As a 14-year-old serious about skincare, Emily Chan thought that dabbing her face along with her mother's fancy anti-aging products would nourish her skin.
What she didn't know: The creams contained ingredients like retinol and hyaluronic acid. Both can improve the looks of effective lines and wrinkles by increasing skin cell production, but they may cause irritation, resulting in redness and itching, especially in young skin.
The Palo Alto eighth-grader learned this the hard way when her face began turning red and blotchy.
“I would use their products without knowing that my skin is very sensitive,” Emily said. “Now I have to be careful about the products I use.”
While anti-aging products are generally intended for people over 30, Emily says she often sees teenagers buying and using them in social media videos. That's why she supports a bill introduced last month from state Assemblymember Alex Lee, a 28-year-old Democrat from Milpitas, who would ban the sale of anti-aging skincare or cosmetic products that contain certain ingredients corresponding to retinol to children under 13.
More children and teenagers are being exposed to adult skincare products through social media and buying them from trendy retail stores, a phenomenon dubbed Sephora Kids after the favored beauty products store. According to a January market research report, the anti-aging products market was valued at 10.14 billion in 2023 and is predicted to achieve 16.38 billion by 2030.
According to Sunil Dhawan, a dermatologist on the Center for Dermatology with locations in Milpitas and Fremont, using products containing retinols and acids at a young age can result in eczema and worsening contact dermatitis.
“There are more kids that we see as patients who have multiple therapies and are doing the things they do for no good reason other than seeing them on TikTok and Instagram,” Dhawan said. “It's amazing how they refuse to accept the fact that it is the product that is making their eczema worse because they use harsh retinol-based products that are not suitable for young children and young sensitive skin.”
If passed, AB 2491 would require businesses to take measures to take care of the ban, including posting a notice next to products or online descriptions indicating that they are usually not intended to be used by anyone under 13, or requiring them to achieve this of buyers to confirm their age using ID.
“That’s why this bill targets the sale of anti-aging products,” Lee said. “Because right now it’s super easy for kids to go in and buy it off the shelf.”
But the Personal Care Products Council, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association that represents a whole lot of worldwide cosmetics and private care products firms, opposes the bill, calling it “a hastily crafted attempt to use legislative force to stop a social media trend.” “Every ingredient targeted by this bill is safe when used in an age-appropriate manner.”
The bill was recently approved by the state's Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee and now heads to the Appropriations Committee, which reviews all bills with tax implications once they’re passed by a policy committee.
While the proposal is a primary for California, age-related cosmetic bans have been introduced elsewhere. In March, Swedish pharmacy chain Apotek Hjärtat, which operates about 390 pharmacies in Sweden, began restricting the sale of advanced skincare products corresponding to retinol and alpha hydroxy acids to customers under 15.
Carol Chan, Emily's mother, who also supports the ban, said stores mustn’t sell anti-aging products to children. She hopes the bill will raise awareness of the importance of checking product ingredients.
“We only see the buzzwords like 'anti-wrinkle' and 'anti-aging' and don't know what ingredients they actually contain,” Chan said. “This is horrifying; even I'm not aware of it. I can't imagine an 11 or 13 12 months old being really caring. They just say it smells good, it feels good and it's free – it It’s on my mom’s bathroom counter, so I’m going to try it.”
However, other young people have reservations about introducing a whole ban.
Thirteen-year-old Noga Arditi from Palo Alto believes that teenagers should have the opportunity to make a decision for themselves whether or not they wish to buy cosmetic products.
“They should research (products) before putting them on their skin, but maybe they shouldn’t ban people completely,” the seventh-grader said.
Before deciding whether to support the bill, Palo Alto resident Ellen Payne said she would love to see more research on the long-term effects of kids's use of anti-aging products.
Her 12-year-old daughter Tessa, who continues to make use of moisturizers and sunscreen, wonders why the “Sephora kids” her age would even use such products.
“From the videos I've seen, they seem annoying. You don’t really have to use it,” she said. “You are quite young. You don’t have to look younger.”
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