like. It is very glowy right now, I love it! But also, I just had some allergic reaction to something that I tried, so ignore how red my face is.
'I don't know what's happening. But if anybody knows how to get it to stop burning, that would be greatly appreciated, because it actually hurts a lot.'
Additionally, the researchers found that the advice in these videos offered 'little to no benefit' to their intended audience.
Researchers warn that using so many products risks causing skin irritation and developing skin allergies which can affect people for the rest of their lives
For example, each of the top 25 most-viewed videos used an average of three products containing natural exfoliants called Alpha Hydroxy Acids (AHAs).
While these can be used to treat acne, only eight of the 82 content creators had any visible blemishes.
In these cases, the risk of developing contact dermatitis 'almost certainly' outweighs any potential benefits.
In fact, only 26 per cent of the routines shown included suncream - which dermatologists say is the most useful part of any skin care routine and is especially important for children.
Beyond simply giving bad skin care advice, the researchers also cautioned that these videos could be 'problematic' in other ways.
Analysis of the videos showed a strong emphasis on lighter, brighter skin which could reinforce unattainable beauty standards.
In the paper, published in Pediatrics, the researchers note that the videos encourage girls to pursue these goals under the guise of 'self-care'.
Girls are shown waking up as early as 04:30 am in order to fit in an elaborate skin care and makeup routine before school.
Dr Hales says: 'The insidious thing about 'skin care' is that it claims to be about health.
'It's problematic to show girls devoting this much time and attention to their skin. We're setting a very high standard for these girls.
'The pursuit of health has become a kind of virtue in our society, but the ideal of "health" is also very wrapped up in ideals of beauty, thinness and whiteness.'
METHODS FOR PARENTS TO KEEP THEIR CHILDREN SAFE ONLINE
Children as young as two are using social media, research from charity Barnardo's has suggested.
Internet companies are being pushed to do more to combat harmful content online but parents can also take steps to alter how their children use the web.
Here are some suggestions of how parents can help their children.
Both iOS and Google offer features that enable parents to filter content and set time limits on apps.
For iOS devices, such as an iPhone or iPad, you can make use of the Screen Time feature to block certain apps, content types or functions.
On iOS, this can be done by going to settings and selecting Screen Time.
For Android, you can install the Family Link app from the Google Play Store.
Talk to your children
Many charities, including the NSPCC, say talking to children about their online activity is vital to keep them safe.
Its website features a number of tips on how to start a conversation with children about using social media and the wider internet, including having parents visit sites with their children to learn about them together and discussing how to stay safe online and act responsibly.
There are tools available for parents to learn more about how social media platforms operate.
Net Aware, a website run in partnership by the NSPCC and O2, offers information about social media sites, including age requirement guidance.
The World Health Organisation recommends parents should limit young children to 60 minutes of screen time every day.
The guidelines, published in April, suggest children aged between two and five are restricted to an hour of daily sedentary screen time.
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4 hours ago
- The Independent
Many forget the damage done by diseases like whooping cough, measles and rubella. Not these families
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'This concern, this hesitancy, these questions about vaccines are a consequence of the great success of the vaccines – because they eliminated the diseases,' said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 'If you're not familiar with the disease, you don't respect or even fear it. And therefore you don't value the vaccine.' Anti-vaccine activists even portray the shots as a threat, focusing on the rare risk of side effects while ignoring the far larger risks posed by the diseases themselves — and years of real-world data that experts say proves the vaccines are safe. Some Americans know the reality of these preventable diseases all too well. For them, news of measles outbreaks and rising whooping cough cases brings back terrible memories of lives forever changed – and a longing to spare others from similar pain. Getting rubella while pregnant shaped two lives With a mother's practiced, guiding hand, 80-year-old Janith Farnham helped steer her 60-year-old daughter's walker through a Sioux Falls art center. They stopped at a painting of a cow wearing a hat. Janith pointed to the hat, then to her daughter Jacque's Minnesota Twins cap. Jacque did the same. 'That's so funny!' Janith said, leaning in close to say the words in sign language too. Jacque was born with congenital rubella syndrome, which can cause a host of issues including hearing impairment, eye problems, heart defects and intellectual disabilities. There was no vaccine against rubella back then, and Janith contracted the viral illness very early in the pregnancy, when she had up to a 90% chance of giving birth to a baby with the syndrome. Janith recalled knowing 'things weren't right' almost immediately. The baby wouldn't respond to sounds or look at anything but lights. She didn't like to be held close. Her tiny heart sounded like it purred – evidence of a problem that required surgery at four months old. Janith did all she could to help Jacque thrive, sending her to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind and using skills she honed as a special education teacher. She and other parents of children with the syndrome shared insights in a support group. Meanwhile, the condition kept taking its toll. As a young adult, Jacque developed diabetes, glaucoma and autistic behaviors. Eventually, arthritis set in. Today, Jacque lives in an adult residential home a short drive from Janith's place. Above her bed is a net overflowing with stuffed animals. On a headboard shelf are photo books Janith created, filled with memories like birthday parties and trips to Mount Rushmore. Jacque's days typically begin with an insulin shot and breakfast before she heads off to a day program. She gets together with her mom four or five days a week. They often hang out at Janith's townhome, where Jacque has another bedroom decorated with her own artwork and quilts Janith sewed for her. Jacque loves playing with Janith's dog, watching sports on television and looking up things on her iPad. Janith marvels at Jacque's sense of humor, gratefulness, curiosity and affectionate nature despite all she's endured. Jacque is generous with kisses and often signs 'double I love yous' to family, friends and new people she meets. 'When you live through so much pain and so much difficulty and so much challenge, sometimes I think: Well, she doesn't know any different,' Janith said. Given what her family has been through, Janith believes younger people are being selfish if they choose not to get their children the MMR shot against measles, mumps and rubella. 'It's more than frustrating. I mean, I get angry inside,' she said. 'I know what can happen, and I just don't want anybody else to go through this.' Delaying the measles vaccine can be deadly More than half a century has passed, but Patricia Tobin still vividly recalls getting home from work, opening the car door and hearing her mother scream. Inside the house, her little sister Karen lay unconscious on the bathroom floor. It was 1970, and Karen was 6. She'd contracted measles shortly after Easter. While an early vaccine was available, it wasn't required for school in Miami where they lived. Karen's doctor discussed immunizing the first grader, but their mother didn't share his sense of urgency. 'It's not that she was against it," Tobin said. "She just thought there was time.' Then came a measles outbreak. Karen – who Tobin described as a 'very endearing, sweet child' who would walk around the house singing – quickly became very sick. The afternoon she collapsed in the bathroom, Tobin, then 19, called the ambulance. Karen never regained consciousness. 'She immediately went into a coma and she died of encephalitis,' said Tobin, who stayed at her bedside in the hospital. 'We never did get to speak to her again.' Today, all states require that children get certain vaccines to attend school. But a growing number of people are making use of exemptions allowed for medical, religious or philosophical reasons. Vanderbilt's Schaffner said fading memories of measles outbreaks were exacerbated by a fraudulent, retracted study claiming a link between the MMR shot and autism. The result? Most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. 'I'm very upset by how cavalier people are being about the measles,' Tobin said. 'I don't think that they realize how destructive this is.' Polio changed a life twice One of Lora Duguay's earliest memories is lying in a hospital isolation ward with her feverish, paralyzed body packed in ice. She was three years old. 'I could only see my parents through a glass window. They were crying and I was screaming my head off,' said Duguay, 68. 'They told my parents I would never walk or move again.' It was 1959 and Duguay, of Clearwater, Florida, had polio. It mostly preyed on children and was one of the most feared diseases in the U.S., experts say, causing some terrified parents to keep children inside and avoid crowds during epidemics. Given polio's visibility, the vaccine against it was widely and enthusiastically welcomed. But the early vaccine that Duguay got was only about 80% to 90% effective. Not enough people were vaccinated or protected yet to stop the virus from spreading. Duguay initially defied her doctors. After intensive treatment and physical therapy, she walked and even ran – albeit with a limp. She got married, raised a son and worked as a medical transcriptionist. But in her early 40s, she noticed she couldn't walk as far as she used to. A doctor confirmed she was in the early stages of post-polio syndrome, a neuromuscular disorder that worsens over time. One morning, she tried to stand up and couldn't move her left leg. After two weeks in a rehab facility, she started painting to stay busy. Eventually, she joined arts organizations and began showing and selling her work. Art "gives me a sense of purpose,' she said. These days, she can't hold up her arms long enough to create big oil paintings at an easel. So she pulls her wheelchair up to an electric desk to paint on smaller surfaces like stones and petrified wood. The disease that changed her life twice is no longer a problem in the U.S. So many children get the vaccine — which is far more effective than earlier versions — that it doesn't just protect individuals but it prevents occasional cases that arrive in the U.S. from spreading further. ' Herd immunity " keeps everyone safe by preventing outbreaks that can sicken the vulnerable. After whooping cough struck, 'she was gone' Every night, Katie Van Tornhout rubs a plaster cast of a tiny foot, a vestige of the daughter she lost to whooping cough at just 37 days old. Callie Grace was born on Christmas Eve 2009 after Van Tornhout and her husband tried five years for a baby. She was six weeks early but healthy. 'She loved to have her feet rubbed," said the 40-year-old Lakeville, Indiana mom. "She was this perfect baby.' When Callie turned a month old, she began to cough, prompting a visit to the doctor, who didn't suspect anything serious. By the following night, Callie was doing worse. They went back. In the waiting room, she became blue and limp in Van Tornhout's arms. The medical team whisked her away and beat lightly on her back. She took a deep breath and giggled. Though the giggle was reassuring, the Van Tornhouts went to the ER, where Callie's skin turned blue again. For a while, medical treatment helped. But at one point she started squirming, and medical staff frantically tried to save her. 'Within minutes,' Van Tornhout said, 'she was gone.' Van Tornhout recalled sitting with her husband and their lifeless baby for four hours, "just talking to her, thinking about what could have been.' Callie's viewing was held on her original due date – the same day the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called to confirm she had pertussis, or whooping cough. She was too young for the Tdap vaccine against it and was exposed to someone who hadn't gotten their booster shot. Today, next to the cast of Callie's foot is an urn with her ashes and a glass curio cabinet filled with mementos like baby shoes. 'My kids to this day will still look up and say, 'Hey Callie, how are you?'' said Van Tornhout, who has four children and a stepson. 'She's part of all of us every day.' Van Tornhout now advocates for childhood immunization through the nonprofit Vaccinate Your Family. She also shares her story with people she meets, like a pregnant customer who came into the restaurant her family ran saying she didn't want to immunize her baby. She later returned with her vaccinated four-month-old. 'It's up to us as adults to protect our children – like, that's what a parent's job is,' Van Tornhout said. 'I watched my daughter die from something that was preventable … You don't want to walk in my shoes.' ____ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Independent
4 hours ago
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Takeaways from interviews with families forever changed by diseases that vaccines can prevent
In the time before widespread vaccination, devastating infectious diseases ran rampant in America, killing millions of children and leaving others with lifelong health problems. Over the next century, vaccines virtually wiped out long-feared scourges like polio and measles and drastically reduced the toll of many others. Today, however, some preventable, contagious diseases are making a comeback as vaccine hesitancy pushes immunization rates down. And well-established vaccines are facing suspicion even from public officials, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, running the federal health department. 'This concern, this hesitancy, these questions about vaccines are a consequence of the great success of the vaccines – because they eliminated the diseases,' said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 'If you're not familiar with the disease, you don't respect or even fear it. And therefore you don't value the vaccine.' Anti-vaccine activists even portray the shots as a threat, focusing on the rare risk of side effects while ignoring the far larger risks posed by the diseases themselves — and years of real-world data that experts say proves the vaccines are safe. Some Americans know the reality of vaccine-preventable diseases all too well. Here are takeaways from interviews with a few of them by The Associated Press. Getting a disease while pregnant can change two lives. Janith Farnham has helped shepherd her daughter Jacque through life for decades. Jacque, 60, was born with congenital rubella syndrome, which resulted in hearing, eye and heart problems at birth. There was no vaccine against rubella back then, and Janith contracted it in early pregnancy. Though Janith, 80, did all she could to help Jacque thrive, the condition took its toll. Jacque eventually developed diabetes, glaucoma, autistic behaviors and arthritis. Today, Jacque lives in an adult residential home and gets together with Janith four or five days a week. Janith marvels at Jacque's sense of humor and affectionate nature despite all she's endured. Jacque is generous with kisses and often signs 'double I love yous,' even to new people she meets. Given what her family has been through, Janith finds it 'more than frustrating' when people choose not to get children the MMR shot against measles, mumps and rubella. 'I know what can happen,' she said. 'I just don't want anybody else to go through this.' Delaying a vaccine can be deadly. More than half a century has passed, but Patricia Tobin still vividly recalls seeing her little sister Karen unconscious on the bathroom floor. It was 1970, Karen was 6, and she had measles. The vaccine against it wasn't required for school in Miami where they lived. Though Karen's doctor discussed immunizing the first grader, their mother didn't share his sense of urgency. 'It's not that she was against it,' Tobin said. 'She just thought there was time.' Then came a measles outbreak. After she collapsed in the bathroom, Karen never regained consciousness. She died of encephalitis. 'We never did get to speak to her again,' Tobin said. Today, all states require that children get certain vaccines to attend school. But a growing number of people are making use of exemptions. Vanderbilt's Schaffner said fading memories of measles outbreaks were exacerbated by a fraudulent, retracted study claiming a link between the MMR shot and autism. The result? Most states are below the 95% vaccination threshold for kindergartners — the level needed to protect communities against measles outbreaks. Preventable diseases can have long-term effects. One of Lora Duguay's earliest memories is lying in a hospital isolation ward with her feverish, paralyzed body packed in ice. She was three years old. It was 1959 and Duguay, of Clearwater, Florida, had polio. It was one of the most feared diseases in the U.S., experts say, causing some terrified parents to keep children inside and avoid crowds during epidemics. Given polio's visibility, the vaccine against it was widely and enthusiastically welcomed. Given polio's visibility, the vaccine against it was widely and enthusiastically welcomed. But the early vaccine that Duguay got was only about 80% to 90% effective. Not enough people were vaccinated or protected yet to stop the virus from spreading. Though treatment helped her walk again, she eventually developed post-polio syndrome, a neuromuscular disorder that worsens over time. She now gets around in a wheelchair. The disease that changed her life twice is no longer a problem in the U.S. So many children get the vaccine — which is far more effective than earlier versions — that it doesn't just protect individuals but it prevents occasional cases that arrive in the U.S. from spreading further and protects the vulnerable. When people aren't vaccinated, the vulnerable remain at risk. Every night, Katie Van Tornhout rubs a plaster cast of a tiny foot, a vestige of the daughter she lost to whooping cough at just 37 days old. Callie Grace was born on Christmas Eve 2009. When she turned a month old, she began having symptoms of pertussis, or whooping cough. She was too young for the Tdap vaccine against it and was exposed to someone who hadn't gotten their booster shot. At the hospital, Van Tornhout recalled, the medical staff frantically tried to save her, but 'within minutes, she was gone.' Today, Callie remains part of her family's life, and Van Tornhout shares the story with others as she advocates for vaccination. 'It's up to us as adults to protect our children – like, that's what a parent's job is,' Van Tornhout said. 'I watched my daughter die from something that was preventable … You don't want to walk in my shoes.' ____ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
How to protect yourself from ticks year-round
Ticks can be active in any season and it's important to check for and remove the bloodsuckers as quickly as possible — especially after you've been outside hiking, gardening or enjoying nature. 'Humans are outside more in summer so we hear about more tick infections,' said Sam Telford, an infectious diseases expert at Tufts University. But he urges caution year-round because 'every season is tick season.' While tick populations vary a lot regionally, some Northeastern states including Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are seeing 'above average' numbers of American dog ticks this year, said Telford. And New York state is seeing a higher number of reported deer tick bites this year than last year, said Saravanan Thangamani, who studies tick-borne diseases at SUNY Upstate Medical University. How ticks can spread disease Ticks, like mosquitos, need to feed on blood. But instead of a quick prick, they are slow feeders – with hooked mouth parts that attach into the skin of deer, rabbits, dogs and people. There are many different species of ticks found globally and only some spread germs that can make people sick. A main worry is blacklegged ticks, also called deer ticks, which can spread Lyme disease. Once found mainly in New England and pockets of the Midwest, the ticks are now present over a wider range. A tick bite doesn't always lead to illness. 'If you remove a tick within 24 hours of attachment, it's fairly unlikely that you will get infected,' said Telford. How to check for ticks Ticks are usually found low to the ground, in leaf litter or grassy areas. Check your clothing for ticks and do a full-body check including under the arms and behind ears, knees and hair. 'If you're out all day long, try to do a quick check for ticks every few hours,' said Bobbi Pritt at the Mayo Clinic. 'When you go back inside, take a shower. That will wash off any unattached ticks, and you're also more likely to spot any other ticks." Use tweezers to remove the tick and grasp it as close to the skin as possible to pull from the head. If you don't have them handy, you can also use your fingernails, the edge of a credit card or any semi-sharp object. How to keep ticks away The best approach is to minimize tick exposure altogether. Bug sprays containing ingredients such as DEET can be sprayed on exposed skin to ward off ticks and mosquitos, said Telford. Wear long sleeves and pants, and you can also spray clothing with repellents containing permethrin, a chemical similar to a natural ingredient in chrysanthemums that makes ticks avoid the flowers. Protect your pets from ticks Don't forget to pay attention to outdoor pets. Medications can prevent fleas and ticks from attaching to a dog's skin. But it's still a good idea to check the fur after being outside. 'Wherever pets can't easily groom themselves, that's where the ticks will be – on the ears, around the muzzle area, under the collar, between the toes,' said Thangamani. Dogs and cats roaming outdoors can also bring ticks into the house. 'If pets bring ticks in, a tick can live in the house for months until it finds its next blood meal,' which could be another household member, he said. What to do after a tick bite After removing the tick, keep an eye on the skin around the bite. If a rash or flu-like symptoms appear within several days or weeks, see a doctor. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend tick testing because results may not be reliable. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
