How social media is forcing the "perfect face" on girls

Girls aged 13-19 regularly encounter beauty content on social networks that promotes cosmetics that are not suitable for young skin, even when they are not specifically looking for beauty topics.

This is the conclusion reached by researchers from Radbaud University (Netherlands), led by communications specialist Serena Dalmans.

The reason for the work were the observations of one of the authors, Ela van Duffelen. While working for a national chain of cosmetics shops, she was often approached by mothers asking her to explain to their 12-year-old daughters that some day creams can be harmful at that age. According to Dalmans, the girls brought enquiries from social media to the shop: they had seen Influencers demonstrating the products and wanted to replicate the care.

The researchers note that teenagers have long been characterised by an online encounter with the "perfect body", but now the focus is increasingly on the "perfect face" - videos show how it can supposedly be "put together" with make-up and care. Such content creates unattainable expectations: the participants of the study recognised that they would not be able to look like the creators of the video, but still wanted to get closer to this image.

As part of the work scientists conducted interviews with 16 girls 13-19 years old. It turned out that beauty videos are most often found through recommendations - especially on TikTok. Teenagers may not subscribe to such accounts and do not search for such videos, but still "get" in the beauty-oriented algorithm. At the same time, they often like the videos themselves: they called them beautiful, interesting and entertaining.

Evaluations of the impact were contradictory. Many participants believed that the authors of the videos make them "to help", but at the same time they noted the unattainability of the result shown. At the same time, the girls said that such videos could hit their peers' self-esteem harder: they feared that others would feel insecure and want to copy the Influencers. After watching, many admitted to having an increased desire to buy specific products and try beauty routines.

Serena Dalmans called the findings alarming: according to her, the "beauty algorithm" is so ubiquitous that it's almost impossible to escape it, and the image of the "perfect face" looks extremely monotonous and unattainable. This increases the pressure on teenagers to aspire to a standard that does not match reality.