Lebanon's spa kids
 

Beirut - The Lebanese are notorious for being image- conscious. But now so-called 'Lebanese beauty fever' is hitting the very young, with the opening of three children's spas this summer.
'Be beautiful, even if you're young', reads a poster in Verdun Street, one of Beirut's most fashionable areas, advertising one of the new spas. It shows four girls, who look no older than nine or ten, wearing face masks and doing their nails.



'Kids can come here to pamper themselves,' says Maya Kabbani Hilal, the 34-year-old owner of the Tacular Salon and Spa.
Children are the spa's main clients, she says, and even have their birthday parties there, doing their nails and having facials.



'They can invite their friends to spend a day beautifying themselves, instead of watching a clown and eating cake,' she says.
At the pink-themed Chez Lulu Salon and Spa, young girls can enjoy a 'floral bath', or a foot massage and pedicure.



'Coming here is better than playing with dolls or other things,' says nine-year-old Rania, a frequent patron of Chez Lulu. 'I can read a magazine and relax.'



But not all Lebanese approve of this new hobby.
'These spas steal childhood away from children,' says Leen Habib, a sociologist at the Lebanese University of Social Studies. 'They make them focus on matters that shouldn't be important at such a young age.'
'Some of the spa owners say this will help children learn to clean their nails and feet,' she says. 'I disagree, this should be taught to children at home and not in spas'.



But in a country recently dubbed 'the land of cedars, beauty and facelifts' the trend for children's spas seems set to catch on.
The plastic surgery industry has been booming in Lebanon since 2000, prompting some Lebanese banks to start offering loans specifically for operations.



The country has now become a destination for 'plastic surgery tourism' according to Dr Elie Chammas, owner of the Hazmieh International Medical Centre, which employs some 50 plastic surgeons.
'Our prices are low compared to European countries and our surgeons are just as good,' says Chamas.
There are no official statistics, but some industry experts say that plastic surgeons in Lebanon perform 1.5 million operations a year, as well as more than 8 million non-surgical operations such as collagen fillings and Botox injections.



'For Lebanese men and women, being beautiful is considered a national duty, not a luxury,' says Wafa Eid, the mother of two girls aged eight and ten. One of the girls was invited to a birthday party at Chez Lulu.
She enjoyed the whole day, says Eid, who is pleased at the opening of the spas: 'It's a woman's duty to look the best she can, even at very young age.'



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ok this is sth really dangerous, since we are turning our kids into dolls and beauty queens at early ages. so now instead of playing around with toys, mud, dolls and balls like normal kids they are encouraging the children to go to spas.
i'm totally against this, i agree with the person who said that they are stealing our children's childhood.

Because girls that go to spas are obviously not spoiled enough 4D
I can imagine life has to be stressful for you :( Between school,naps,watching barney the dinosaur and going to the spa you must be an emotional wreck :(
Besides,what type of news in a magazine could be directed at an audience of nine year old girls?:Tawa: Barbie Goes on Vacation maybe? Maybe something more like 4D Barney the Dinosaur changes his color to orange because purple is so last season?4D
Yeah :D who cares about instilling good morals and sound judgement into their kids' personality :D as long as they look the best they can 4D who could possibly care about what type of person they turn out to be :yayi:
This 4D boys and girls 4D is what we call disturbing 4D

I am a veryyy girly girl and i have been since i was little! so take that into consideration with how i feel about this article lol.


I think this is HORRIBLE!!! yes even little girls like to dress up and play make up sometimes, but goodness gracious! le72een 3al spas w ma ba3rif shou. let them live their childhood care free of being paranoidd about how they look. let them play and laugh and enjoy the present time!

im almost 20 and im sure many others feel the same way. if i could go back to those days where i didnt worry about make up and a zit here or there, i would go in a blink of an eye.

I know these girls arent decking them selves in make up but why even let feel that this is something they should be used to! their skin is perfect to begin with at this age. No matter how relaxing those masks are they cant be better than your natural skin that hasnt been exposed to all kinds of make up and chemicals.

I think theyre starting wayyyy to early and this will affect other things. yes girls do mature sooner than guys but theres no need to shorten their childhood even more!


and this is coming from one of the girliest girls on the face of the planet hahahha. ya so something isnt right with the way Ms. Hilal is thinking


Miss O.