Alexandra Owens, Allure magazine
They say that when you're young is the time to make mistakes-staying out too late, listening to Hanson, and wearing parachute pants. Some of us also didn't exercise the best judgement when it came to our own beauty, like Natalia Vodianova, a model known for her lush, perfect brows. She was an overly enthusiastic plucker until someone older and wiser (her grandma) told her to lay off the tweezers. "When my grandmother saw me plucking she said: 'Don't. You will regret it. One day you will wake up with no eyebrows and think how stupid you were. Your eyebrows are the most beautiful thing about you,'" Vodianova told the Telegraph in a recent interview.
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Of course, my freckles and pale skin aren't exactly earning me a million dollar modeling contract, but we have come a long way since my teenage years. Like Vodianova, I was uncomfortable with my traits that stood out, and wasted a lot of time trying to fade my spots and fake a tan. I remember my grandfather telling me that my light speckled skin was beautiful, but his words-and my confidence-took a while to sink in. Now, my skin is easily one of my favorite things about me, and I even go to lengths to preserve it, avoiding the sun and slathering on sunscreen every day. More often than not, I think we have to grow into our looks.
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Is there something about you, beauty-wise, that you once tried to change, and are now glad you didn't?
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