Very brave woman, showing us once again, the things we complain about especially when it comes to our bodies, are trivial in comparison ...
A TENACIOUS model has learnt to show-off her scars after a tragic car accident left her fearing for her future. When she was just 23 years old, Neli Zuma was fighting for her life in ICU with internal bleeding after her friend’s car span out of control and hit a wall. Neli, now 25, was left with a gaping hole in her stomach and doctors had no choice but to remove skin from her thigh and sew it to the open wound to prevent her bleeding out. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do for her close friend who passed away two days later. Neli, who had just started out with her modelling career, was left with unusual scarring on her stomach and thigh and she had to use a colostomy bag for 10 months. Her body-confidence had hit an all-time low. But after months of trying to improve the way she saw herself, Neli from Durban, South Africa, decided it was time to show the world that she is no longer ashamed of her scars.
A teenage girl uses social media to fight the stigma of acne by showing off her pimples rather than covering them up with heavy make-up. Since the age of 11, Hailey Wait, from Buena Vista, Colorado has been dealing with cystic acne – a skin condition that occurs when hair follicles become clogged underneath the skin leaving behind painful bumps. The 17-year-old decided she didn’t need to say sorry for how she looked and wanted to fight back by helping other young people struggling with their skin by posing pictures barefaced to “take one for the team.”
A DETERMINED mother has launched an online campaign to inspire women to embrace their stretch marks. Striving to be a swimsuit model all her life, Talmesha Jones, from San Antonio, Texas, struggled to accept her post-baby stretch marks when she gave birth to her only son, Chase, five years ago. Talmesha’s confidence was at an all-time low – often receiving abuse online, she would refuse to look at herself in the mirror.
But when best friend, Johnathan Benton, convinced her to take part in a photo-shoot for the first time since giving birth, Talmesha decided enough was enough and that her stretch marks actually made her unique and special. Talmesha, 27, then launched the popular Instagram hashtag, ‘Tiger Stripes On A Tuesday’ – challenging the stigma attached to stretch marks and encouraging women from around the world to post pictures of their post-baby bodies.
