Debate over spray tans for toddlers and bikini waxes for pre-teens
Girls are having beauty treatments from the age of 2, reveals TV show Blinging Up Baby
An increasing number of mums are giving their young daughters 'grown up' beauty treatments, such as spray tans, and even taking them for salon bikini waxes. As Channel 5 airs its controversial Blinging Up Baby documentary tonight about mums spending thousands on their toddlers' looks, charity campaigners are voicing concern about girls as young as 9 getting salon waxes.
According to charity Jeena International, the majority of beauty salons across the country are willing to bikini-wax a 9-year-old girl. In fact, the Metro reports that some will slash prices by as much as £30 because a girl is ‘likely to be less developed than older people’.
Jeena founder Rani Bilkhu found just 1 in 25 salons refused to carry out the painful procedure on any child.
"This raises questions about girls not being allowed to celebrate their bodies changing," explains Rani. She warned that letting young girls think they need this procedure objectifies them at a very young age.
Rani decided to investigate pre-teen bikini waxing after hearing the shrieks of a 9-year-old having a wax at a salon near her home in Slough. She decided to pose as a mum trying to book in her 9-year-old daughter for a ‘Hollywood’ full wax. Just 4% refused to wax her child, while another 4% refused to treat a child under 12.
But Deborah Morris, from beauty salon group BABTAC, says waxing might help a child who had early puberty.
"We advise our members to assess the client on the basis of need," she adds.
The growing trend to glamorise toddlers and very young girls is worth around £5 billion a year, reveals tonight's TV show Blinging Up Baby.
One of the most controversial mums from the show is Essex student and single mum Sophie May Dixon (pictured above) who spray tans her toddlers.
Princess Bliss Tiana May, 4, and Precious Bell Ruby Rosina, 1, also wear crystal-studded shoes and frothy pink dresses.
"My girls, I would say, are like little Barbie babies. If Barbie was real, they would be her children," the mum says.
So what do you think? At what age should little girls start having beauty treatments? Or do you think they shouldn’t be having them at all? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below…
Read more:
* British girls are plain and pasty, says US beauty-pageant mum
* France plans to ban child beauty pageants
* Playing with Barbie 'dampens a girl's dreams'
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