Who do you admire most in the spotlight for their beauty?
When I was younger I used to copy the looks and style between J-Lo and Kim Kardashian. I naively believed that beauty had to be sexy, but in the last five years my ultimate role model has now evolved into a more elegant, sophisticated, and intelligent beauty, and I love the look, the style, the beauty, and the brains of Queen Rania of Jordan.
Do you think cosmetic and aesthetic treatments can become addictive?
Absolutely yes. Having suffered body dysmorphia myself, I was unaware of the slippery road that cosmetic treatments can yield if they are not managed properly. Emotional well being is a such a hot topic in the press and media right now, and only this week the government announced guidelines for cosmetic professionals and clinics to implement better mental health screening for patients of elective cosmetic procedures.
I welcome this as a trained body image counsellor. In addition to my media work and talks about safety in beauty, I am also concerned about the body-related image issues that our younger generation is set to experience since we live in a culture of ‘insta-perfection’, selfies, and flawless media images of celebrities and influencers.
The truth is that our current culture is bad for our mental health, while we also have busier lives, and our lifestyles and dietary choices are a lot more disposable. The general pace that we live at encourages us to think that the elixir to happiness is a tweak here and there, and yes, while these treatments can have a huge positive and beneficial aspect to them, the key word here is ‘BALANCE’.
It's so important we learn to accept ourselves and love ourselves for who we are; we are all aging, but we are living longer and looking better and better with each decade. The emphasis now with many diseases being at critical point should be health, well being, and emotional wellness. After all, it is pointless having a flawless exterior but a neglected and unwell inner self.
What’s the worst case you have ever seen of bad practice on a client in the aesthetic field?
I have seen hundreds of cases of cosmetic work and treatments gone horribly wrong. I am often called at all hours by distressed women and men who have had their lives turned upside down for making the wrong choice. This is often an unwitting choice which can devastate lives beyond belief, and this is the reason I trained in counseling so I could offer the victims coming to Safety in Beauty proper skilled support. It's so important that the consumer does their research and always asks ‘if something goes wrong, what will this practitioner do to help me?’ Most importantly, they must make an informed choice. The worst cases I have seen range from a lip that had completely fallen off as a result of necrosis following injectable lip fillers, or botched body surgery where the victim was left with horrendous open, gaping scars that reminded me of something from a horror film. The worst case was possibly a young lady who still lingers in my memory for committing suicide following a botched breast procedure. There are too many tragic cases to identify just one, and often the psychological injuries far outweigh the physical scars.