How young is too young for beauty treatments? Mini Divas of The Today Show recently interviewed Newsweek.com Health Editor Susann Schrobsdorff on the topic, citing that 43 percent of six to nine year olds in America use lipstick, and 38 percent use hairstyling products.
Above you see a five-year-old's birthday party -- manipedis at Dashing Diva in New York City. Could this be damaging for children -- not just having someone wait on them hand and foot (literally), but the early, mom-sanctioned indulgence in beauty products?
Schrobsdorff notes that, "It's not every family, and it's not every kid," and adds that she has two daughters, one of which can't go to school without her Hello Kitty Lip Gloss, and the other of which couldn't care less about beauty products. You can watch the Today Show interview here.
This is not the same as playing dress up with your mom's clothes and makeup; beauty products (like Hello Kitty Lip Gloss) are being marketed to kids, and kids are buying them.
Mini Divas spends a lot of time talking about the financial implications of children getting pedicures and other such treatments and whether or not that's responsible parenting, especially during a recession.
We just hope that we aren't teaching our girls that they're not good enough without these things. They have the rest of their lives to obsess over their makeup and hair.
The Hello Kitty empire is one of the biggest tween makeup perpetrators -- and their line for M.A.C. is expensive!