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Looking picture-perfect on Instagram is important for many people.
But this 21-year-old with a large facial birthmark is challenging this notion with her body-positivity Instagram feed.
Sarah Taylor, from New York, US, was born with a huge port-wine stain on her face but now uses it to promote self-love on her Instagram account.
Sarah, a college student, hasn’t always been this confident. In fact, she yearned to be accepted by other people and was frequently bombarded with questions about her birthmark.
"It's human nature to want to be accepted, and when you don't look normal you tend to get singled out of the pack,” she told women’s beauty magazine Allure.
“As I grew up, people asked more and more questions, and they started to tint them with judgment. 'What's that thing on your face?' was the typical inquiry.
“I'd say 'my birthmark,' and they would say, 'Oh wow, I’m really sorry.’”
Her facial mark often left her feeling ashamed, Sarah says, but when she befriended someone who wasn't afraid to be her true self she learnt to embrace her insecurity.
“Being around [my friend] made me forget I was supposed to be self-conscious about my face.
"Once I stopped focusing so much on what I thought other people were thinking about me, I started to grow into myself . . .
“Somewhere in the storm of me learning to love myself for who I was, I stopped caring what people said about me.”
Sarah, who’s a science major at New York University, now encourages her social media followers troubled by insecurities to embrace their “flaws”, reports Metro News.
She has more than 9 000 followers on Instagram and says she’s received numerous messages from people who are proud to have her as their port-wine stain representative on social media.
"It's really validating to know that we're not completely alone in it," she says.
"The best thing is when people tell me that I've inspired them to not cover up their birthmark, or even ask me for make-up tips to highlight it.”
Sources: metro.co.uk, allure.com, Instagram
