

Jayne says: 'Sasha's friends are the same. beauty pageant held in a down-market-looking Texan hotel: mums parading their daughters like prize poodles, kids who look disturbingly like mini Celine Dions, and enough lipgloss to pose a drowning risk to the tiniest entrants. The pair took a documentary team with them, and found what you'd expect at a U.S. Jayne was at her side, helping her practise her sashay. Why? Let them slap it on! What's the harm?'Įarlier this year, Jayne was given free rein with the blusher when Sasha became the first British child to dip a scarlet-tipped toe into the American pageant scene. They kept saying they wanted the girls to look natural. Looking back, it was all very conservative. 'Because this country doesn't have a tradition of this sort of thing, the organisers didn't quite know how to play things. She means the girls - some of whom were still toddling - weren't allowed to look adult enough. Jayne tells me she was uneasy about the way the contest was run, citing odd rules about how much make-up should be applied to those pre-pubescent faces and including confusing clauses about how contestants could bring make-up artists but should try to look 'natural'.Īt first, I think she is criticising the organisers for encouraging the children to look too adult. It wasn't an altogether beautiful experience.

Just over a year ago, there was fuss galore when Jayne entered Sasha (then ten) in the junior Miss British Isles competition - Britain's first adult-style beauty pageant for children.įormer glamour model Jayne and daughter Sasha attend beauty pageants all over the world 'I don't understand why people get so upset about it. But, around big cities, girls have got to be more forward and act older than they are. 'Perhaps it's different in country areas, where they don't need to grow up so fast. Of course they are! Why else would you be able to buy make-up for pre-teens at Boots? 'We spend about £300 a month on beauty treatments for her. 'All the kids are at it now,' insists Jayne.

Jayne is talking breezily about how Sasha had her first set of false nails glued on at eight, and now enjoys the sort of rigorous beauty regime - hair extensions, fake tans, pedicures - that was once the preserve of porn stars and Dolly Parton, not school children from Burnley in Lancashire. All about the look: Sasha Bennington is just 11 but her mother loves the way she looks
