Fears social media skincare craze among young girls has reached 'crisis point'
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A young girl beams at the camera. She has braces, wears pink and white striped pyjamas, and has a string of pink balloons and the number 13 floating at the head of her bed behind her. "It's my birthday!" she sings, "it's my favourite day of the year!". For the next two minutes, we watch as she puts a series of creams and toners all over her face. She chats about her outfit, and her birthday trip to the theatre the night before.
The video has been watched 2.5 million times. Layla Eleni admits she could chat for England: "I'm very loquacious!". Sat at the same vanity table from which she films her content, she says she posts on social media several times a day - often doing "get ready with me" videos before school, where she demonstrates her skincare routine.
"It's just nice. I get to start off my mornings talking, doing my skincare and preparing myself for the day," she says. Many of her one million TikTok followers are girls her age and younger. They're a generation that's become captivated by skincare, thanks largely to social media trends.
For parents, Generation Alpha's fascination with "great ready with me" videos and skincare routines can be a confusing world to explore. Many have little to no understanding of what is actually in the brightly packaged creams and serums their daughters are suddenly clamouring for, but dermatologists fear the harsh acids and strong products in some of them could be doing life-long damage.
One mother told Sky News about having to restrict her daughter's pocket money to stop her from buying products she'd seen online. Another said she's banned her daughter from social media - but the girl's friends all show her skincare videos anyway - leading her to feel ostracised without the latest popular products.
