While I'm in Boots with my nine-year-old daughter, she picks up a bottle of L'Oreal Elvive Full Restore 5 shampoo and says: 'Please can we get this, Mummy? I want to have hair like Cheryl Cole.' I say: 'But darling, Cheryl's hair doesn't really look like that. She has hair extensions.'
My daughter look puzzled, as well she might. 'What are hair extensions?'
'Well, they are strands of real hair, or quite possibly plastic hair, which are glued to Cheryl's scalp to make her look like she has long thick hair when in fact she doesn't.'
Buying into the lie: Cheryl Cole advertises Elvive Full Restore 5 shampoo despite wearing hair extensions that cost £4,000 a year to maintain
'Oh,' says my daughter and puts back the bottle of Elvive.
I can see her trying to figure this out. 'So why is she advertising the shampoo if her hair is like that?'
I don't really have an answer to this, except to say that it seems most advertisements are based on lies.
Human Barbie: Cheryl is a tribute to the wonders of modern cosmetic techniques
I show her an advert for a mascara across the aisle where that model is clearly wearing false eyelashes, and an anti-ageing cream where the celebrity model has been Botoxed to within an inch of her life.
In fact, it was pretty hard to find anything being advertised that wasn't based on some form of lie, except the Dove real women.
I was so struck by what I saw as little more than deception that I decided to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority - the first time in my life that I have complained about an advertisement.
A week later, I received a letter back saying that they could not uphold my complaint because the television and the print advert both contain disclaimers saying that Cheryl Cole's hair has been styled using natural hair extensions which have been treated with Elvive.
Never mind that the disclaimer is on screen for two seconds of a 30-second ad or that the print disclaimer is no more that 2mm high.
They may legally be within the letter of the law, but morally I think their judgment is pretty questionable.
Is it right that little girls all over the country are washing their hair with a fancy shampoo in the vain hope that it will give them Cheryl's tumbling Rapunzel-like locks?
The point is that even Cheryl didn't look like Cheryl Cole when she was growing up - if you look at the pictures of her before she was transformed into X Factor Barbie, it's clear the girl has had work : her blindingly white teeth, her impossibly long eyelashes? And of course her hair!
Cheryl, bless her, is a tribute to the wonders of modern cosmetic techniques.
Nothing wrong with that: if that's what it takes to sit next to Simon Cowell on the highest-rating show on British TV then good luck to her.
But what kind of message does it send out to all the little girls all over the country who want to look just like her?
I have nothing against Cheryl Cole herself, but I think she would do the nation's tweens a favour if, instead of saying: 'I used this shampoo and my hair got its mojo back,' she came clean about the amount of time, money and plastic it takes to look like that.
Manufactured: Cheryl, pictured with husband Ashley Cole on Saturday, sends a false image out to little girls all over the country who want to look her
Before her makeover: Cheryl as she looked when she first found fame on Popstars: The Rivals in 2002
I have more respect for Dolly Parton or even Katie Price, who have both been quite honest about their various wigs, boob jobs, false nails and so forth.
Nobody thinks the less of Dolly Parton because she wears a wig, but then she doesn't advertise shampoo.
Like Katie, she has made a very good living by celebrating her falseness.
I would be horrified if my nine-year-old said she wanted to look like Katie Price when she grows up, but at least she knows that to look like what became Jordan requires money, surgery and industrial quantities of St Tropez fake tan, not a £2.45 bottle of shampoo.
Today's little girls are bombarded with unattainable visions of beauty - from Barbie with her impossibly-proportioned body and the pouting Bratz dolls, to manufactured Wags like Cheryl and Victoria Beckham.
Is it any wonder that the number of young people having cosmetic surgery is rising every year, or that that there is an epidemic of eating disorders among teenagers?
The fact that little girls want to resemble celebrities isn't new - I remember wanting to look like Debbie Harry when I was growing up. But at least looking like the lead singer of Blondie was an attainable idea - all you needed was a bottle of peroxide and some industrial-strength kohl.
Nowadays, when every celebrity picture is airbrushed or digitally enhanced, it is pretty much impossible to find anyone who you could reasonably aspire to look like - without unlimited credit at a plastic surgery.
HOW CHERYL COLE BUYS HER STYLISH LOOK...
Picture perfect: The dream that costs in excess of £200,000 a year
HAIR - £4,000 A YEAR
Cheryl Cole's hair may look natural, but those trademark luxurious waves are actually made of Monofibre acrylic extensions. According to her hairdresser Julien Guyonnet, her extensions used to be created with human hair, but after her own locks became damaged they started using acrylic instead. The acrylic hair won't cause bald patches as it doesn't require glue. Julien gave Cheryl extensions four weeks ago - they have to be maintained every six to eight weeks - and a full set are needed every three months at around £700 a time.
EYELASHES - UP TO £1,800 A YEAR
While her eyelashes have always been fairly long, Cheryl is now never seen without her elongated lashes. She even has her own range of Eylure lashes, along with her Girls Aloud bandmates. Alexsandra Byrne, eyelash and make-up artist for Get Lashed, says: 'She's clever as she chooses lashes that are long but delicate.' A complete set of lash extensions can cost up to £150, and need maintenance every four to six weeks.
MAKE-UP - £40,000 A YEAR
As the new face of L'Oreal, Cheryl receives around £500 worth of beauty products a month, but her yearly bill runs much higher. Lisa Laudat, Cheryl's personal stylist, is reportedly paid £40,000 a year to do her make-up. She's on hand for touch-ups during The X Factor's live shows. Cheryl and Dannii used to share a make-up artist, but now Lisa, who used to work with Girls Aloud, looks after Cheryl full-time.
DIET AND EXERCISE
Cheryl admitted to having a personal trainer at the start of the year - she says that she has to work hard on her legs - but mostly puts her figure down to hours of dancing, both in Girls Aloud and now as a solo artist. She has shed a stone since her still-slim Girls Aloud days, and now weighs eight stone, which is in part down to a low-carb diet. She avoids red meat and favours low-fat Japanese food.
EYEBROWS - UP TO £800 A YEAR
Not too thin, not too thick and perfectly shaped - Cheryl's brows may well have been groomed by an expert. This look was most likely achieved with the traditional method of eyebrow threading, where fine thread is twisted around each hair to pull it out. To achieve her look, Cheryl would have to have them done every three weeks, which can cost as much as £45 a go.
TEETH - £9,500 PLUS
Dr Wyman Chan, Cheryl's cosmetic dentist from smilestudioLondon, has given her porcelain veneers and whitening treatments to improve her teeth. He says: 'Perfecting her smile was of huge importance to Cheryl, so she had four porcelain veneers placed on her front teeth to correct the irregularity.' Veneers are wafer-thin covers that are cemented to the front surface of the tooth, similar to the way false nails are applied, once the tooth is filed down. It costs up to £1,500 per tooth.
FAKE TAN - UP TO £3,200 A YEAR
The company Fake Bake's celebrity tanner and skincare expert Lisa Fulton says: 'When Cheryl started to get media interest, she began using fake tan. She uses our lighter tanning products - only one or two tones darker than her natural skin tone - so she doesn't have that mahogany look.' To maintain this look, Cheryl has four sprays a month, plus she uses ten bottles of gradual tanning spray and ten bottles of instant wash-off spray a year.
STYLISTS AND DESIGNER CLOTHING - £145,000
Although designers are falling over themselves to clothe Mrs Cole, she still spends a small fortune on fashion. Her two stylists, Frank Strachan and Victoria Adcock, the woman behind her military inspired outfits, are both old friends of Cheryl's. They have transformed her from girl-next-door to glamorous goddess, but at a cost of £45,000 a year for both. It is now estimated she spends £100,000 on clothes each year on top of that.
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