Month: November 2025

Categories
Opinion/Commentary

“Make – up for babies”, really? Let’s talk about ‘skincare’ for young children

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Early last year, news oulets, such as the BBC were reporting on the Sephora craze.

Many tween girls were flooding beauty stores, including Sephora, and buying their products. #sephora and #sephorakids were trending on TikTok and Instagram. However, many posts that included the hashtags featured creators also slamming the craze. Many creators accused the young shoppers of being rude to customers and staff.

Other creators exposed harsh ingredients, such as retinol, were found in products, such as Drunk Elephant.

Fast forward twelve months, advertisers of beauty products are targeting children even younger.

Make – up for toddlers?

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If you think beauty companies targeting tweens is ridiculous, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet! According to Angela Mollard, girls as young as three are being introduced to beauty. And no, it’s not harmless play.

The hobbyfication of skincare and make-up is no longer a ‘bit of fun’ and ‘not that deep’ as many are saying. It’s not the same as playing dress ups.

Not only are ‘beauty routines for toddlers unnecessary, but are potentially harmful.

…it’s physically, emotionally and financially harming children by peddling the insidious messages to (mainly) girls that they are not good enough as they are…

(“I don’t care if this sounds like judgement, because it is” Angela Mollard on makeup and babies”, Angela Mollard, Herald Sun, 23 November 2025)

Effects of introducing toddlers to beauty products

Mollard is right about the harnful effects of makeup on toddlers, including the physical ones.

According to Science Alert, a baby’s or toddler’s skin is still developing. It’s thinner and is absorbent. As a result, babies’ and toddlers’ skin is more likely to become irritated or have an allergic reaction.

When babies and toddlers are exposed to the irritants so young, it may lead to hormone disruption later in life.

Babies have seven layers of skin. However, the skin is so thin that chemicals can easily enter a baby’s bloodstream. Babies and toddlers also have less sebum, (which naturally moisturises skin). As a result, a baby or toddler’s skin can get dry and irritated when exposed to certain chemicals.

More harmful side effects of makeup on babies and toddlers

According to The Conversation:

  • Before the age of three, any exposure to makeup can affect their microbiome
  • Researchers have found that carcenogenics, such as formaldehyde, in bronzers and nail polish
  • Toluene is a harmful substance and is considered a work hazard substance in Australia. Safework Australia warns that it can be flammable and a toxic vapour
  • Many chemicals used in soaps, detergents and makeup can disrupt hormones, which may affect fertility
  • Products labelled “natural” aren’t free of risk. A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that, on average, each product studied contained 4.5 allergens

Children aren’t ’miniature adults’

I think Adam Taylor in The Conversation makes a really important point:

Babies and young children aren’t just miniature adults. Their skin is still developing and more vulnerable to irritation, chemical absorption and systemic effects…

(“Using cosmetics on babies and children could disrupt hormones and trigger allergies”,Adam Taylor, The Conversation, 26 July 2025)

Children should be able to play and explore the world safely. They should not be exposed to adults’ insecurities about appearance and the cosmetic companies that prey on it.

It’s one month before under – 16 social media ban

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Today is one month before the Australian Government bans children under sixteen from certain social media platforms.

According to Herald Sun, this is in response to increased tensions between the Government and social media giants over child safety. Last year, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese claimed:

Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time put on it.

(“Australia’s world-first social media ban for under- 16s begins one month from today”, Mia Erickson, Herald Sun, 10 November 2025)

The platforms that will be forced to ban children under sixteen are:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Snapchat
  • YouTube
  • Threads
  • Kick
  • TikTok
  • Reddit

The Australian Government has emphasised that the burden for compliance will be placed on the (mostly American) social media companies, not parents.

How will the ban play out?

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Prime Minister Albanese has labeled the legislation “imperfect”. However, news outlets have been given general information on how this ban will play out.

According to ABC, the E – Safety Commissioner has put platforms on notice.

The platforms listed above will be labelled as ‘age – restricted’ platforms. They must take “reasonable steps” to ensure that children under sixteen aren’t creating accounts. Tech companies could face fines up to A$49.5 million if they fail to block underage accounts.

Platforms that are exempt from ban

Children under sixteen will not be banned from all social platforms. They will still be able to access:

  • Messenger
  • WhatsApp
  • YouTube Kids
  • Discord
  • GitHub
  • LEGO Play
  • Roblox
  • Steam
  • Steam Chat
  • Google Classroom

E – Safety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant has raised a major loophole in the current proposed legoslation. Children could simply go to other platforms, such as BlueSky, that are currently not listed. This means that the danger of cyber – bullying, exploitation, etc is still present.

We will continue to take a whole-of-ecosystem, but we want to reinforce that just because a service is excluded. it does not mean it is absolutely safe.

(“Which social media platforms will be forced to ban Australian users under the age of 16?”, Annabelke Bowles, ABC, 5 November, 2025)

Age – verification and ‘parent run’ accounts?

Credit where credit is due. I commend the Albanese Government for taking children’s online safety seriously enough to act on it. I think it comes from a good place. But it does have glaring holes.

First, how are the platforms going to verify age? Just ticking a box? Providing government identification documents when someone signs up? What does that do to a person’s privacy? How will identity documents be stored to avoid identity theft?

What about parents? Currently, platforms like Instagram and YouTube have thousands of accounts of underage influencers (who are under thirteen).

Family vloggers are notorious for exploiting underage children. Many of these children, such as H from Dougherty has her own Instagram account. She’s only seven. The accounts are ‘run by parent’.

Another child that has been disgustingly exploited on social media was E of Cole and Sav LaBrant. Josh Barbour from Dad Challenge Podcast exposed disturbing comments E got when she was around five – years – old.

This proves it’ll be tricky for the Australian Governmemt to enforce this ban. It’s not just banning children under sixteen. They’ll have to somehow outlaw fake accounts and ‘parent run’ accounts. We’ll have to see how far this will go.

What do you think of the social media ban? Do you thimk it’s needed and will work? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.