A six-year-old girl was first in the chair at a new salon and donated her hair to charity.

The Shoreham Hair Lounge moved to new premises in High Street over the weekend, sharing a space with Amirii, which offers beauty treatments.

On Saturday, the two businesses opened their doors to customers and the first in line for a trim was Alice Huxtable, aged six.

After watching a programme on television about children with cancer who had lost their hair, Alice, from Shoreham, wanted to help.

She had 12 inches of her hair chopped off which will be donated to the Little Princess Trust, a charity which provides free real hair wigs to children and young people who have lost their hair.

Alice said she 'wanted to make a little girl happy'Alice said she 'wanted to make a little girl happy' (Image: Michelle Freeman)

When The Argus asked Alice what inspired her to do it, she said: “Because I want a little girl to be happy.”

After the cut, Alice said she felt “really happy”.

The salon contains seven stylist chairs, three hair washing stations, two manicure stations and a ground floor treatment room.

The team offers a full range of treatment such as cuts, treatments and balayages. Meanwhile, the beauty team offers express treatments including nails, lashes and waxing.

Michelle Freeman, owner of the hair salon, said: "We wanted a bigger space and to add beauty services for our client base.

Alice had the chop at the Shoreham Hair Lounge, which has moved to a new premisesAlice had the chop at the Shoreham Hair Lounge, which has moved to a new premises (Image: Michelle Freeman)

"We knew that Amirii would be a fantastic team to have on the journey and after lots of planning this new collaboration was born.

"With four strong businesswomen behind this new venture, we know it will have every success it deserves.

"We are so excited to go on this journey together and can’t wait to see what the future holds."

A ten-year-old boy from Burgess Hill, Sebastian Stevens, donated 11 inches of his hair to the Little Princess Trust in May at the Reflex @42 salon in Keymer Road, Hassocks.

Sebastian, who is now cancer free, was diagnosed with a sarcoma of the bladder and prostate at 18 months old.