The teen craze for anti-ageing products – and what it could really be doing to their skin
Teenage skincare once meant stocking up on an emergency bottle of Clearasil and praying that a massive spot wouldn’t erupt just in time for the under-18s disco. But if you ask parents about what teens are using on their faces now, the answer tends to sound like a stocktake at Space NK. Drunk Elephant, Glow Recipe, Sol de Janeiro: these high-end brands are now as beloved by 14-year-olds as they are by 40-year-olds. When the bank Piper Sandler surveyed the shopping habits of 5,690 teenagers last autumn, it found that spending on skincare had increased by 19 per cent since last year.
Clamouring over whatever pricey branded goods are “in” is practically an adolescent rite of passage (God bless Kookai bags and Lacoste perfume). The big difference here is that while, say, trainers and handbags are pretty much age-neutral, top-tier skincare has often been made with a much older customerthat children as young as 10 are pressurising their parents to buy these pricey products, which often boast – like retinol, acids or – designed to minimise wrinkles and treat pigmentation from years of basking in the sun. Neither of these should be a concern for the average teen. So why are anti-ageing lotions and potions suddenly enjoying cult status among kids who, well, haven’t done any ageing at all? And what are all these potent ingredients doing to very young skin?
