AMARILLO, TEXAS -- It's not surprising that teenage girls are into the latest beauty trends. But what if they're not quite in their teen years yet?
After the shocking story of the New Jersey mother who allegedly took her five-year-old daughter to a tanning booth, many people are wondering how young is too young for girls to be concerned with beauty.
Local beauty experts say they've seen girls coming in younger and younger for cosmetic reasons.
"We see clients as young as nine, ten," said one stylist for Wade Gordon Salon Shelby Alejandro. "They're really looking up to people like Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Hannah Montana."
"I have some girls come in, probably the earliest would be around eleven," said Owner of First Impression, Patti Stapp.
Many said reasons for the change might be peer pressure, the way society has shaped women's views of beauty and even their mothers.
"They see it on TV, they see it at school, they have people that they look up to that are just in that mode already and so they feel like they'll fit in more and they'll be more mature if that's what they do," added Stapp.
"I think mothers do encourage, the more fashion savvy mothers," said Alejandro. "They want they're daughters to be more fashion forward and trendy."
But local mother Ashlee Bechkam, said even though times are changing it'll be a while before her two daughters, ages four and nine, are concerned with anything cosmetic, especially tanning.
"They don't need to be in tanning beds, getting their nails done and getting their hair done and putting on makeup when they're in middle school," said Beckham. "Let them be little girls. Fourteen and 15 would be the youngest for getting nails done. I don't think tanning... Ever."
Even folks without children agreed with Beckham.
"I just think it's ridiculous," said Amarillo resident Sarah Rice. "That's so young to be subjected to having to worry about your appearance and all that."
Beauty professionals did feel, however, it's okay for younger girls to be interested in things like hair, makeup and nails as long as they're taught to approach such mature things in a proper way.
"I think as long as they're doing it the right way and looking up to a really positive icon, a positive image," said Alejandro. "I think that would be good for them."
"If you have a daughter that's eleven and she wants to start wearing makeup and you take her to a professional that's there not to sell makeup but to teach her how to look, then she's going to do it properly," said Stapp. "If you don't then she's going to learn from her friends and they're going to look at magazines and it's not always complimentary."
