Understandably (and thankfully), my mum didn’t let me wax my upper lip until I was an appropriate age but even after I did, I went through my teen years believing that being hairless was beautiful. When in actual fact, what’s truly beautiful is a woman who is just comfortable in her skin.

Unfortunately, I didn’t come to this realisation until I was a lot older, but MAC making a move like this is what is needed to help young girls get a step closer to that kind of self-acceptance quicker than I did.

The fact that anybody could be against a major make-up brand embracing something that is entirely normal beggars belief. If I had seen a picture like this as a teenager, it would’ve filled me with so much comfort to see an image that represented me. Particularly when today’s state of Instagram is a sea of filtered photos gives us with a warped perception of what real skin looks like.

As I scroll through the comments on the picture, it’s heartening to see that there are actually more positive comments than negative, proving that there are more women who experience facial hair than those who don’t. Also, it shows we all desperately crave a sense of normality when we pick up our phones.

Bravo, MAC. Here’s hoping other brands follow suit…

Images: Hanna Ibraheem/Getty

“Why MAC’s recent Instagram post is a triumph for hairy women like me”