Parents face up to school-ball sting

Salon owner Ruby Francis says many students get the "works" - tanning, nails, tints and waxes. Photo / Sarah Ivey

School ball costs have soared as social pressure leads more girls to spend up to $300 in salons - and then shell out for a dress, hair and make-up, shoes, handbag, ball ticket and even hotel rooms.

Ruby Francis, owner of four Rubywaxx salons across Auckland, said that five years ago, only a handful of girls would get a treatment, such as an eyelash tint, done before their ball.

This year, each of her salons has seen about 200 students get treatments before a ball, with many of those getting the "works" - tanning, nails, tints and waxes.

"It's like a pre-wedding, almost. It's quite ridiculous. I've got girls who have spent $1000 on a dress, then they want shoes, a bag, and their hair done. They are probably spending around $1500 on their one night."

Ms Francis said she knew of 16-year-olds whose parents had paid for them and their friends to have a hotel room on ball night.

"It's the pressure - if one girl is doing it, they all want to do it. It's the expectation of whatever they think their friends are doing."

However, New Zealand parents have not yet followed the lead of their Australian counterparts, some of whom have paid for their teenage daughters to have cosmetic injections before their big night or as a reward for graduating.

One Sydney clinic, The Medispa at Neutral Bay, estimated that during last year's ball season they injected about 100 high school girls.

"Lips and cheek augmentation are very, very common with the girls prior to the formal and graduation," owner and cosmetic nurse Matty Samaei told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The procedure costs between A$350 and A$750. Cosmetic doctors and clinics spoken to by the Herald said such procedures were not carried out on people of school age in New Zealand.

"I think we have pretty high standards over here," said Dr Catherine Stone, of The Face Place med spa in Auckland City. "With it being quite a small community, the vast majority of cosmetic-medicine practitioners over here are actually excellent.

"That would be seen as outside the realms of best practice."

Dr Garsing Wong, of the Sapphire appearance medicine clinic in Freemans Bay, said some women had work done around the time of their university graduation.