How To Properly Market Beauty Products To Kids, According To Beauty Industry Insiders

In its latest semi-annual survey of teens, investment bank Piper Sandler finds that teens are spending $324 annually on makeup, skincare and fragrance, up 33% from last year. One of the reasons they may be spending more is that more beauty brands are breaking into their feeds and friend circles, including both established brands primarily aimed at adults like Drunk Elephant, Rare Beauty and Glow Recipe and a newer crop of brands that includes Bubble, Btwn, Indu, Gryt, Rile, Twiish and JB Skrub with an explicitly younger demographic target.

Teens seem to particularly love Drunk Elephant—and the Shiseido-owned brand has been courting them. In her email newsletter, journalist and “Gloss Angeles” pod-cast co-host Kirbie Johnson mentions that Drunk Elephant invited several teen influencers to a launch event in May. She writes, “I did feel like I was in an HBO parody of the industry, where there’s some joke about how young the industry’s actually getting and I end up at a party with literal children for a retinal eye serum launch.”

While Drunk Elephant’s products are designed for people interested in preventing or diminishing wrinkles, its look is appealing to those for whom wrinkles only appear in an old-age filter. Johnson attributes part of the teen obsession with the brand to “the fact that the minis are the perfect size, but the block packaging, bright colors and fun names make them a fun collectable — something they want to accrue like a Pokemon card.”

For the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we delve deeper into the sensitive topic of beauty products marketed to children by asking 10 beauty brand founders and formulators the following questions: What do you think of a brand like Drunk Elephant, which formulates products for grown-ups, marketing to kids? What are the risks of such marketing, and what standards should the beauty industry abide by to appropriately promote products to very young people?

Samantha Cutler Founder and CEO, Petite ‘n Pretty

Especially with Drunk Elephant and Glow Recipe, these brands that have these viral moments right now, I don’t know if they're necessarily marketing specifically to younger creators and children, but I have a daughter who's 8 and on TikTok and YouTube Shorts. She’s watching the teen creators or the 20-year-old influencers, and they're all using these products, and it's that aspirational mentality where they're seeing these older girls or boys using their product and they’re like, “Oh, it's cool, I need it, too.”

Young creators that we follow and work with are 12, 13 years old, and I do see Drunk Elephant commenting and liking their content when they use their products. That's validating, and they're excited to see it. If a young creator has 20,000 followers and Drunk Elephant likes something that they're posting, they're like, “Oh my god, this is the end all be all in my life.” I don't know if that's necessarily marketing, but it's engaging.

There's a Sephora by my house, and there's a guy that works there, and he told me, “I've never sold more retinol to 9-year-olds in my life, there’s something wrong with this.” I think it’s all about educating.

I bring it back to my daughter again. She wanted to buy this Sol de Janeiro body cream, and it had a lightening ingredient. The staff at Sephora was like, “You really shouldn’t buy this,” and I was happy for them educating her. I can say, “I don’t want to buy this for you, I’m your mom. Listen, make a smart decision,” but I think having the staff educating the consumer directly and hearing it from them is really important.

Nine-year-olds shouldn't be using retinol. They shouldn't be using lightening products. Most of them don't have acne. They're using certain products that really aren't made for them. Even Glossier, they have a lot of anti-aging products. And I think it's really about all these retailers—Ulta and Sephora—educating their employees to educate the consumer.

Kathryn Beaton Co-founder, Gryt

The reality is that all kids want what the older ones have, and this basic human behavior is a part of what drives fads. Add social media to the mix, and it’s the perfect recipe for brands to hone that captive opportunity to gain a new customer cohort.

In an ideal world, the brands that find themselves in the situation where products they formulated for adults are being used by kids would take the path of prophesizing the brands that are actually formulating for the younger generation and educating why they should wait, but that’s not the current reality, not yet at least.

What are the risks of such marketing, and what standards should the beauty industry abide by to appropriately promote products to very young people? We are already seeing the negative side effects caused by marketing and social pressures on teens today. The intricate intersections of social media, depression, anxiety and loneliness while enduring the tumultuous period of puberty create the perfect storm.

Kids are struggling and that is exactly why we created Gryt. Gryt is about empowerment that comes from deep inside.  It’s not a transitory feeling.  It’s deep and meaningful and lasting. Kids don’t need a million products or complex routines to "be enough," they need to be celebrated and supported, especially during the transformative time of puberty.

Our industry needs to start to take responsibility for the power it has, especially on people as impressionable as kids. It would be amazing if we could all come together and do it as a unified industry without the need for legislation or regulation, but rather fueled by the combined passion to do better for this next generation.

Colleen Carey Founder and Creative Director, Skin Rx

I have personal experience with this exact topic as I have a 13-year-old daughter who has been caught up in the craze of trendy and highly esteemed (to their peers) brand. I sat down with her last night to learn her perspective before giving my own.

The appeal to her is as a status symbol. She shared she even kept an empty bottle just to have it in her bathroom shelves. She also likes the pretty and colorful packaging, and the name "Drunk Elephant" is a cute name. Her friends have the same experience. They don't talk about the actual results or ingredients in this brand. They are just impressed when they see it on each other's shelves.

Given my experience as both a former aesthetician/makeup artist and later spending a decade working in PR/marketing and now launching my own medical-grade skincare brand, I have a lot to say about brands that lack passion and care about their audience and are more interested in going viral and drawing in a very impressionable group of young people just based on looks.

My immediate reaction to the brand when my daughter introduced me to it and put it on her wish list was, of course, young people would be drawn to it given its colorful packaging. Then, as I read the labels, product names and descriptions, this brand uses the most complicated wording that even someone with my extensive knowledge of active ingredients and formulations could barely understand. I can't quite figure out the intention with this very complex wording.

I studied the website, and the same confusing, overly technical language is used throughout as well. I can tell you now that not many teens are familiar with "Protini Polypeptides" or "ceramide-rich micellar water." In my opinion, they want these young customers to feel they are using very advanced formulations from a sophisticated skincare brand, but that sounds like a strategy that came up around a boardroom table, not a truly passionate founder or owner.

Digging a little deeper into the website I noticed Drunk Elephant has branched out into haircare and body care. That message says to me that, among the execs, they said, “Hey, we are really onto something here, let's branch out and sell as many types of products as we can to this loyal fanbase we have.” They branched out rather than simply focusing on skincare and making sure their formulas are effective and continuing to advance their research specifically into skincare. In other words, stay in your lane.

I'm not concerned about the damage this product line may have on their audience. From what I'm hearing from my daughter and her friends, they don't see any results and feel the quality of products is pretty low grade.

I see these types of brands that lack passion and quality, eventually their bubble will burst. Their loyal customers will start to see they are paying an exorbitant amount with little to no results. And that is when they start researching other brands with actuall efficacy in delivering the results through clinically tested and medically formulated brands like Skin Rx.

Elise Minton Tabin Founder, Twiish

There's a fine line brands need to walk when marketing formulations made for adult and mature skin to kids, tweens and teens. Younger skin is completely different from older skin, and that's the very reason why a multitude of brands and formulations for all ages exist.

It's easy for kids and teens to become wrapped up in what they see on social media and what their favorite influencers push, thinking that everything they see that goes viral is appropriate for their skin, too. That's not usually the case.

Why adult brands market inappropriate and unnecessary products to teens and kids is beyond me. I know a lot of it has to do with sales and market share, but there's no transparency with it, and kids have no clue what they're using on their skin and the potential repercussions.

I believe it's up to the brand to do their due diligence and educate younger consumers on what is and isn't appropriate to use on their skin. Rather than worrying about losing market share, worry about teaching them skincare fundamentals.

Risa Barash Co-Founder and CEO, TBH Kids and Fairy Tales Hair Care

Quite frankly, we find brands that sell adult formulas to kids irresponsible. Harsh ingredients such as salicylic acid, AHAs and especially retinol should not be marketed to kids, let alone used by kids. These ingredients can cause dryness, irritation, rashes, breakouts, hormonal disruptions and a host of other issues which we might not yet fully understand.

Brands need to understand the weight they carry with kids at this impressionable age and the effects they can have on tween mental health. Tweens who turn to social media for advice can stress over their appearance, and this can damage their self-esteem. It is a brand’s moral obligation to educate on appropriate-age usage, ingredients and the dangers of overusing products.

TBH Kids was created for this very purpose. We toned down our active ingredients (for example: our salicylic acid is only at 0.4% while most are 1% or higher) to ensure they are at a safe level for kids. We use jojoba, aloe, calendula, chamomile to name just a few ingredients that are known to be gentle for young skin.

TBH Kids teaches kids that good habits start early, and we work to educate both parents and tweens on safe ingredients, proper usage and the importance of a daily routine.

Kelly Atterton Founder, Rile

I don’t believe Drunk Elephant intended to capture the tween and teen demographic, but I get it. Their packaging is eye candy for kids and kind of collectible, but what’s inside hasn’t been formulated specifically for young skin. So, kids could end up self-prescribing and overtreating with harsh products because of friends, influencers and enticing packaging.

This demo doesn’t need to be concerned with fine lines and wrinkles or collagen depletion, they just don’t want to have problem skin. And using tons of actives on their young skin may just give them a whole slew of avoidable pH imbalance issues like dry, sensitive, flaky, inflamed and oily skin, which is why we launched Rile—teen-designed packaging filled with gentle formulas meant to be used everyday building good habits with consistent results.

With a young demographic, brands already have to be aware of the privacy issues with minors laid out in COPPA and CalOPPA (in California), but when it comes to education, they need to be crystal clear with the potential downsides of using formulas that were made for older skin.

The industry should try to steer young eyes towards gentle options and should refrain from upselling unnecessary serums and actives. The truth is, even with spots, young skin is the gold standard. Let’s not be a part of trying to fix what isn’t really broken. Rile lives by “good habits, small steps, balance.”

Kimberley Ho Co-Founder and CEO, Evereden

Kids have very different skin needs from adults, so adult skincare brands may not be the most suitable for children or pre-teens to use, specifically because their skin is still a lot thinner than adults’ skin and has also not been exposed to as many chemicals or ingredients that are normally found in more sophisticated adult skincare formulations that have been formulated to solve advanced skin concerns.

Many adult skincare products now address multiple skin benefits beyond just cleansing and hydration. For example, many moisturizers have added brightening benefits or would address uneven, red, hyperpigmented or patchy skin. None of these benefits and the corresponding harsher active ingredients would be suitable for children’s skin, even if the formulations are “cleaner.”

Adult brands also may not be testing their products more extensively on kids during consumer or clinical testing to ensure they are effective and safe enough specifically for kids before marketing products to then.

As such, Evereden has specifically studied children and preteen skin to understand what their skin might specifically need and can also tolerate. Kids aged 3 to 13 years old or gen alpha are also becoming interested in skincare and beauty products at a younger age than previous generations, so it makes sense that brands like Evereden should serve this group of consumers with intentionality and solve their specific needs.

That is why we at Evereden launched our kids’ skincare, color and haircare collections because we recognize that kids want and deserve products made just for them. Kids adore the line, and their parents appreciate that the products are age-appropriate, plant-derived and made especially for their changing skin.

Brooke Jeffy Founder and Dermatologist, BTWN

If a kiddo can tolerate adult-formulated products and is able to use them consistently without irritation, then they certainly can be used. The question is if the products are really addressing a child's skincare needs and concerns or if these products are being used out of an unhealthy fear of aging that has been created starting at younger and younger ages or simply due to marketing and desire to be using current trending brands to fit in.

I know I am biased by what I see in my clinic, but often when I see kids using brands in this category, it is just one piece of a complicated multistep regimen they have curated, and they are coming in to see me because of irritation or breakouts. So, while the potential benefit of these products may be good, young skin is much more sensitive than adult skin so better to intentionally choose a few products that address age specific concerns and reduce the chance of irritation.

Marketing brands formulated for adults to kids not only often contributes to irritation in their more sensitive skin which can fuel breakouts, which is often their No. 1 concern, but also drives an unhealthy focus on aging and body image. Yes, kids need to care for their skin, but the focus should be on skin health and not aging and that includes not only the how and why to take care of the skin, but also education about how lifestyle plays a dramatic role in skin and overall health.

So many of the lifestyle choices we make in youth have long lasting consequences on our health, and we should use every opportunity when this audience is captive to educate. Every dermatologist will tell you they wish they were more diligent about sun protection in their teens and 20s and that sun protection is the most crucial step to a younger appearance with time. So, that should really be the messaging to kids, but also the importance of eating a diet rich in antioxidants, having strong relationships with friends, getting adequate sleep and exercise, and avoiding exposure to excessive sugar, alcohol and drugs.

Kids and frankly many adults do not realize that these choices directly affect our skin appearance over time through direct effects on collagen and via stress mechanisms. Bottom line, when kids are the target consumer, prevention and healthy lifestyle must be promoted if we truly want them to have the healthiest, most youthful appearing skin over a lifetime.

Viara Viara Formulator, Plant Based Beauty Manufacturing Co.

As a formulator for a beauty manufacturing company, I deal with chemicals and cosmetic products all day, and the products that we formulate for adults typically contain a variety of ingredients that are not suitable for young developing skin and can have adverse effects.

Some chemicals or combinations of certain chemicals can cause skin irritation, rashes or even allergic reactions in children. Then, there is the use of hormone-disrupting chemicals found in many products that can interfere with a child's natural hormonal development.

To ensure the safety and well-being of children, it's important to use cosmetic and skincare products that are specifically formulated for their age group and have been tested for their safety. We should only market and encourage the use of age-appropriate skincare specifically designed to address the unique needs and sensitivities based on each age group.

Anything that deviates a child from being a child is concerning. Marketing adult beauty products to children can result in early exposure of the wrong ideas of what beauty truly is. Many adult products are promoted alongside unrealistic expectations and focus heavily on vanity and not true self care. There are many reasons that children should not use products formulated for adults. Both the physical and mental health are put to risk.

The beauty industry should not be promoting products period that are made for adults to children. I encourage parents to learn more about the ingredients that are in beauty products and pay attention to the messages.

The beauty industry should adhere to age-appropriate formulas and be transparent so that parents can make an informed decision. Refrain from making exaggerated or unrealistic claims about the effects of products, use age-appropriate advertising and steer away from unhealthy beauty standards and overly retouched images. Ultimately, encourage natural beauty and messages that promote self-esteem, self-acceptance and the idea that beauty comes in various forms.

By adhering to these standards, the beauty industry can contribute to a safer and more responsible approach when promoting products to very young people, ensuring that their health, well-being and self-esteem are not compromised by marketing practices.

Inna Tumarin SVP, global sales and brand marketing, Higher Education Skincare

When marketing to a younger generation, it’s vital to provide as much transparency and education around the products brands are featuring.

If a product is sophisticated enough for an older consumer, but geared for a younger demographic with their marketing strategy, simplify the routine and provide as much education as possible on the life of skin in general by providing education around where the products are formulated, why certain ingredients are being used and how to appropriately apply and use each formulation.

Education and as much bite-sized, digestible information and relatable content is key for a younger consumer.

If you have a question you’d like Beauty Independent to ask beauty entrepreneurs and formulators, please send it to editor@beautyindependent.com.