CYPHER CODE #716
Children are not discovering skincare. Adults are assigning it to them.

CYPHER CODE #717
Social media rewards crap that looks responsible, even when it's not. 

CYPHER CODE #718
There's more than one way to groom an 8-year-old.

BRIEFING

Sloane here. The recent rise of skincare routines for little kids is sold as some harmless form of self-care and/or early hygiene... but what's happening underneath it all mirrors a familiar and very creepy left-wing grooming tactic aimed at reshaping kids, and that's disturbing. Time to dive in.

The push to "adult" children early isn't coming from kids. They just want to play and have fun. This weird and unsettling practice is coming from a system that hunts new customers lower and lower on the age ladder and teaches kids about body correction instead of body confidence. Influencers, activists, and the brands behind these routines lean left, and they use calm, pretty visuals on social platforms to make parents drop their guard while companies quietly sell products to children who don't need them.

Childhood is being treated like unused real estate. Just as the left grooms kids into their LGBTQ army at an early age, it's now grooming them into the beauty market younger and younger. They do this to drive an agenda and make a profit, and both results steal their childhood and make them look and feel much older than they should be. Meanwhile, families who question the trend are painted as bigots or shamed as old-fashioned instead of being heard with common sense.

Research shows most TikTok videos push really complex routines that go way beyond established medical guidance and rarely mention risks or ingredient sensitivity. This proves that visibility and credibility aren't on the same page. And the problem is the way the system rewards and spreads this type of content. Social media platforms reward what looks nice more than what keeps kids safe, and that lets polished routines outrun real medical caution. Great for sales and grooming. Bad for parents and kids.

Influencers and brands are reaching girls as young as seven with adult-style skincare routines. Investigators looked behind the viral glow to measure the cost, the ingredients, and the real lack of benefit for children.

SOURCE

A recent trend in video-based online content features girls as young as 7 years demonstrating multistep skin care regimens, which may be affecting pediatric skin care practices. We aimed to conduct a systematic analysis of TikTok videos featuring skin care regimens with content creators aged 18 years or younger.

Two investigators 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. We collected demographics of content creators, number and types of products used, and total cost of regimens. We 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.

Content creator ages ranged from 7 to 18 years. Each video reviewed had an average of 1.1 million views. Regimens featured an average of 6 products, costing an average of $168/regimen. Only one-quarter of videos (26.2%) included sunscreen. The top 25 most-viewed videos contained an average of 11 and a maximum of 21 potentially irritating active ingredients. Twenty of the inactive ingredients are included in the Pediatric Baseline Series.

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. They offer little to no benefit for the pediatric populations they are targeting.

TikTok skincare routines for kids often blow right past the most basic protective step and then turn around and hype products meant for adult skin. The videos sell acids, serums, and exfoliating habits that young faces don’t need, and sunscreen shows up like an afterthought if it shows up at all. Beyond the medical worries, the trend is also driving up the financial cost for families who feel pressured to maintain elaborate routines for no real reason.

SOURCE

Viral skincare routines for young girls on TikTok may be more harmful than they appear, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine, carrying a high risk of skin irritation, and often lacking the most critical steps recommended by dermatologists: sunscreen.

The peer-reviewed study, published Monday in the American Academy of Pediatrics, analyzed 100 unique videos on the "For You" TikTok page for 13-year-olds, and collected demographics on content creators, number and types of products used, and total cost of regimens. Researchers then created a list of products used and their active and inactive ingredients, followed by patch testing to identify those with a high risk of inducing a long-lasting skin condition known as allergic contact dermatitis.

The study found girls between the ages of seven and 18-years-old were using at least six products on their faces, as part of a "get ready with me," or GRWM video. Some girls used more than a dozen skin care products in the span of a short time, the study said.

On average, each teen's daily skin-care routine, which often emphasized "lighter, brighter skin," cost around $168, the study found, with some costing more than $500.

Here’s a tween completing a structured skincare routine, and it shows how beauty habits that should belong to adults are now modeled and normalized for young kids who don't need them.

SOURCE

@leanne_page

Replying to @Spam! Skincare routine for teenagers 🤍 what routine should i do next? #skincare #skincareroutine #skincareasmr #selfcare #selfcareasmr

♬ original sound - Babi

DEBRIEFING

Skincare for children is being repackaged as a grown-up responsibility, and that shift changes how families see the whole idea. The videos talk about maintenance, prevention, and habit formation instead of soap, sunshine, and the normal toughness of young skin. When seven- and eight-year-olds are taught to follow routines that look like adult self-improvement rituals, the message they absorb is that childhood bodies need constant management. The left keeps expanding its territory by convincing kids to act like small adults, and beauty brands are happy to march along because there’s real money in lowering the age of the customer.

And the platform culture smooths the path for that grooming. And it is grooming. Calm routines, pastel bottles, and nurturing captions make the trend feel wholesome, so parents who opt out are shamed. Meanwhile, the companies gain lifelong customers, and the activists gain another channel to shape identity early.

KNOW YOU NOW

The left can't stop grooming kids.