Online merchants create "skin care anxiety" to apply masks to children? Don't use the IQ tax to toss the baby

"The baby is 3 years old, and her skin care should also be fully upgraded, this children's mask is applied every night before going to bed. On the short video platform, an advertisement for a children's mask attracted the attention of mothers. The reporter's investigation found that the online sales of children's facial masks are very hot, and some products can sell 100,000 pieces a month. However, is it necessary for the child to apply a mask at such a young age?

phenomenon

Children's face masks are only available online

"The weather has cooled down and been too dry recently, so hurry up and buy a few tablets to hydrate the children's faces. After shopping around Xiaohongshu, Xiqian, a mother who advocates "delicate baby raising", placed an order for 3 boxes of "Gentian Hydration" mask for her 4-year-old daughter.

The reporter browsed many social platforms and saw that many mothers posted children's masks with different effects: hydrating, soothing, repairing, and even whitening. Some mothers feel that their children's faces are "dry to the point of peeling and fine lines", so they are busy applying a mask to their children to "replenish moisture"; Some mothers want to "remedy their skin tone" for their children, "I don't like to wear sunscreen in the summer, and the little white child becomes a little black child, so I can quickly remedy it in winter." ”

"The total number of hot sellers on the whole network is more than 25.7 million!" Log in to Taobao, and a certain brand of children's mask marks this eye-catching number on the promotional page. The reporter combed and found that most of the children's masks were sold through e-commerce platforms, claiming that they were suitable for 3-year-old children, and some merchants even found that "babies over 6 months old can be used". There are also a variety of children's mask brands, as many as more than 20, including new brands such as Turtle Daddy and Kangaroo Bibi, as well as old brands such as Frog Prince and Beibei. The price of the mask is even more uneven, the cheap one is 5 yuan a piece, and the expensive one reaches 20 or 30 yuan.

These children's face masks are selling quite well. Judging from the search situation, in addition to the monthly sales of individual merchants exceeding 100,000 boxes, there are 4 online stores with monthly sales of 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 and 50,000 boxes. Relevant market data show that in the first half of last year, the total transaction volume of children's facial mask products in the maternal and infant track increased by 218.2%, becoming the fastest-growing sub-category surpassing children's milk powder and baby biscuits.

However, children's face masks, which sell well online, are hard to find in offline physical stores. In a Watsons store in Fengtai Fangzhuang Times Life Plaza, the reporter checked more than 20 facial masks on the shelves, but did not find the hot-selling "Watsons Children's Mask" on the e-commerce platform. "We've never sold a special children's face mask. The shopping guide said.

Subsequently, the reporter came to the chain store that sells maternal and child products in the mall - Lijia Baby. When the reporter mentioned the children's mask to the clerk, the other party said that he had never heard of it, and there was no such product, "What kind of mask do children use? ”

Probe

Evaluate the grass to render skin care anxiety

Why did the mask that originally belonged to adults suddenly have a "children's exclusive" and became popular on the Internet? The reporter's investigation found that on the one hand, some parents are catching up with the fashion, and on the other hand, a large number of businesses deliberately market to create children's skin care anxiety.

The reporter saw on the e-commerce website that almost every children's mask mentioned the concepts of "risk-free addition", "0 preservatives", "0 irritation" and "specially designed for children" in the promotion. Ms. Liu shared a photo of her son making a face with a mask on her circle of friends. "The baby named the puppy pattern he liked, and asked me to take a picture of him after pasting it, and he smiled very happily. She told reporters. The reporter noticed that most of the hot-selling children's masks on the market are printed in the shape of small animals such as frogs, tigers, rabbits, etc., and some masks also add fruit scents such as peaches and grapefruit to attract children to use.

Red and black lists, efficacy lists, evaluation lists, rankings, ...... Bloggers on social platforms have brought adult skin care products such as evaluation and planting grass to children's masks. "9 children's face mask reviews, don't blindly follow the trend!" A Xiaohongshu mother and baby blogger took great pains to "remind" parents that they seemed to be neutral and objective, but they kept implanting marketing advertisements in the evaluation posts: "Look for this powerful hydration, the mask cloth is also patented, and the formula is also very good, so it can be used in all seasons." ”

In addition to recommending specific products, bloggers also grasp the psychology of parents caring for their children and exaggerating skin care anxiety. "At the age of two and a half, you have to wear a mask, and the beauty of a little girl should be grasped from an early age. Mother and baby blogger Xuanxuan Mommy advocated on the short video platform, "Daughter is to be white and tender, if you also want your child to have a moist and full face, you must not miss this children's mask." ”

The reporter noticed that sales tactics such as "children's skin has gone downhill since birth", "the favorite of exquisite daughters, children's hydrating masks must be arranged", "I don't allow you to have such a cute children's mask" and other sales tactics have repeatedly appeared on short video platforms.

"With the mentality of research, I clicked on a blogger's children's mask evaluation, and the results showed that 18 masks were divided into 'unlimited buying', 'worth buying', 'easy to buy' and 'can be bought', in short, none of them are not recommended. In the face of the excessive marketing of mother and baby bloggers, Ms. Bai smiled helplessly.

As long as you are willing to invest in marketing expenses, there will naturally be bloggers who take orders to advocate it, and most of the experience posted by some bloggers is free for the brand. Li Mo, vice president of an e-commerce integrated marketing platform, told reporters.

survey

The products are mixed, and the ingredients are confused

According to the Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Children's Cosmetics, which came into effect on January 1, 2022, the formulation design of children's cosmetics should follow the principles of safety first, efficacy and minimalism. It stipulates that children's cosmetics are not allowed to use raw materials for the purpose of freckle whitening, acne treatment, etc. However, whitening is often the main slogan of merchants and review bloggers.

The reporter searched on e-commerce platforms and short video platforms and found that merchants' publicity for the effect of "whitening" is very hidden, and related words rarely appear openly in the product detail page, but are displayed on pages that need to be clicked twice such as "product parameters", such as "yellowing and brightening". There are also some bloggers who will "reveal" the whitening effect through the comment area when bringing goods. When a netizen asked, "Can this be whitened", the blogger replied in the comment area, "It contains milk, and it is okay to insist on using it." ”

In terms of the use of raw materials, children's masks are also very confusing. The reporter randomly searched for 10 children's masks on the e-commerce platform and found that only two products had single-digit ingredients, and the composition of the remaining 8 products ranged from 12 to 33. For example, a children's mask that claims to be "designed according to your baby's needs" has as many as 27 ingredients, including food flavor (material) and preservative phenoxyethanol. Three other products also contain fragrance ingredients.

The Technical Guidelines for Children's Cosmetics, which came into effect on August 31, 2023, clearly mention that children's cosmetics should reduce the use of raw materials that may contain allergenic components or have strong irritation, such as flavors and fragrances, colorants, preservatives, cationic surfactants, etc.

Although some of the products on sale are written in the title as "children's mask", "children's mask" and "10th birthday", and claim "moisturizing and whitening" and "whitening and hydrating", the reporter actually clicked and found that such products are adult whitening masks, and the certification provided is also the registration certificate of special cosmetics products for light spots, not children's cosmetics.

On the Douyin platform, the reporter searched for "children's mask" and "whitening" as keywords, and the promotional picture of a mask in front of the row reads "whitening and hydrating after sun repair", and it is accompanied by a picture of a children's mask. However, after entering the product detail page, you can see that the word "child" is not written on the actual packaging of this product, which is an adult whitening mask. Another product titled "Milk Children's Mask" does not have the word "children" on the actual product packaging, only cartoon cow patterns and words such as "milk moisturizing", which is an adult mask.

remind

There are some risks associated with the use of face masks in children

Can children use face masks?" Not highly recommended. Tang Jiaoqing, a dermatologist at Yihe Medical and a doctor from West China Medical Center of Sichuan University, publicly stated that from a medical point of view, facial masks are not a necessity, and children are no exception.

Tang Jiaoqing specially reminded that there may be some risks in children using facial masks, such as long-term external application will damage the skin barrier, causing skin or mucosal irritation and allergies; The liquid of the mask is easy to enter the mouth and eyes, and curious babies will even taste and eat the liquid of the mask.

The "Technical Guidelines for Children's Cosmetics" also clearly mentions that although the skin structure of infants and young children aged 1 to 3 years has tended to be complete, the stratum corneum and epidermis are still thin, the skin barrier function is not yet mature, and the ability to resist microbial pollution and foreign stimuli is also weak, and adverse reactions such as contact dermatitis are more likely to occur, and it takes a long time to recover.

Tang Jiaoqing said that the more suitable products for moisturizing children are moisturizers and moisturizers. "Of course, even moisturizers are not routinely used by all children, because healthy skin itself has a well-established skin barrier function and a variety of natural moisturizing factors. ”

What should I do if my child's skin is dry for unknown reasons, or even peeling, itching, stinging, etc.?" First of all, it is necessary to rule out allergic problems such as eczema, urticaria, and allergic enteritis, and determine that the blood routine and other indicators are normal. The doctor at Dongcheng District Maternal and Child Health Hospital told reporters that the child's facial skin is easily irritated, and if it is only local dryness, such as itching on the face, it can strengthen moisturizing.

Specifically, the doctor suggested that the child can use moisturizer in winter, choose products that do not contain fragrance preservatives, and apply it twice a day; Pay attention to sun protection, if the skin itching and stinging are severe, try to minimize wind and sun exposure; When eating, try not to let vegetable soup, juice, etc. get on the skin, and wash it in time after touching it to avoid local scratching and irritation.