Come get to knowGeneration Beauty.
But my focus on earning money was unwavering.
Tweens and teens engaging with beauty products is, of course,nothing new.
Photography by Ernesto Valdesolo; Courtesy of The Pike School (center)
But the beauty rules of engagement have changed dramatically in the past three decades.
Consider the difference in our points of discovery.
Now, that discovery happens on TikTok or YouTubeits constant and its at your fingertips.
And, perhaps more depressingly, thinking they need it.
Today its hard to discern what is really a necessity, or even just a really nice-to-have.
And we can so easily have it.
Outfits, products, places, are all tagged, ready to continue the consumerist spin cycle.
The algorithms are working.
(Yes, I recently acquired a weird heated neck massager that I have no room for.)
She recently asked me about Mario Badescus facial sprays, which we spotted while in line at Urban Outfitters.
One recent study found that teens are interrupted 237 times a day by their devices.
Its not just the constant stream of products, though, its the constant stream of images, period.
Now images and videos are so methodically filtered and edited that theyre inevitably contorting our beauty ideals.
In the 90s, I compared myself to my IRL peers and a handful of celebrities.
Onerecent studyfound that teens are interrupted 237 times a day by their devices.
And self-care is always good.
Its an idea Ive been guilty of perpetuating.
Or be about how you look.
Yes, there are mood-boosting benefits to having a ritual… but it doesnt have to cost anything.
Or be about how you look.
When my kindergarten-age daughter plays with my makeup now its just that, playing.
She gleefully sweeps it above her brows.
Ideal for drawing warrior streaks on her cheeks.
Beauty is still a nebulous concept, not something thats been conditioned and outlined for her by an algorithm.
I hope to keep it that way as long as I can.
Its a decision that Im certain, having many friends with older children, will be an uphill battle.
The GRWM and beauty hauls and makeup and skin-care tutorials happen to be a giant time suck.
And thats time that I want back for my daughter.
Thats time I cant imagine not having had as a teenager.
Recently, my daughter asked me what daydreaming was.
Doing that during the day, now that was a new concept for her.
Read more about how tweens are interacting with beauty products:
Watch Brooke Shields' 10-minute beauty routine:
