ARKANSAS, USA — You don't have to scroll far on social media, especially on TikTok and Instagram, to run into influencers pushing products.
Many of them appear perfect, with flawless skin, selling products that teenagers add to their online shopping carts.
"Everybody is an expert, right?" Dr. Sandra Johnson of Johnson Dermatology in Fort Smith said. "And everybody is here to sell something. And so, most of the influencers are going to be sponsored by the products they’re supporting. You need to be careful, just because it's not labeled as an infomercial, it's pretty much an infomercial."
This Christmas, your teenager might be asking for a stocking full of moisturizers, eye creams, exfoliators, and more that their favorite influencers are using.
But can some of those products do more harm than good to young skin?
Alex Wilkinson, an esthetician with Orchid Salon and Spa in Fayetteville, said she thinks it's fantastic that more young people are interested in skincare, but it can backfire when it becomes a bathroom experiment.
“Especially with social media, so many people want to do all of the acids, they want to put three different types of acids on their face in one turn and it’s a little much and that can be very damaging," Wilkinson said.
Retinol, a potent anti-aging ingredient, can also be counterproductive for young skin.
“I think anti-aging should start at like 20… putting any anti-aging stuff on you when you’re young can cause a lot of dryness and other issues such as acne," Wilkinson explained. "It can, again, damage that cellular barrier that we just don’t want to cause any damage, especially when you have such young, pretty skin.”
Dr. Johnson said that's why every person should read up on what these ingredients do first before ever applying them or layering them on top of each other.
“We would love to see you in clinic, but we have stuff on our social media," Dr. Johnson shared. "The American Academy of Dermatology is a great reputable source to fact check, WebMD is a good reputable source, don’t just take things at face value but look them up.”
Wilkinson recommends middle and high schoolers start with the less expensive products and keep it simple with a purifying cleanser and a water-based moisturizer with hyaluronic acid.
For acne, she recommends a gentle beta hydroxy acid.
A loving reality check can go a long way too for impressionable tweens and teens dealing with hormones and pimples in a world where so many people are posting filtered photos to look picture-perfect.
“Because again when you’re watching influencers on social media, most of the time they’re much older than their audience so their skin is going to need all those things that a 12-year-old most likely does not need you know, retinol or under-eye cream of some kind," Wilkinson emphasized. "I think it really needs to be, the parents need to say, ‘this is a different person, your skin is not the same' and try to just find a happy medium. Get them some smaller products to try out that might not be as damaging.”
Additionally, it's never too early to preach the importance of drinking water and wearing sunscreen every day.
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