How Young is "Too Young" for Beauty Treatments?

Here at Sass Factory, we subscribe to the fact that girls are "sugar and spice and everything nice".

We are big fans of the color pink.

We're huge believers in "girls being girls"...And by that we mean "girls being girls" not "girls being women".

Lately, we've been reading headlines about girls as young as 8 years old getting botox, bikini waxes and other "beauty" services that have traditionally been reserved for women many times their age...

Sure, we've been guilty of encouraging girls to dress-up in who or what they want to be, whether it be a soccer player, fairy princess or pop star. Often times we see our little sweethearts playing at being grown-ups, as doctors or chefs or moms.

But we firmly believe there is a clear line between letting your child pretend she's older than she is, versus enabling  her to have experiences beyond her years, regardless of whether she expresses wanting them.

In what world is it OK to let your little girl think she has wrinkles or that the peach fuzz on her legs or arms is something to be ashamed of? There is something really wrong with encouraging solutions for that, or even telling her she is anything short of perfect just the way she is.

One of our staff innocently took her niece to get her first kids pedicure at age 6 as a treat, without thinking twice about it. Although her niece thought it was neat, and has never again asked for one, our friend and staff member is now wondering if this was the right thing to do, or if she exposed her niece to something that she should be doing later in life. 

What are your thoughts?