SPACE NK... a queue full of kids... aibu

[TikehauLilly]

Popped into town with my dd to get some clothes for her and thought I would go to the Space NK to grab a couple of bits.... however to do this inwas informed by a security guard to wait in a queue.... populated by children! And not teenagers... children

It has just moved from a side lane into the main shopping centre but have I missed a children's line .... aibu to think the products £££ wise and also more importantly ingredient wise are not for children

I'll go to the one near work where there are definitely no children!!

What's going on ? Aibu to think SPACE NK is better suited to adults

Of course all customers need to queue and adults aren’t more important than children, but I think if this is the new Space NK shopping experience it will put a lot of adult customers off. It’s not cheap stuff, and part of browsing or buying in-store for me was the feeling of buying a special treat in calm, pleasant environment. I’m certainly not queuing up to get into a shop and I’m not inclined to make expensive purchases among gaggles of kids either.

As for parents purchasing stuff that could be harmful… crazy.

I suppose they feel 'grown up' buying that kind of thing and having a 'skincare routine'. It's a shame because they have decades of adulthood ahead of them to do that kind of thing, whereas childhood is relatively short and they are missing that golden time when you don't have to worry about your skin and hair beyond keeping them clean.

Especially the 7 -8 year olds - in a few years time they'll be coping with teenage acne (hopefully nowadays they have something a bit better to use than the Clearasil of my teen years) - such a shame they can't enjoy having the naturally fresh and glowing skin of childhood, that no amount of money or products or surgery can bring back once it's gone.

I'm with you on this. It's been like this for some time it's not just SNK. It may just be trending at the minute. SPACE NK originally started in Harvey nichols I can remember going with my mum and even then it was a treat for my own mum.

I don't have a daughter so maybe it's not a fair opinion but I can't imagine giving my kid money to buy make up from the expensive counters. I as an adult go to Superdrug or Boots!

Not read whole thread but I agree. My DD is 14 and very much into this stuff and yes is at Sephora on a Saturday in her white fox and uggs. I don’t mind this but she isn’t given anywhere near enough pocket money to actually buy much, and I can barely afford the Space NK brands for myself so who is buying this stuff for their young girls?

also a burden waiting to be inflicted on the NHS for dermatological problems in the future.

Bloody hell. Can't kids just be kids any more?

Yes, it's a thing, same with Sephora and the same in the US:
https://www.thecut.com/2024/01/ephora-tweens-shopping-drunk-elephant.html

Frankly I wish they'd all fuck off back to Superdrug. I have a massive Space NK voucher to spend and I don't want to fight my way through hordes of creepily precocious 10yos to use it!

My 10 year old has friends with more expensive skincare than me.

One has pretty much the full range of Drunk Elephant while another seems to have a bag full of Charlotte Tilbury. My DD is massively into Bubble skincare and that’s all she wants to spend her money on.

One of her friends is getting highlights and root taps and was bemoaning the cost of Olaplex.

When I was 10 I was still spending pocket money on Barbie stuff…

I was huffed and puffed at by a (guessing) 12 year old in Boots today for daring to look at Drunk Elephant. She had her phone ready to film, as I left she was still hanging aboot ready to get her ‘content.’ Laughed to myself when she was beaten to it by a group of 3 excited teen girls. Standing on the sidelines still raging.

It’s put me off going in, to be honest. It’s now massively overcrowded with not a huge amount of people actually buying items.
Early teens, I remember getting excited about some Clinique freebies but it was gentle skincare by today’s standards. It’s also crazy that these stores and others are selling retinol based products and similar to pre teens/teens.

‘Clean girl aesthetic’ is solely a tiktok trend, so she’s seeing it somewhere I’m afraid.

I can assure you she has not, at least not on tik tok. Her phone is linked to mine and I have all social media apps blocked so even if she wanted to, she can't download it or even access it. Phones are handed in at school and we drop her off and collect her so she's not viewing a friends. She's really not that sort kid.

OK. Bit strange that she’s somehow managed to get into a tiktok trend without tiktok but it’s none of my business so I’ll butt out.

Apart from the prices how is this different to hanging out in the bodyshop as we did in the 90s? I'm sure some of their products could have been harsh on teen skin.

I’ve worked in beauty my entire adult life, 30+ years, a chunk of it at Space Nk (not got years). It’s always been luxe. Lots and lots of brands now chase young consumers with Instagram and TikTok.
The people I know and trust, advise what is age appropriate, but of course some will take anyone’s money.
Most kids have more disposable money than in previous generations, and labels are more important to them than in previous generations, due to social media and YouTube.
People taking care of their skin, hair and nails is great, just with gentle age appropriate formulas. I bought my first skincare with pocket money when I was around 8, it’s not new!

Oh this is so weird - today I went for coffee with some friends and their DDs, my DD was there too. They were sitting together nicely and then the eldest, who's 12, asked demanded if they could pop into Space NK! I was very amused as I figured Space NK is purely for adults (if only because of the price tags!) so this explains a lot....

This has just reminded me of little two sided face scrubbing pads that were available around the time we were all destroying our faces with the Aapri apricot face scrub. Can anyone remember exactly what they were. They might have also been Aapri.

I noticed signs at our local make up/skin care place (has lots of brands) that under 14's must be accompanied, I'm guessing it's to stop hoards of preteens clogging up the store using the samples.

I love skincare and beauty and have been into it since starting on the Oil of Ulay at about nine!

But my concern is the current materialistic nature of the trends being pushed on children. It loses a lot of the fun of wandering round the stores experimenting with what you can afford, and realising which products are with the money, which are not.

I have makeup and skincare from all ends of the spectrum. My DP’s daughter won’t countenance anything that’s not expensive and approved by TikTok

Retinols do not damage skin. That theory has been disproved.
What is sad is that they, along with their mothers and millions of other women, believe this crap works.

Yep my DP daughter is 12 and is OBSESSED with skincare routines, make up etc. She went on a birthday shopping spree and brought expensive cosmetics she didn't need.

Tbh im surprised DP doesn't have more of a handle on it. She has sensitive skin anyway. The security guard in boots was completely fed up and I overheard him saying he's had enough of young kids ruining the makeup and skincare sections.

It makes your skin more sensitive to the sun. It even says on the packaging.

It's probably even more harsh on younger sensitive skin

These active ingredients make your skin hyper sensitive to the sun. So yes it does damage it as you opens your skin up to sunburn if you don't protect it

Also if the concentration is too high or an irritant then you can burn (for lack of a.better word) your skin (been there) with acids inappropriate use. Also irritating skin layers can lead to POD dermatitis - again been there with tretinoin.

Plus retinol helps to exfoliate your skin and u only have to google shedding / retinol to see that u need to be careful with the use. So yes I stand by that it can damage your skin / irritate / cause discomfort if not used as intended and frankly a 9 /10 /11 /12 year old.is not intended

That's my point. They can spend their ££ on perfumes and makeup if they want

I have also decided over night I am judgy and don't want my shopping experience marred by children sampling and making tik toks or taking photos. 🙃 I'm sure space nk would prefer them though spending £10 -£20 per head over the course of a Saturday than me spending £x hundred every few months. So that's my issue.

Just baffled that tik tok so powerful. And event though I am pleased people take care of their skin now I still don't think pastel lids and elephant pictures with active ingredients are for children. V sad.

I went in a few weeks ago and was shocked at the age of the kids in there. I'd have guessed that the majority were around 11-14 year old girls. I would say 80% of the clientele were under the age of 16, it was honestly a little off putting. I commented to the person who was with me how on earth they are affording the items in there. At that age I was shopping in Boots and The Body Shop. Ironically, in Boots the other day and most of the people browsing the cosmetic aisles were grown women despite it being school holidays.

Can't remember what those pads were called but I can confirm they were very useful for blackhead removal. Along with a layer of skin......

Childhood as I knew it when I was a child no longer exists.