Kids’ skin care TikToks are costly and counterproductive: Study

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The most popular teen skin care routines posted on social media contained an average of 11 potentially irritating active ingredients, according to a study published this month in Pediatrics.

The researchers, from Northwestern Medicine, also found that girls ages 7 to 18 are using an average of six products on their faces.

“Skin care regimens on TikTok are costly, infrequently include sunscreen, and often involve exposure to ingredients that carry a risk of irritation, allergic contact dermatitis, and sun sensitivity,” the study’s authors concluded. The videos offer “little to no benefit for the pediatric populations they are targeting,” they said.

To analyze teen skin care practices on social media, two of the researchers each created TikTok accounts, describing themselves as 13 years old. They catalogued 100 unique videos in their “for you” tab.

The analysis revealed a number of concerning trends, including an average cost of $168 per regimen. Only a quarter of the products contained sunscreen, which helps prevent sun damage. At worst, the social-media-marketed products might actually create or worsen a skin problem, namely allergy or contact dermatitis, the researchers said.

The top 25 most viewed videos contained a maximum of 21 of potentially irritating active ingredients.

Study author Molly Hales told The Washington Post that girls sometimes applied “the same active ingredient over and over again in cases where that ingredient was found in multiple products they were using.” Doing so “can magnify the potential for irritation,” Hales added.

The researchers also tried to identify ingredients with elevated risk of inducing an allergic skin response, or those that are part of standard allergy testing. They discovered 20 common inactive ingredients in the skin care regimens that may cause allergies or irritation in individuals with sensitive skin.