\n<\/p>\n
Ifah\u2019s daughter was only seven when she first became interested in her mother\u2019s beauty products. The young girl would observe the older woman applying her skincare and makeup every morning and would ask her mother to apply the products on her too.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe even learned how to apply them herself \u2013 I had to hide my stash so she wouldn\u2019t keep using it,\u201d the 37-year-old technical specialist, who declined to give her full name, said.<\/p>\n
One of her friend\u2019s daughters, an eight-year-old, once showed Ifah how she applies makeup and skincare. \u201cShe even does GRWMs,\u201d Ifah said, referring to \u201cGet Ready With Me\u201d videos showing creators getting ready for the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was surprised at how \u2018advanced\u2019 she was in her makeup skills at her age.\u201d<\/p>\n
These young girls point to a worrying phenomenon known as cosmeticorexia, a blend of the words cosmetic and anorexia.<\/p>\n
\u201cCosmeticorexia is an umbrella term for an unhealthy obsession with achieving \u2018flawless\u2019 skin that drives excessive, age-inappropriate, or compulsive use of cosmetics and cosmetic procedures,\u201d said Dr Lynn Chiam, a dermatologist at the Children & Adult Skin Hair Laser Clinic at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.<\/p>\n
Dr Chiam told CNA Women that this preoccupation is evident among young children, particularly girls, who use skincare products meant for adult skin, despite having no significant skin concerns.<\/p>\n
She said this can be seen in the \u201cSephora kids\u201d phenomenon, where girls, typically aged seven to 14, spend a lot of time in beauty stores browsing and buying skincare or makeup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe blend of \u2018cosmetic\u2019 and \u2018anorexia\u2019 is used to signal an obsessive, compulsive nature of a behaviour, and it has physical and psychological consequences,\u201d Dr Chiam said.<\/p>\n
It can start with a heightened awareness of beauty products, skincare or even aesthetic procedures, she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of my patients include teenagers who are well-versed not only in the newest creams and serums but also in procedures like lasers, energy-based devices, even Botox and other injectables,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Ifah\u2019s daughter was only seven when she first became interested in her mother\u2019s beauty products. The young girl would observe the older woman applying her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":80130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--lV_XA5E5--\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/08\/25\/sephora_girls_sephora_girls_cosmeticorexia_skincare_makeup_obsession4.jpg?itok=2DshiTm9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29039,1945,29040,20712,273],"class_list":["post-80129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-cosmeticorexia","tag-girls","tag-obsessing","tag-skincare","tag-young","wpcat-2-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}