Experts assessed the consequences of children engaging in beauty blogging: “A quick way to make money”

This trend emerged in the global blogger space several years ago: children under the age of ten are already becoming beauty influencers. As a rule, videos with babies who apply makeup to themselves so professionally that socialites will envy cause mixed feelings in the public – tenderness and bewilderment at the same time. “MK” found out from beauty experts and psychologists whether there is anything unnatural about this phenomenon or whether children should be supported in their endeavors, because perhaps they will later grow into famous makeup artists?

Influencers (opinion leaders) have always been well-known media personalities – politicians, TV presenters, actors, singers, and later bloggers joined them and even overtook them in popularity. The spirit of the times is that there are more and more cosmetic bloggers under the age of 10 who create content for their peers, surprising adult fashionistas with their skills. Most often, girls perform on social networks in tandem with their mothers, who teach them everything.

There is, for example, a young mother, Courtney McCutchen, and it is unlikely that her blog would have been so popular and she would have been able to stand out from the huge crowd of colleagues if her two charming little ones, Molly and June, had not appeared in her feed. The girls also don’t mind showing off their makeup and try to look like their mother.

On social networks you can easily find videos where girls 5-6 years old demonstrate mastery of the technique of applying makeup. For example, on one of these called “Young Beauty Blogger!” The 6-year-old fashionista first very skillfully applies makeup base to her face, then applies eye shadow, paints her eyelashes and lips. At the same time, he flirtatiously shoots his eyes. The opinions of subscribers of the domestic family channel, which publishes such videos, are divided. Those who are against write: “It would be better if mom gave her a book to read!”, “And mom would be more intelligent.” Others do not see any negativity: “Many of the older sisters stole cosmetics and used shoes. And they cut their bangs. Watch very tiny girls. The mirror attracts them.”

Quite well known several years ago in the beauty industry on Instagram (owned by Meta, a company recognized as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) was young Charlie Rose, who at the age of 5 created her own beauty blog and began conducting video tutorials on makeup, and now she is already ten. We went to her page, but, judging by it, the girl grew up and quit this activity. After all, it is much easier for very young girls to stand out and become famous in this “field,” and older beauty bloggers are no longer so interesting to the public.

The Telegram channel “The Price of Beauty” provides the opinion of Western psychiatrist experts who see nothing reprehensible in this phenomenon. They believe that developing the habit of taking care of oneself and one’s appearance is beneficial for a person at any age. In addition, it is obvious that little girls are attracted by the bright packaging of decorative cosmetics, its smell, color, etc., and they begin to collect all these jars, bottles of varnishes, lipsticks, associating them with toys, but with the onset of puberty, collecting replaced by the use of cosmetics in order to become more sexually attractive.

Domestic experts also have a generally positive opinion on this matter, especially adult colleagues of young makeup artists.

“I won’t name them by name, because I don’t follow them, but I’ve seen similar videos more than once,” beauty expert Anastasia Sivolapova shared with MK. – If this comes from the desire of the child himself, and not from his parents, then I only support it. This is a great way of self-expression, which helps you learn to speak well, develops self-confidence, the ability to not be embarrassed by an audience, increases self-esteem, etc. And if it also turns out to be a commercially successful story, then great. I don’t believe in the myths about cosmetics being harmful to children’s skin. If everything is fine and then washed off and not applied with any hard washcloths, then there will be no harm to the child.

– Do you think it’s generally useful for little girls to learn how to apply eyelashes?

– I don’t think it’s harmful or beneficial for girls to learn how to do their own hair or makeup. It’s just a way of expressing yourself and getting to know yourself.

“I have a normal attitude towards such children, since this is more of a creative process: doing hair and makeup,” says cosmetologist Leila Mamedova. – The main thing is that the child develops in many ways, so that he is internally meaningful, and not just thinks about how to decorate himself externally.

“Experts of human souls” have their own approach to assessing this phenomenon.

“The main thing here is what the child blogger’s motive is,” says family psychologist Elena Ulitova. – The motivation may be to somehow stand out, become famous, attract attention and at the same time monetize it. Here I am a blogger, I teach something. And what he teaches is usually not so important. Therefore, here, of course, the question is more for our society – what ways of making money does society approve of, not only in relation to teenagers, but in relation to all people in general? And here age is not even that important. Children imitate adults, they see such a quick way to make money and become popular, and why not? What difference does it make at what age if he already has the potential for this?

It seems to me that the point is not what the child has undertaken to teach – how to apply makeup, how to do hair or something else, but if the mother allows it, if it is encouraged in the family, if he has mastered some skills – then let him pass it on to people . If his family had taught him how to sew dolls, for example, then perhaps he would have become a blogger who shows in his videos how to sew dolls. But the fact is that applying makeup is, in general, the simplest activity that does not require special effort or knowledge, it lies on the surface. Therefore, I see in this phenomenon the idea of ​​​​quick earnings and quick popularization, and it does not matter what exactly the child teaches.

In general, there is nothing wrong with the idea of ​​decorating yourself and looking better. The main thing is that there is no grotesqueness that is unusual for age.