Lee Ji-hoon, 11, has fun watching makeup tutorials and looking up various kinds of cosmetics online.

“My friends and I go to cosmetics shops sometimes for fun. I enjoy looking around and applying testers of makeup products,” said the fifth grader at a Seoul elementary school. “I feel like an idol star (after applying makeup).”

Lee said she has secretly bought three cosmetic products -- a sunblock, lip stain and powder compact -- with what she saved from allowance money.

In South Korea, where many believe good looks can lead to good jobs, good marriages and a better life, makeup is no longer an adult thing.

Many young teens are taking an early interest in outward beauty and ways to augment their own looks.

“There is no girl in our class who doesn’t put on makeup,” said Park Da-eun, a 12-year-old sixth grade student. “I want to follow what my friends do and look pretty.”

According to a 2015 survey, conducted by local educational broadcaster EBS, 91.6 percent of elementary students said that they have an experience of wearing makeup. Among them, 75 percent answered they have their own cosmetics.

Another study by ChildFund Korea in 2015 found that female students aged between 10 and 12 owned two or three cosmetics of their own on average. Most carried lip stains, blushers or “BB creams” (beauty balms). Some even had eyeliners and mascaras.

For cosmetics makers, this has meant a whole business opportunity. As of last year, the cosmetics market for teens and those in their early 20s is estimated to be worth 300 billion won ($267 million).

“Teenagers are the main customer base of our shop. Young kids looking like elementary school students visit the store often,” said Moon Kyung-sun, an employee at a cosmetics shop based in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. “They mostly buy color cosmetics like lip stains.”

Startled by the fast growth of this particular market, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced in January that it will set guidelines for children’s cosmetics, adding a new category of “for use by kids aged 13 or below” to the existing types of cosmetics items available.

Currently, there are 12 cosmetics categories, all of them for adults, except only one for infants aged 3 or below.

The new category will go into effect from September.

“As the age group using makeup products is getting younger and younger, regulation for children’s cosmetics became essential,” said Lee So-hyang, a ministry official.

Under the new regulation, the manufacturers will be required to label the allergenic ingredients contained in cosmetics for children, much stricter than those for adults. It will also increase the frequency of monitoring children’s products on sale, the ministry said.

The government’s move, however, sparked controversy among parents and civic groups over whether teens should be acknowledged as cosmetics consumers, or more fundamentally, whether it is right to allow them to wear makeup.

“I’m worried for my 12 year-old daughter. Too much makeup could do harm to her skin,” said a 48-year-old mother, surnamed Choi. “Although I tell her to stop (putting on makeup), I can’t help it since she imitates her friends putting on makeup at school.”

Another mother surnamed Lee said girls that age need to learn first that beauty is not just about how they look.

“The society is so fixed on outward beauty. I worry that our girls are getting an unnecessary early exposure to society’s lookism standards,” she stressed. “We may not be able to stop the trend, but why promote it?” 

Mimicking what adults do is a natural process of children growing up, some point out.

“Symbolic play is a process of children getting socialized and is a normal behavior during their development stage,” said Kim Tae-hoon, a professor of psychiatry at Yonsei University.

“Since the mass media largely influence the youth, they are willing to imitate the stylish appearance of idol stars featured on television rather than to make themselves look pretty,” he added.

The use of cosmetics products at an early age can lead to skin problems and even precocious puberty, medical experts warned, noting that some cheap products targeting teens might contain a high level of toxic chemicals.

“When skin absorbs toxic chemicals like heavy metals contained in makeup products, an excessive amount of female hormones is produced, which causes precocious puberty,” said a doctor of Korean Medicine Seong Jin-hyuk. “Children with precocious puberty are more likely to get female disorders, including menstrual irregularity, sterility or breast cancer.”

“As the skin of children is more sensitive than that of an adult, chemicals such as colorants and preservatives may irritate the skin and cause dermatological troubles such as itching or rash,” said Suh Dae-hun, a dermatologist professor at Seoul National University Hospital.

He also added that makeup is not recommended to youngsters because secretion of sebum increases during adolescence.

“But if one still chooses to buy children cosmetic products, make sure that the products are mild and safe by checking the ingredients contained in products thoroughly,” Suh said. “They should avoid harmful substances such as coal tar-derived colors.”

The doctor also suggested to cleanse the face properly afterward as makeup residues may block the pores and cause a rash or dermatitis.

By Byun Hee-jin (hjbandi9@heraldcorp.com)