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Teens who follow beauty influencers or watch skincare tutorials use significantly more personal care products — raising concerns about chemical exposure during a critical developmental window. A pilot study found that influencer following was linked to 30% greater product use, and beauty tutorial watching to 40% more. Yet fewer than 1 in 5 teens routinely read ingredient labels.
A new pilot study out of New Jersey found that social media habits are directly shaping how many personal care products (PCPs) teens reach for — and the numbers are striking. Among 143 high schoolers (mean age 16.1), girls used twice as many products as boys in a single day (14 vs. 7). Following influencers with product lines was tied to 30% greater daily PCP use, while watching hair or beauty tutorials bumped that figure up to 40%.
Despite growing awareness around "clean beauty," most teens aren't doing their homework at the shelf. Only 19% routinely read ingredient labels, and just 5% used healthy product apps or websites when choosing PCPs. On the flip side, teens who actively sought out natural or eco-friendly products used 38% fewer products overall — a notably stronger effect among girls.
By the Numbers:
Why it matters: Personal care products expose users to a range of chemicals daily, and adolescence is a particularly sensitive developmental period. As beauty culture increasingly plays out on social media, understanding — and addressing — its influence on teen chemical exposure is becoming a public health priority.
