Can it be right to let your five-year-old have a facial? As beauty treatments for children soar in popularity

Sadie Mitchel (left and right), five, who requested facials and manicures after watching her mother get treatments in Blackburn, Lancashire, is among two in three under-eights who have salon treatments. 

Her mother Katie (inset, right) has been taking Sadie to get regular facials for the past year and manicures since the age of two. Meanwhile, Freya has been a regular customer at her local beauty salon for the past 12 months and her mother, Lisa (inset, left), sees this as a wholesome and perfectly normal pastime for her little girl. 

It is a subject that divides parents. When one mother asked where she could book a 'proper' massage for her daughter's sixth birthday on a parenting forum recently, she was lambasted by other mothers for her 'deranged' and 'weird' views.