Yes! you can love your looks

Girls' Life, Oct-Nov, 2002 by Jodi Lynn Bryson

My crush was in my class, so I walked into the classroom and sat next to him. We were talking about school or whatever, but then he said my hair looked like a wild jungle woman. I laughed it off, but I was mortified. I was sure he wouldn't notice because guys never seem to notice that kind of stuff. But the fact that he commented on my hair made me think everybody noticed.

That day was definitely my turnaround point. Even though his comment stung me, I decided to give up trying to be a carbon copy of the straight-haired girls. Instead, I set about experimenting with a zillion different gels and shampoos and things.

I ended up discovering Herbal Essences mousse, the best thing to make your curls look adorable. Why fight it? Now, I know how to make my hair look really great--without trying to turn it into something it's not.

N: nose

My curls have become my personal trademark. Ask anyone, "Who's Lindsay Macklin?" and they'll say, "Oh, she's the girl with the really curly hair." You could say my hair speaks for itself! Now that I have my curls figured out, the more good hair days I have. I truly love my hair now.

"I wanted to be a model, but an agent told me I needed a nose job."

christa hershherger 19

My nose has a bump on the bridge. It's not, like, huge or anything--but to me, my nose just never looked right. I wanted to look like other girls with button noses that are all perfect and pugged. Over the years, I started to truly hate my profile. I couldn't stand it when people looked at me from the side. I was so sure they were thinking how weird my nose was. I was totally convinced that mine was ugly.

I always thought, "If I didn't have the bump, my nose would be fine." I longed for a nose that was straight, not too wide, not too long and free of bumps.

When I was 14, I wanted to model. I went to a Model Search America seminar, and an agent called me back for an interview. She told me I would be hard-pressed getting clients to hire me because of the bump on my nose. Then, she suggested I get a nose job so I could get more modeling assignments! After the meeting,. was angry and hurt.

When I got home, I looked in the mirror to see if I really should think about surgery. I looked at it straight on, left profile, right profile. I called my best friend, and she was like, "Christa, that's crazy. Your nose is great!"

Needless to say, I didn't get a nose job.. .and I never will. It saddens me when I hear about girls going to plastic surgeons. Sometimes I feel those old 14-year-old insecurities, but the bump on my nose gives my face character. It makes me different, and being different is cool. I've learned to like the way I look, and I don't want to look like everyone else. Your features make you...you.

I'm painted in freckles. And I have bright red hair. In grade school, I got a lot of "carrot top" and "fire hair" teasing. In fifth and sixth grade, kids used to say that I looked like a "connect-the-dots" person. At night, I would come home from school and look in the mirror and wish so badly that my freckles would just disappear. I just hated them.