beauty parlour for toddlers
is this going too far ?
A beauty parlour has become the first in Britain to offer makeovers, fake tans and facials exclusively for children and toddlers.
The Trendy Monkeys salon, located in Brentwood, Essex, offers packages for children aged as young as one.
Critics have accused its owner, of offering inappropriate services that sexualise children.
But Michelle Devine, defended her business, insisting she was offering a service that made children feel like “princesses”, which was in demand from locals.
The disclosures come in a week when the government vowed crackdown on what is viewed as the growing sexualisation of children.
The salon in Essex offers treatments such as fruit smoothie facials, mini pedicures, manicures or make-up application, hair “up-dos” and haircuts.
Girls are also offered “Princess pamper parties”, which costs several hundred pounds.
That service for six people has them picked up in a pink limousine and brought to the salon to “have all their little treatments with their friends”.
Parents can pay for extra services including spray tans while having a photographer follow them around.
The salon, which is located in an area featured in the ITV reality television show The Only Way Is Essex, opened at the weekend.
Babies, including a 16 month-toddler, and young girls had their fingernails and toenails painted for free.
Prof Judy Hutchings, from the Centre for Evidence Based Early Intervention, warned the salon represented “not just the sexualisation but the commercialisation of children”.
“It’s OK to make believe and put on mum’s high heels – we want to encourage fantasy play and role play,” the child psychologist said.
“But it is actually being seen as part of the mainstream.
“I think it’s pretty sad. Children are having part of their childhood taken away from them. There are dangers in this because they are being sexualised.”
But Miss Devine, a single mother of two young girls, defended her business, insisting that going to the salon allowed girls to “exude confidence, glamour and the desire to look her best at all times, regardless of age”.
“I think there’s a real market for it out there. In this day and age we like to give our children everything they want.”
Telegraph
if it is bad for kids, shouldnt it be bad for adults as well :)
brit, be careful while pinching the cheeks of any of your neighbours' babies.. your hands could get smeared with the 'foundation or compact' ( ladies will understand better) and you could be held for child abuse..:-/
Slaughter of innocence...
fake tans, facials, and makeovers? for toddlers?? what in the world were they thinking coming up with something like that! :/
Not much different from Pageants - sad reality. A baby/toddler knows what he/she wants? What world is this some people are living in?
They will be b*&tches from hell and preserve it’s all down to looks and not personality.
I'm not surprised that its Essex, but i am surprised that so many parents are buying into such things. How will thses girls be when they're in their early teens.
Bloody hell! :(
That's sick.
Sad, awful and abusive.