Thickleeyonce takes aim at beauty industry for selling ‘unattainable perfection’

Model and body positivity activist Lesego “Thickleeyonce” Legobane recently had her followers shouting “yes” and “amen” on her Instagram when she took aim at the beauty industry and its “impossible” beauty standards.

The star took to her social media to share the latest campaign she’s a part of with Dove to help create awareness around the effects of unattainable beauty standards.

The model posted several "raw" and retouched pictures of herself to illustrate her points about what society has normalised as "Instagram worthy", or beautiful, versus the pictures people are most likely to hide.

Thickleeyonce relayed her personal journey with self-love in the face of industry-fuelled beauty standards.

"I’ve been sharing my photographs on Instagram for 10 years and so much has changed over the years. From sharing candid, fun pics to having to curate 'professional' content which in the past was mostly more common for magazines or billboards. Now professionally captured and retouched images have become 'regular' Instagram posts, which has arguably created worse relationships with our physical appearance.

"Presets, filters and retouching apps seem harmless because they’re fun to use and they allow one to be creative and to experiment with their photos. However, they can also be damaging when they’re used to digitally distort the way we look. They can lead to an obsessive search for the unobtainable ‘perfect’ shot. In my self-love journey, I’ve learned it’s important for my self portraits to always be a reflection of the girl in the mirror.

"We don’t all have to have the same hourglass bodies or extra smooth skin. Let’s normalise seeing skin textures on photographs. Stretch marks are normal. Cellulite is normal. Discolouration is normal. Hip dips are normal. You are normal. You are beautiful."

In her comment section, her fans and industry mates applauded her bravery and reassured her of her beauty, with or without the beauty filters.

Read her full caption below and take a look at her pictures: