Confidence AT ANY AGE
Writer Ella Dove shares how her mum helped her to love her body and feel free to be herself
Growing up, I learned the importance of embracing my body from my mum, Sara. We would go to the local swimming pool and she’d get changed freely while I, as an awkward teenager, hid behind a towel. ‘It doesn’t matter what you look like,’ she would frequently tell me, as I cried about my sticking-out ears, berated myself for gaining weight or begged to have my wild, curly hair straightened for school discos. ‘You are you, and that’s what’s important.’
It was the same with body hair. There was always a certain amount of pressure to conform, but when girls at school teased me for not shaving my legs, my mum told me it was a personal choice, totally up to me, and I didn’t have to give in to societal expectations.
It’s only in recent years that I’ve really come to appreciate how key my mum’s lessons in self-esteem were. In 2016, aged 25, I became an amputee after a freak accident when I tripped over while out running. Never had my body confidence sunk as low as it did then. I threw away all my skinny jeans, and any skirt that fell above the knee. I could barely look at myself in the mirror. Mum was there for me through it all. She went clothes shopping with me as I changed my look, joined in with my dark humour, and cuddled me when I felt sad. Most of all, she encouraged me to love myself again.
I’ve definitely learned that inner beauty is far more important than what’s on the outside. I worry less about my appearance now – after all, so many people saw me in hospital when I had no make-up on and looked very poorly. These days, if I don’t have the energy to remove my body hair, for example in the winter, I won’t bother. But when summer’s on the horizon and I know I’ll be wearing skirts more often, I prep for long-lasting silky skin with my Philips Lumea, which makes hair removal totally faff-free and painless. The smooth-skin feeling lasts for up to six months, and it makes me feel great.
I now understand that true confidence comes from within. It’s not about other people’s expectations or conforming to unrealistic ideals; it’s about choice. The most empowering feeling is the freedom to be yourself – and I have my lovely mum to thank for that.
Do body hair your way with the Philips Lumea, available at philips.co.uk
‘I’VE LEARNED THAT INNER BEAUTY IS WHAT’S IMPORTANT’