Age Restrictions in Sephora

     Curiosity will make up most of a child’s personality, so when they see a parent or older figure in their life using things like makeup, naturally they will have the urge to do the same thing. When a child shows interest in makeup, they usually would get something simple like a princess lip gloss set or Barbie eyeshadow for ten dollars or less. Now, when ten-year-olds tell their mom they want makeup, they get taken to Sephora and get foundation for fifty dollars or more. Not only that, because of social media, kids around the age of twelve think they need skincare, but not just any skincare: retinol. Retinol helps with dry skin, brightens skin, clears pores, and reduces wrinkles. Retinol is deemed ready for use only for ages twelve and above Professionals believe you should start in your twenties, because of how sensitive kids’ skin can be. Those products are too harsh and can cause skin damage in the future.  

 There have also been reports of Sephora workers being treated horribly by the children coming in and looking for products far beyond their age range. Most of these reports come from employees on social media telling their experiences firsthand. Not only have the workers come on social media to talk about this behavior, but other customers also talked about children being rude to them, supporting the employees’ claim on how they are being treated. On top of the disrespectfulness, the products in the store are being mistreated. All the testers for products, especially the drunk elephant brand, are all left destroyed with face care being mixed with other products like foundation leaking everywhere.  

 TikTok was the social media platform that brought attention to this problem with influencers raging about how inappropriate this behavior is for this age. The TikToker Serenity Dawn, who has experience with kids acting like this while working there, has posted actual situations that have happened while at work. One situation she’s posted is a customer making a “potion” with skincare, mixing products into others ruining them. she’s even posted photos of how horrible the testers have been left. 

 In the end age restriction might be a good thing, none of these skincare products are helping these kids, and Sephora made the right choice considering it gave them a lot of profit. It might have been how testers were being mistreated that made them decide to put age restrictions on products, or employees and other customers reporting how they were being treated by arrogant children looking for products.