So I know this isn't my usual fashion post but hear me out; it's an important topic that needs to be talked about as much as possible, so I'm hijacking my own fashion and beauty page for a short minute to get you chatting about boobies instead.
Breast cancer awareness charity CoppaFeel! today launched a new campaign which aims to get us all discovering #WhatNormalFeelsLike for us. It aims to start healthy conversations with women across the UK by reclaiming the vocab that we use for descriptions of breasts. Too often, women are only using size descriptors for their boobs and can’t define how they actually feel because they aren’t checking. The vast majority of women in the UK check their weight more regularly than checking their boobs for the signs and symptoms of breast cancer and that needs to change.
CoppaFeel! founder Kris Hallenga, is one amazing lady. She was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at the age of 23 and in setting up the charity has made it her mission to o stamp out late detection and misdiagnosis of breast cancer by ensuring that people know the signs and symptoms of breast cancer, know what their boobs look and feel like normally, check their boobs regularly throughout their lifetime and have the confidence to seek medical referral when they detect abnormalities. Chances are you know someone who has - or had - breast cancer, so it's time to get checking.
Kris recently took to the streets and chatted to women to find out if they could even describe their own boobs. “What we found was pretty worrying, beyond ‘big’ or ‘small’, perky or saggy women strug- gled to find the words. #whatnormalfeelslike aims to change that. By challenging women to truly describe how their breasts look and feel beyond these limiting descriptions; CoppaFeel! aims to widen the nation’s vocabulary and make checking your breasts the norm. Your boobs are a part of you. You should know them inside out. How they feel, what they look like, what’s unique to each one!”
It takes five minutes to check 'em in the shower (the perfect excuse for leaving your conditioner in that little bit longer than you usually would...) so there's really no excuse not to. To open up the conversation and raise awareness CoppaFeel! are touring the country popping up at festivals, beaches and town centres nationwide. So whether your normal is solid or squishy, pointy or perky, bumpy or marshmallowy join in the conversation and tell CoppaFeel! #WhatNormalFeelsLike to you, because knowing your boobs could save your life.
Head to CoppaFeel!'s website www.coppafeel.org for what to look out for, to order one of their brilliant shower stickers, sign up for a monthly text reminder to check your boobs and to find out more about the charity and how to donate. You can also see the voxpops from Kris' travels here: vimeo.com/99321282
Love Laurel x
P.S. You should also check out Kris' amazing BBC documentary 'Dying To Live', available now on the BBC Iplayer! x
