The point of the no make-up "selfie" || Cancer awareness

Over the last couple of days social media has been bombarded with the latest new craze the "no make-up selfies" in which women from all ends of the globe are uploading snaps of their beautiful bare faces without a scrap of make-up on in a bid to raise awareness for cancer. Yes, I admit, it is somewhat of a daunting concept especially as a renown make-up lover myself, but if I am honest it actually comes as a breath of fresh air after the last craze "neknominations" - a drinking game that started out with individuals uploading videos necking a pint of alcohol which then escalated in to lets see who can drink the most dangerous repulsive pint, to girls strolling around in fields, supermarkets and various other places in next to nothing or worst nothing downing bottles of beer (classy!). Oh and did I mention people died from it? Sadly, yes.

So with all this being said, "the no make-up selfie"  is quite frankly a relief - a relief that we can actually be mature with these crazes and do something helpful to try and support a massive illness that impacts most of our lives in some way or another. Its simple, upload the no-makeup selfie, donate to a cancer charity or even easier text "BEAT" to 70099 to donate £3 to cancer research.

However, just lately my newsfeed has also been filled with various rants from people objecting to these "no make-up selfies" - things such as - "Girls please put your ugly mug away and keep the make-up on we don't want to see it" others slating the fact that it doesn't even help raise awareness for cancer and people moaning that people are doing it and not donating! Where do I even start? phew - Firstly, the whole point is to raise awareness. So what if some people aren't donating? - it's not just about the money - don't get me wrong if you can donate then yes please do (every little helps), but it's essentially to help raise awareness of cancer and it's working because everybody's talking about it and people are donating who perhaps wouldn't have thought twice to donate before.

The bottom line is that awareness is key - so girls make sure your check your boobs. You might think " I am too young for breast cancer" - but the fact is, you can be any age. Yes, it is suppose to be less common when you are younger - but the NHS think that anything below 50 is unlikely! But yet I know off many younger people below 50 to have it (some in their 30's and some even in their 20's!). They told my mum that she was too young (in her 40's) and turned her away from the doctors at first - just dismissing it as a cyst but because she was persistent and worried, she pushed for a mammogram - and in the end it turned out to be breast cancer! She didn't get diagnosed until 5/6 months after she had originally been to the doctors - when it actually could have been picked up on so much sooner if they had reacted!! The point of my story people is always check yourself, don't leave things and always be pushy with the doctors - you know your own body better than anybody else!!

Also please, please, please take two seconds to sign this petition to help get the age of smear tests lowered. Link here! Sophie Jones (19) sadly passed away last week, loosing her life to cervical cancer. After suffering with many of the symptoms for many months, being refused a smear test by doctors and being told that she was too young to have cervical cancer - it meant that by the time she was diagnosed it was too late. It had already spread to other parts of her body. Her family are now campaigning to lower the age for smear tests in a bid that this might help other younger people save their life's against the disease. So please just take a small amount of your time to click on the link and sign the petition. They need 500,000 signatures to have any chance of being heard.

I hope we can all continue to help do our bit to raise awareness and money for cancer! Together we can beat it!