Most kids under 14 used to spend their free time with extracurricular activities, learning fun dances, and watching funny videos, not having a care in the world. Nowadays, kids that are the same age are so fixated on making themselves appear and act older than they are that they aren’t even experiencing all the careless fun that many before them have. This has been a big issue on social media recently that young kids are going into Sephora and causing a major mess. Kids should be focused on having fun instead of acting older than they already are. This is exactly why Sephora should enforce an age restriction inside stores saying that anyone under 14 needs to be accompanied by an adult.
No one has a right to stop anyone from expressing themselves the way they choose, but if young kids choose to express themselves through makeup and skin care, there should be an adult present to make sure the child is being respectful to their surroundings and that they understand the effects of what all the products could have on them. As mentioned earlier, many kids are leaving the store demolished. Many of the tester products, along with some inside packaging, are getting dirty and are being misused by many kids. A lot of these “Sephora kids” don’t clean up after themselves as well. Many products are being broken and a lot of the kids are mixing products in the store without even buying them. Instead of mixing other peoples’ makeup, those kids should be mixing slime.
Many of the Sephora kids don’t even know the long effect of wearing makeup at a young age. It doesn’t just affect people physically, but mentally as well. A lot of makeup can cause acne, dry skin, and bacterial issues. If these kids are wearing all this makeup now, imagine how much they will regret it later in life. Plenty of older teens and adults regret wearing makeup at such a young age due to the mental toll it has taken on them throughout their life. So many people started wearing makeup at a young age, causing them to feel like they need it all the time, or feel like they are unworthy without makeup to cover them up. Personally, I have experienced this in my own life. I was introduced to makeup at a very young age because of dance competitions. I instantly became obsessed and even though I used it more as just another way to express creativity, I soon found myself feeling ugly without it. It’s incredibly important for people of any age who are going to be wearing makeup to fully appreciate and love who they are before the full glam. Makeup should just highlight the things they love most about themselves rather than covering up what they hate. It could be very hard for young children to comprehend this.
I recently talked to a close friend of mine who had not started wearing makeup until she was older. She expressed that she had no regrets and explained that in fifth, sixth, and middle school years is when you are developing, and it is very important to love yourself in those specific years. She said that not wearing makeup in those years helped her to not feel like it was a necessity as she got older, which is the total opposite of what happened to me as a person who wore a full face of makeup to school each day in fifth grade and up.
Children under 14 should have an adult to supervise them in beauty stores because although they might enjoy expressing their creativity through makeup and beauty products, it is so easy to fall into the trap of a lack of self confidence. Sadly, a lot of kids are not quite mature enough to respect the privilege of testers or fun displays, and require adult supervision to make sure they treat products right and put things back.
