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It started with her eating less and pushing food around on her plate at lunch. Then she started skipping lunch altogether, telling our group that she had to study or needed to catch up on her homework. Something just wasn’t right.

She began looking a little thinner, but nothing to be concerned about. People would ask if she lost weight, which would make her entire day. But to her friends, it was concerning.

Suddenly, she was skipping class or stopped coming to school altogether. When she did show up, she was wearing huge sweatshirts and jackets even when it was hot out. She wouldn’t return phone calls and would lash out when I asked what was going on with her. I knew I had to do something about it.

I went to my school’s guidance counselor to ask what I should do. I explained that my friend had been skipping lunch and was looking less than healthy. The counselor told me that unfortunately, the only thing I could do was to just be there for her. She said if I was really that concerned, then I should talk to her parents but that I should be prepared that my friend probably would blame me.

It turned out that another friend had already tried that. And her parents, unfortunately, were in complete denial about the whole thing. They ended up confronting her, but she freaked out. When she found out that we had brought it to their attention, she abandoned us as her friends even though we were trying to help.

A few weeks later, my friend ended up being taken to the hospital because her body was rejecting food. She was sent to rehab for pretty much the remainder of the school year. As hard as it was to see what happened to her, we were all so glad that she was getting the help she needed.

She made it through and now she’s back to her healthy self. Our friendship, however, didn’t quite make it. Every time I’ve seen her since then, we’re cordial and nice to each other. But we’re not friends anymore. It hurts because as her friends, we wanted to help her. I wish that our friendship had survived, but I’m so glad that she’s healthy and thriving. She seems really happy, and that’s honestly all I can ask for.

Have you ever had a friend who struggled with an eating disorder or addiction? What did you do? Tell us in the comments!
 
This post is written in partnership with Simon & Schuster and Letting Ana Go.
 

What should you do if you think your friend has an eating disorder?

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I have bad hair days a lot. I mean, my hair just does what it wants. It doesn’t like to listen. My hair is a very poorly behaved child. It can be really frustrating because how your hair looks is a big deal. If your hair doesn’t look nice, you feel like a mess! Right? I can’t be the only one.

There are different types of bad hair days, though. Sometimes your bangs could really be working for you, but the rest of your hair has another idea. Now that I’m thinking about it more, I just want to shave my head. I probs won’t. But I want to.

Check out the 10 worst kinds of bad hair days!

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The I'm Going Bald Bad Hair Day

We all lose hair everyday, but sometimes you lose A LOT in one day. You find a ton of it in your shower drain, and you shed like a dog in summer heat during the day.

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The Super Tangled Bad Hair Day

No matter how much detangler you use or how many times you try to comb it, your hair is totally knotted.

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The I Put In Too Much Conditioner Bad Hair Day

You accidentally used too much conditioner in the shower so it either didn't rinse out all the way or it's too sleek for you to do anything with it.

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The My Split Ends Are Disgusting Bad Hair Day

Split ends suck. Some days you don't notice them as much, but when you do notice them, you think everyone can. And you spend the rest of the day pulling at them and picking at your hair.

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The My Hair Is A Monster Of Frizz Bad Hair Day

Curly girls know this better than anyone. When frizzy hair strikes, it's game over. Put it in a bun and try again tomorrow.

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The I Can't Do It Like My Stylist Bad Hair Day

The first time you do your own hair after you get it cut is always the worst. You just can't get it to look as good as your hair stylist did.

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The Flathead Bad Hair Day

Your hair just won't retain any volume. This is what I call flathead. It's just flat no matter what you do.

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The My Bangs Are Freaking Out Bad Hair Day

Your bangs are out of control. All you want is for them to lie there and be cute like Zooey Deschanel. But instead they freak out and go in a million different directions.

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The My Hair Won't Do Anything I Want It To Bad Hair Day

You try to do a blowout, but that's not working. So you throw in some curlers, but the curls won't hold. Then you attack it with a flatiron. Nope. Game over.

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The My Hair Is An Oil Slick Bad Hair Day

Sometimes your hair gets greasy out of nowhere and all of a sudden it's like the BP oil spill happened on your head. Hello, hair, I just washed you this morning! What are you doing?!

Source: Shutterstock

 
Have you had any of these types of bad hair days? What’s your least favorite one? How do you deal with a bad hair day? Tell us in the comments!
 

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I try not to watch too many funny videos on YouTube because then I wouldn’t get anything done with my day. But this one I couldn’t resist. Hart is a comedian with a pretty popular YouTube channel called Hartbeat. She’s super funny and great, so I highly recommend her.

Some commenters have called her out for not dressing more feminine. Basically, because Hart is a lesbian and likes women, she should dress like a woman. Um…what?

So Hart responded with the most awesome video of the day.

Hart OWNS the commenter and makes a hugely important point in the process. You can express yourself in whatever way you choose! Just because you’re a female doesn’t mean you have to dress feminine. I mean, I have guys’ clothes in my closet that I wear on the reg!

I hate that these stereotypes are still around! It’s 2013! Why are we trying to convince women to conform to the old whacked-out ideas of how a woman should look? Are women not allowed to wear the color blue because it’s not feminine enough? Heaven forbid we wear t-shirts!

You should dress however you want to dress and in whatever way you feel best expresses your personality. Even if it’s by wearing a watermelon bikini.

No one can tell you who to be or how you should act. The most important thing is that you are true to yourself. Take a lesson from Hart and just BE YOU.

What do you think about Hart’s response? Do you agree with her? Tell us in the comments!
 

Shop at thrift stores like Hayley if you want!

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Large breasts aren’t always the blessing that the media fools people into believing they are. Washington state teenager Britanny Minder knows this intimately, because her breasts kept her out of prom.

Minder found her dream dress, a strapless purple number designed for larger busts, only to be denied entry to her prom because of her visible cleavage.

According to the school’s dress code, strapless dresses are allowed as long as cleavage, midriff, and lower back were covered. Minder and her family don’t have a problem with the dress code, but they feel as if Minder was treated unfairly due to her physique. Minder told CNN that, due to her large breasts, she has little control over her ample cleavage. She was forced to wear a shawl before entering the prom, but only stayed for an hour due to how self-conscious she felt about the ordeal.

“An important night of in life was ruined,” said Minder. “And there’s no way I can gain that experience back.”

I know what some of you are thinking: She didn’t have to wear a strapless dress. She must have known that she was going against the dress code. Maybe she could have worn a dress that covered her cleavage.

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And you’re right, she could have worn a different dress, she likely knew that the school code forbade cleavage, and she didn’t have to wear a strapless dress. As a woman with a large bust, I avoid anything strapless because I know that it doesn’t exactly agree with my chest. So, okay, I understand the criticisms thrown at Minder’s decision.

However, I think that this debacle presents a much bigger discussion. Cleavage is generally believed to be deliberately arousing, but some of us with larger breasts really can’t help how much we fill out a dress. Sure, we can wear something more conservative, but it is ridiculous that we have to always defer to more safe style options because something we can’t control is considered inherently sexual. For large breasted women, unless we’re going to start wearing turtle necks and straight jackets to every formal event, dresses are usually going to show at least a little cleavage. But our cleavage is never seen as tasteful or natural; it is always seen as a deliberate tool of teasing and enticement.

Newsflash: People with large breasts aren’t always using their cleavage as a bat signal for sexy thoughts. It just happens, it’s just there, it just is. Women with large breasts shouldn’t always have to worry about being a living, breathing offense to puritanical sensibility.

This is why so many women and girls feel so ashamed and self conscious about their large breasts: They’re socialized to feel the brunt and the blame of other people’s sexual objectification of their bodies. Whether it’s disgusting men slobbering over them in public, or walking the hallways of a school, we’re treated as if we’re walking distractions, living and breathing violations of dress codes and morality.

But our breasts are not simply objects of desire, and until whoever makes these ridiculous school dress codes figures that out, this won’t be the last time that a young woman’s body is treated as if it is inherently inappropriate.

Do you think the school was right to turn Britanny Minder away from her prom? Have you dealt with a similar experience? Tell us in the comments!

 
10 Of Your Breast Complaints And Comments
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You know what I find funny? How everyone and their grandma is suddenly a nutritionist. I’m referring to the fact that people love to assume that every chubby person they see is incredibly unhealthy and knocking on death’s door.

We’re very used to the image of overweight people being sad, sedentary gluttons who gobble down soda, cookies, burgers, pizzas and ice cream in front of a television. With every other television show on the air focusing on weight loss, it can be a little hard not to assume that that is the case. But believe it or not, not every single overweight person has an unhealthy lifestyle.

Wow, shocking.

Even more “shocking” is the fact that you can’t look at somebody and automatically determine their health status. In fact, studies have shown that being overweight is not an automatic death wish! So why is it that someone can look at a chubby person walking down the street and assume they’re unhealthy, but not think twice about someone skinny walking along as well? For all we know, the overweight individual eats loads of fruits and veggies and exercises regularly, while the skinny person chain smokes and only eats Cheetos dust and Redbull.

Fat acceptance, a movement that hopes to deter anti-fat bias and societal norms, is growing in popularity, especially among young women and teen girls online. Fat acceptance isn’t about promoting unhealthy lifestyles or encouraging people to become fat; it is about fighting against prejudice and shame. And yet, among the people who begrudgingly accept the positive elements of fat acceptance, they still feel the need to say, “As long as you’re healthy…” To me, this translates to, “Well, okay, as long as you don’t look too fat. Well, okay, as long as you don’t feel too confident about those love handles.”

What is it with this society’s constant paternalistic monitoring of overweight people? Do we think that without our gentle reminders to eat plenty of apples, that they’ll immediately start to inhale taco after taco?  How condescending can we be? Those who feel the need to remind an overweight person interested in fat acceptance to be healthy are likely the same people who can’t quite process the fact that there are fat people out there who aren’t spending their free time sobbing on a scale.

Some people are overweight because of genetic factors, others because they eat a lot of food. But no matter why someone is overweight, it isn’t the business of a judgmental stranger who, frankly, doesn’t know anything about a fat person’s health beyond “they’re fat.”

Of course health shouldn’t be taken for granted. And of course there are diseases that are triggered by the side effects of being incredibly overweight. But there are thin and “normal sized” people with high cholesterol, and no stranger is making a blind judgement on their health status; that’s because they don’t look a certain way. If people are truly as invested in health as they claim to be, why are superficial assumptions always used to discuss it? If we want to have a serious discussion about health and eating we need to dig deeper, like discussing access to healthy foods in low-income neighborhoods. If we want to be have a serious discussion about poor eating habits, then we need to talk about the poor eating habits of every sized person, not just fat people.

Seriously, overweight people have to deal with enough problems in our society without having strangers give them a visual physical exam.

Do you think health is always determined by weight? What do you think about fat acceptance? Tell us in the comments!

Do You Engage In Fat Talk? Here’s Why You Need To Stop

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Tattoos are a big deal! I mean, once you get one, it’s not coming off. Making the decision to get a tattoo requires a lot of thought. There are people who will get one on a whim, but most of the people I know that have done so often regret it.

I have three tattoos, and I knew I wanted each one for well over a year before I decided to get it done. That may seem like a long time, but I don’t regret any of them. I love all of my ink!

Since I’ve been around the block a few times, I kind of know what I’m doing. If you’re thinking about getting a tattoo, you should read through these steps first.

Click through for your complete guide to getting a tattoo!

But I’m sure some of you simply scoff at this notion of body positivity and you want some real advice on how to achieve the perfect, socially acceptable bikini body to hit the beach this summer. Well, this is the lazy girl’s guide for you. Follow our steps for achieving the perfect bikini body.

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Cocoon Yourself

You'll definitely fulfill society's beauty standards by the time that you emerge from a short stay in your own cocoon. It works for butterflies, so it should work for us too. We're all animals, that's how science works I think.

Source: Shutterstock

One Bite Only

You know those Carl's Jr commercials where all these models eat these massive burgers for the pleasure of the male gaze? Well, that seems to be working out perfectly for them, so just eat one bite of a giant burger every day. You'll feel your hotness flourishing with every bite.

Source: Shutterstock

Shrink

When you put your clothes in the dryer for too long they shrink, right? Well, you can achieve the same level of socially acceptable tininess if you do the same thing. Just make sure you wear protective heat like a helmet and some elbow/knee pads.

Source: Shutterstock

Get Shipwrecked

Destiny's Child found themselves stranded on a deserted island with nothing more than the clothes on their back and a million dollar film budget when they made their music video for "Survivor." And they looked hotter than ever! So get shipwrecked and wait for the magic to happen.

Source: YouTube

Become A Walking Cover Girl

If you can't have the perfect beach body, at least tape loads of photos of perfect beach bodies to yourself. There's nothing like being plastered in photos of skinny women to make you feel like a winner.

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You Are What You Eat

Consider light cannibalism. I mean, you are what you eat, right? If you eat babes, you'll become a babe. Again, that's totally how science works.

Source: Shutterstock

Tan Tan Tan

The crispier, the better; the more leathery looking, the hotter. Consider forgoing sunscreen and defiantly forget about common sense. Burnt orange is the new black. If you can schedule a trip to the sun, book it ASAP.

Source: Photo Wenn

Get A Body Double

Body doubles are used all the time in action movies and sex scenes. Why not get in on the benefits? Your body double will fool everyone into thinking that you have body that is allowed to be seen in a bikini.

Source: Shutterstock

Get Some Tats

If you tattoo a bikini onto your skin, then you'll technically always have a bikini body. You can just get a touch up to reflect current trends! Bonus points for tattooing some awesome cleavage.

Source: Shutterstock

Just Wear A Bikini

If you've done all of these steps and still haven't achieved the perfect bikini body, so what? What is the perfect bikini body anyway? Whatever some awful thinspiration blog tells you? Wear a bikini and be the hottie that you already are!

Source: Shutterstock

What do you think of these tips? What else are we pressured to do to meet society’s standards? Tell us in the comments!

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Buying My First Bikini
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Ultimately, body hair is a very personal decision for everyone and it’s nobody’s business but our own.

Recently we’ve written about ingrown hair and Brazilian waxes, so we decided to highlight 10 discussion worthy comments from you, our awesome readers, about body hair.

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What do you think about body hair? Do you think that there is too much pressure on women to be hairless? Do you embrace your body hair? Tell us now in the comments!

Your Complete Guide On Body Hair Removal
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While there are some really sucky things about being a tall girl, there are also some great things. I mean, every feature has its benefits and letdowns, right? And so I’ve come to be easier on myself in terms of tall acceptance.

Here are 10 reasons why being tall is pretty awesome, in GIFs!

You can reach stuff.

Source: point-guard

You don’t have to hem your pants, maxi dresses or long skirts.

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You can wear flats instead of heels like all.the.time!

Source: bemineniallerjh

You can always claim the front seat because you need the leg room.

Source: howdoiputthisgently

At concerts you’re just like

Source: remembermeprincess

If someone sits in front of you at the movies, it’s not a big deal.

Source: howdoiputthisgently

You don’t have to fight for the mirror with your friends when you get ready because you can stand behind them.

Source: whatnewgirlshouldcallme

Overhead compartments on airplanes are a cinch!

Source: reactiongifs

People perceive you as more powerful when you’re tall.

Source: beyou-forever-young

And all your friends want to be your height so enjoy it!

Source: meangirlgifs

Here’s how you can boost your self-esteem

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Whether it’s hitting myself in the face with my mascara wand or accidentally applying dark bronzer instead of my blush, I’m a pro at screwing up my morning routine. Thankfully though, I know how to fix my beauty blunders. I’ve been a clumsy girl my whole life, so I’ve just learned how to roll with the punches.

And now I’m going to teach you! Find out how to fix these 10 common beauty blunders!

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Blunder: Too Much Perfume

How To Fix It: Grab a cotton ball and some rubbing alcohol and dab it on the areas where you over-sprayed. In a pinch, you can use an unscented lotion.

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Blunder: Too Much Bronzer/Blush

How To Fix It: Use a blending sponge or kabuki brush to blend out the color. Applying a small amount of translucent powder will help reduce the color.

Source: Shutterstock

Blunder: Mascara Smudges On Eyelids

How To Fix It: Wait for it to dry! Seriously. Let it dry and then using a cotton round or q-tip, carefully wipe it off. It will flake instead of smudge.

Source: Shutterstock

Blunder: Leftover Makeup Remover

How To Fix It: After using makeup remover, there can be oily residue. Use a dry cotton round to wipe off the excess oil and then use another with a facial cleanser to remove it.

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Blunder: Too Much Self-Tanner

How To Fix It: Exfoliate your skin using a body sponge and a mixture of water and baking soda. The baking soda will help lighten the tanner.

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Blunder: Too Much Conditioner

How To Fix It: Give yourself light shampoo and focus on your roots. If you've noticed you used too much after your hair is dry, use dry shampoo or baby powder to soak up the extra moisture.

Source: Shutterstock

Blunder: Smudged Nail Polish

How To Fix It: First, I know this is a little gross, but quickly lick your nail. This will smooth out the smudge. Then apply another top coat.

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Blunder: Too Much Hair Spray

How To Fix It: Use your fingers to break up the section of hair. Then carefully brush it out with a regular brush or wide-toothed comb.

Source: Shutterstock

Blunder: Smudged Lipstick Or Lipstick On Your Teeth

How To Fix It: For smudged lipstick, grab a makeup removing wipe or cotton ball with makeup remover. Instead of wiping it off, hold the makeup remover on the smudge for a few seconds and gently work it off. To avoid lipstick on the teeth, place a tissue over your pointer finger. Stick your finger in your mouth and pull it out. This will wipe off the excess lipstick that gets on your teeth!

Source: Shutterstock

Blunder: Smudged Liner Under Your Eyes

How To Fix It: Apply some eye primer underneath your eyes. After you're done applying your makeup, apply a finishing powder underneath your lashline. This will prevent anything from sticking!

Source: Shutterstock

 
What are your most common beauty mistakes? How do you fix them? Tell us in the comments!
 

Check out my 10 favorite products to stop sweating

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