Credit: Iustinq, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
The first ever study to examine these types of TikTok videos found they put teens at risk of lifelong skin allergy.
When teens on TikTok say, “Get ready with me,” it can be more harmful than people might realise.
In the first peer-reviewed study to examine the potential risks and benefits of teen skin-care routines posted on social media, scientists at Northwestern Medicine found girls ages 7 to 18 are using an average of six different products on their faces, with some girls using more than a dozen products.
These products tend to be marketed heavily to younger consumers and carry a high risk of skin irritation and allergy.
Each teen daily skin-care regimen costs an average of $168 (~£124) which the authors estimate typically lasts a month depending on the size of the products, with some costing more than $500, the study found.
As the summer nears, the study authors cautioned only 26% of daytime skin care regimens included sunscreen — arguably the most important skin care product for any age range, but particularly for younger people.
High risk
The top-viewed videos contained an average of 11 potentially irritating active ingredients, the study found, putting the content creators at risk of developing skin irritation, sun sensitivity and a skin allergy known as allergic contact dermatitis.
Prior evidence has shown that developing such an allergy can limit the kinds of soaps, shampoos and cosmetics users can apply for the rest of their lives.
Corresponding author Dr Molly Hales, a postdoctoral research fellow and board-certified dermatologist in the department of dermatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said: “That high risk of irritation came from both using multiple active ingredients at the same time, such as hydroxy acids, as well as applying the same active ingredient unknowingly over and over again when that active ingredient was found in three, four, five different products.”
For example, in one video included in the study, the content creator applied ten products on her face in six minutes.
Senior author Dr Tara Lagu, adjunct lecturer of medicine and medical social sciences at Feinberg and a former Northwestern Medicine hospitalist, said: “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.”
Videos ‘emphasised lighter, brighter skin’
Lagu added: “We saw that there was preferential, encoded racial language in some cases that really emphasised lighter, brighter skin.
“I think there also were real associations between use of these regimens and consumerism.”
These videos offer little to no benefit for the paediatric populations they’re targeting, the study authors concluded.
What’s more, given how the algorithms work, it’s nearly impossible for parents or paediatricians to track exactly what children or adolescents are viewing.
Lastly, there are dangers beyond skin damage.
Hales said: “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.
“The insidious thing about ‘skin care’ is that it claims to be about health.”
Studying teens in the TikTok environment
In the study, Hales and another researcher each created a new TikTok account, reporting themselves to be 13 years old.
The ‘For You’ tab was used to view relevant content until 100 unique videos were compiled.
They collected demographics of content creators, number and types of products used, and total cost of regimens and then created a list of products used and their active and inactive ingredients.
The Pediatric Baseline Series used in patch testing was used to identify ingredients with elevated risk of inducing allergic contact dermatitis.
The findings are published in the journal Pediatrics.
