Can Your Looks Change Your Life? Cherry Healey: How to Get a Life

I'm Cherry Healey,

and in the last few years, my life has been turned on its head.

I've gone from this

to this...

..and then to this.

I don't know about you,

but I sometimes feel like the world is running away from me.

And it's high time I caught up.

So I'm determined to get some answers

to life's fundamental questions.

Does my bum look big in this?

Am I too old to take drugs?

Do I need a Brazilian?

Today, I want to find out if vanity can ever be a positive thing

in a world obsessed with appearance.

When fake tans, hair extensions and lunchtime Botox

are considered normal,

have our looks become more important than who we are?

Or can we harness them to change our lives?

I'm going to be meeting a cast of characters,

from those who obsess about their appearance to those who refuse.

I'll be getting to know a wannabe TV star

who goes to extreme measures to get a tan...

What are you doing?! Stop it!

..a group of hairy girls

who challenge me to let it all hang out...

THEY LAUGH

..a girl whose life story is written on her skin...

-SHE GASPS

-Oh, my gosh!

..and a man whose body is his temple, and his pay packet.

That's Lee's pants?

I'll be getting a taste of life in their world.

It's starting to get a bit clammy. My adrenaline's really pumping.

-That...was really painful.

-SHE LAUGHS

Then I'll be inviting them into mine

and bringing them back to my hub, my base for the next few months,

in a bid to get them to confess all.

I think most people crack Hollywood when they're in their 20s.

So do you think that... Are you deluded about that?

If I was to think like that, you tell me where I would get.

-Do you think I have a glamorous life?

-I'd want to be a bit more, like...

Oh, I don't want to say it. I'd want to be a bit more famous!

THEY LAUGH

Will any of them change the way they live their lives as a result,

or will the change be all mine?

-Well, shall I show you my puppies?

-ALL: Yeah!

THEY CHEER

Hair maintenance is definitely my biggest bugbear.

I shave my legs, I shave my toes.

Bit embarrassing, hairy toes.

Do my eyebrows. And I do my top lip.

But the weirdest thing that I do is probably my arm hair.

And the reason that I do this is because when I was a teenager,

a guy made a comment on how hairy my arms are.

I've been paranoid about it ever since,

and I've, you know, waxed my arms for over 15 years.

Ow! Really painful. Really time-consuming. Really annoying.

And I'm not the only one who buys into this unrealistic idea

of physical perfection.

Last year in Britain, we spent over £1 billion on beauty products,

more than ever before.

Even more worryingly, lots of us are changing our looks permanently.

In fact, last year we spent a staggering 2.3 billion

on plastic surgery.

It all begs the question, who are we doing it for? And why?

# When will I will I be famous? #

I'm about to meet a 19-year-old lad called Ryan,

who's desperate to be famous.

He believes his passport to fame and fortune...

is a tan.

Hello, are you Ryan?

-How are you, Cherry?

-Nice to meet you.

-It's nice to meet you too.

-Oh, God. You're so brown.

You make me look anaemic.

-What's anaemic?

-Really ill and pale.

-Albino?

-Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah, but it's nice. You can be the Milkybar, I can be the Galaxy!

Ryan is a telesales worker and lives with his parents in Blackpool.

He's invited me home to demonstrate how he achieves that perfect glow,

by applying layers of fake tan,

foundation, blusher and bronzer,

all fixed in place with just a touch of hairspray.

What are you doing?! What are you doing? Stop it!

No, it makes your make-up and that stay on.

Have you not seen, like, dancers and stuff what do it?

-That's what they do.

-But you've put so much on!

That's only one layer. It's just so it stays on all night.

You could be out from half ten at night till six in the morning.

I think at most you're supposed to just, like...

Oh, my God! Stop it!

No! Me and my friends do it all the time.

SHE COUGHS

Ryan is naturally fair-skinned, but longs to be as dark as his heroine,

TOWIE star Amy Childs.

But he doesn't draw the line at fake bake.

He also injects himself with a man-made hormone called Melanotan.

You flick it like that till the bubble goes to the top, and then...

Careful, cos I don't want to squirt a little bit.

This synthetic hormone darkens the pigment in the skin.

It's illegal to sell it in the UK, but due to our legal anomaly,

Ryan's not breaking the law by buying it.

You're meant to do that every day for five days,

and then go on the sunbed. And then...

you do it once every two days

after the continuous five days, till it's finished.

You're not meant to use them every single week.

You're meant to give it a break a bit,

cos the side effects are quite bad.

What are the side effects?

They make me feel really ill. Once I've injected myself, within, like...

I'd say about a couple of minutes, you instantly feel sick.

Also, it gives your skin pigmentation.

It can make your skin go lighter in some areas.

Like, it's a bit lighter on my chest, round there.

Ryan, they sound completely horrendous.

Yeah, but they're not.

-Yeah, but they sound awful.

-Well, they sound it. You should try it.

-No...

-You might like it.

..way on Earth.

Wow. The injections are really full-on.

I think Ryan's so used to them now,

I don't think he sees that that's a really, really extreme measure.

Buying illegal substances and injecting them into your body.

He hasn't done his research.

He doesn't know, really, what the consequences are.

He doesn't even know if they've been properly tested.

But he doesn't care.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

As if the injections aren't extreme enough,

Ryan visits a tanning salon seven days a week.

As I shut him into what feels

disturbingly like a giant sandwich maker,

I can't help wondering just why he wants to toast himself so badly.

This sunbed is doubling his chances of developing skin cancer.

But just like the injections, he either doesn't know the risks

'or doesn't want to.'

Can I see your tan line?

Yeah.

THEY GIGGLE

-So that's your natural colour?

-Yeah. Up there as well.

-Oh, my goodness.

-Embarrassing.

I hate it!

As someone who's done their fair share of tanning,

I do understand where he's coming from.

But what I really want to know is where exactly he thinks

this carefully-cultivated shade of brown is going to get him.

-What do you want for the future?

-I want to be a TV presenter.

I want to be an actor. I want to have my own reality show.

You want to have your own reality show?

Something like The Only... My own, like, It's All About Amy,

It's All About Ryan. Or I want to be on The Only Way Is Essex.

But obviously, I'm not from Essex.

I'll just put on the accent and just fake it!

But I do desperately want to be on telly. I want to be famous.

I want to be falling out of a nightclub,

with paparazzi taking my photo.

-Why?

-I don't know, I just do. I just look at that lifestyle

and think, "That's what I want."

I know there probably is downfalls, but...

who cares? I just love all the attention on me.

# Fame makes a man take things over... #

It does seem that the most important thing to Ryan is looking good.

He spends so much of his time and money on his appearance...

..that he would even risk his health

to make sure that, in his eyes, he looks gorgeous.

Second to that is his desire to be famous.

I just wonder whether his tan

and his appearance is going to be enough to achieve his dream.

Four weeks later, I invite Ryan over to my hub.

I can't wait to find out

whether he is any closer to finding the fame he craves.

Oh, look. The cushions go with your top. Perfect!

I thought you were going to say with my face.

I was going to say, "I'm not red, am I?!" God.

God. You're not red.

So, how does your tan play a part in achieving your ambitions?

As you do see on, like, reality TV shows like The Only Way Is Essex,

none of them are pale, apart from that Lydia,

who's turned pale for some reason. I don't know why. It's pure pukey.

-Because you are really ambitious, aren't you?

-Yeah. I want to be just on TV.

-Why?

-I don't know.

I think just because you see

all these TV programmes and you think they've got a glamorous life.

They probably haven't, but that's for me to find out.

I want to know what it's like to be like that.

Do you think I have a glamorous life?

I'd want to be a bit more, like...

Oh, I don't want to say it. I'd want to be a bit more famous!

THEY LAUGH Sorry, I didn't mean that rudely,

-by the way!

-I honestly do not take offence by that.

No, like, I want...

HE GIGGLES

I want to be on, like, big reality shows and stuff like that

where you're a household name, everybody knows you.

Do you think that the risks of what you're doing to your body

are worth the tan that you have?

No. Like, they're not, but at the end of the day, you only live once,

and, like, obviously life is too short, but if you live it right,

then it's long enough.

And if I'm living it the way I want to live it, then...

I don't have any problems. I won't fully stop it, never, I'll never stop going on sunbeds.

But all that time you spend tanning and all the money you spend tanning,

you could actually be putting into getting some skills

that could make you successful.

I understand where you're coming from, but then...

I wouldn't really know what I would spend my money on.

Cos I don't really know how to get into this industry.

How do you actually get into it? I don't know.

I think sometimes it's about who you know,

and being in the right place at the right time.

I know it sounds really horrible, if it was for me to get my dream

and somebody else, I would tread on other people's

just to get where I want to be, but it doesn't make me a horrible person.

It just means I'm that ambitious that I will do anything,

even though it is a horrible trait to have.

But if it's a horrible thing to do and you are doing it,

then it does technically make you a horrible person.

Yeah, but I don't mean to do it to hurt other people,

even though it probably would.

I just want to get where I want to get,

and I'm sure people would do worse things in life.

That's true, but you're making

a very conscious, pre-planned decision.

You have to go to sleep knowing that...

Well, I haven't killed somebody, so I would be able to sleep!

But you still really hurt somebody's chances of...

But if I didn't know them, then...

-Yeah.

-..so what?

You say it's about who you know and being

in the right place at the right time, but I noticed during the day

that you didn't ask me a single question about how,

or any advice I could give you. And I'm not saying I know very much,

but I suppose it felt like... Is spending your entire time

on a sunbed being in the right place at the right time?

No, but living in a place like Blackpool,

you can never be in the right place at the right time!

# I believe in miracles

# I believe in miracles

# I believe in miracles, don't you? #

It's quite shocking to hear Ryan saying that he's willing

to be completely ruthless to get where he wants to be.

Wow. I've never heard anyone be that open about it before.

But I can't deny he is really entertaining and quite funny.

So maybe... Maybe he'll get where he wants to be.

Ryan's tanning obsession doesn't seem to come

from a lack of self-confidence. But my obsession with hairlessness does.

And the paranoia started here.

The first time I had my legs waxed was when I was 11.

I didn't even question it at the time, I just went along with it.

There was the assumption that you shouldn't even have it

in the first place. The minute you see your body hair, off it comes.

I've now been removing my hair for 20 years.

I've actually never seen how my body looks in its natural, hairy state.

For the first time, I'm starting to question

why I actually do it, and what it might be like to rebel.

I've found this girl on the internet called Jen,

and in her video blog, she's challenging the ideals of beauty.

She seems to be part of a group called Those Pesky Dames,

and I have definitely got to meet them.

The picture I'm about to show you may seriously disturb your notions

of femininity and beauty. I wholeheartedly refuse to apologise

if you find this picture gross, icky, ugly or disgusting.

I have armpit hair.

17-year-old Jen and her fellow Pesky Dames met online.

Together, they post regular video blogs in an attempt to challenge

some of our most common beauty myths.

These five feisty feminists may not mind feeling furry,

but I'm not convinced the rest of the country agrees with them.

And the stats back me up. Waxing salons have seen a tenfold increase

in business in the past five years.

So I've hit the streets to find out what we really think

about body hair.

Honest opinion. Gut instinct. Woman with a hairy leg.

Scary.

Hairy legs.

Horrible.

What would you rather have, hairy armpits and fanny

for the rest of your life or break your leg?

-Break my leg.

-Break my leg.

Well, I've done both.

-So...

-Which did you prefer?

Probably to have hairy armpits.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

Would you rather break your leg

or sleep with a woman with a really hairy vagina?

I'd rather break my leg.

It's just, I don't know, dirty and sweaty and horrible.

Not hairy armpits. Hairy armpits is a no-no.

But if she didn't have the hairy armpits, I could work with it.

It depends how beautiful she is.

Would you rather be with a girl with full-grown body hair

-or break your toe?

-Break my toe.

It seems I'm not the only one with a strong aversion to the natural look.

So, I've come to Cambridge to find out whether Those Pesky Dames

can change my mind, or the nation's.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

-I'm Cherry.

-I'm Holly.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

When did you guys decide to stop shaving?

I think I started growing mine out, just because...

when I, like, hit puberty and started getting armpit hair,

I didn't really think, "Shall I keep it? Shall I shave it?"

It was just assumed that the minute you have it, you get rid of it.

So I think I grew mine out just to see how I would feel with my body

once it had grown out, see if I felt comfortable with myself

or if I preferred it, and it turned out, yeah, I really did like it,

it made me feel more confident.

Why do you think us women are in a position

where a little bit of natural hair makes us feel so ugly?

Because we hear it everywhere. Everywhere around us, we get told.

We tell each other, with the adverts,

we see it in television, in film.

Yeah, and especially telling each other is the most, the biggest,

the strongest message.

I remember the first time I started gardening my lady area.

I was with a guy and we'd been in a reasonably long relationship.

And I just think he couldn't help himself anymore,

and he said something like, "Oh, I think you'd look great

"with, you know, maybe like... this shape."

And I thought, "Oh, God, I'm so embarrassed

"that you had to put up with my horrible, hairy monster,"

and I just ran to the nearest chemist to buy hair-removing cream.

In society, your worth comes from those things, being a woman.

It's not from, you know, how good you get in your job,

it's from how pretty you are or how popular you are.

And so if you think that

you're going to be rejected because of a little bit of body hair,

you're going to kind of shy away from it, I guess.

On one hand, I completely agree with everything they're saying.

But actually, would I go natural? Would I grow my body hair?

No. I don't think I would.

The brainstorm...

'I may not be ready to let it all hang out,

'but I do want to help them

'make their next video. And it starts with a brainstorm.'

You're only beautiful if you're shaved.

Hair is manly.

It's unhygienic.

Oh, God, yeah.

You need to, like, hide it from your partners.

We all get changed in front of them

and, like, do your make-up.

But you won't shave your hair.

Do you know, I've never realised that.

I do hide my hair maintenance from my husband.

It's when he goes out that I take the opportunity to do it.

It's like I don't want him to know I even have it at all.

"I'm just magically like this. This is who I naturally am."

And even when he comes in and I'm shaving my legs,

I feel a bit like, "No, don't break the spell!"

It's ridiculous, isn't it?

It's really horrible that you should have to feel so ashamed

-about just, like, natural body hair.

-'Enough chat.

'Time to record another message for the nation.'

Hair is manly. SHE GROWLS

Amazing.

Next!

You don't shave your armpits? Oh, are you like a hippy or something?

Oh, no, sorry, stop. Um, you can't be hairy and sexy at the same time.

Why?

THEY ALL GIGGLE

I would never go down on a girl with a hairy bush. Eugh!

THEY LAUGH

I've had so much fun with these girls,

but they've got a pesky plan up their furry sleeves.

Would you be willing to give up your entire regime

for, like, one or two months?

-Do it.

-Go on! Go on!

THEY LAUGH

Do you know what, I'm going to do it,

because I'm so confounded why I feel this scared.

-I'll do it. I'll do it.

-THEY CHEER

As I embark on my hair challenge, I realise it has the potential

to change the way I think about my body altogether.

Which reminds me of the last time I tried and failed

to fight the beauty status quo.

When I was 16, I went on a girly holiday to France

with my closest friends. And one day, it was raining and we thought,

"What should we do? Let's go and get a tattoo."

So we trotted off to this tattoo parlour.

And everyone's getting their tattoos and I'm seeing how painful it looks.

And I was starting to get the fear of how permanent it is.

And right at the last minute, I chickened out.

My 16-year-old self might have believed that

getting a tattoo was the height of rebellion.

But it's thoroughly mainstream nowadays.

Over 20 million of us Brits - that's a third of the population -

now have one.

So how far does someone have to go to stand out from the crowd

these days? And what does that say about them?

To get some answers, I've come to east London,

near the Olympic Village,

to meet a tattoo artist who's on the way to covering her entire body

with ink.

-Hello. Are you Delphine?

-I am.

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

I'm Cherry. Hello!

Delphine is 24, and was born in France.

She's been tattooing the story of her life on her own skin,

and has already had over 100 hours under the needle.

-Can I have a tour of your tattoos?

-Yeah.

Which was your first one?

-The first one was a big amount of stars.

-Wow.

-Wow, they go all the way up here.

-Yeah.

-When did you get that tattoo?

-When I was about 16.

How soon did you get the next one?

I got my second one about a month later, which is writing in my lip.

Oh, my gosh! What does it say?

Um, a little heart, which is "I love pain", basically.

And why did you have "I love pain" written on your lip?

I was the black sheep of my family, and I was a Goth.

Oh, you were a Goth?

I started tattooing myself, and so I got my trainee leg,

-which is full of crap.

-Oh, wow!

That is my first tattoo ever on a human.

-No, you did that yourself?

-Yes.

-This is your practice leg?

-Yeah.

How are you going to know what to do to people if you don't try it

on yourself?

As well and her tattoos,

Delphine also has over 30 piercings and other body modifications.

She is committed to changing her body, but it's a painful process.

This one snapped before.

You can see the scar. CHERRY GRIMACES

I had it stitched back.

-Did they give you an aesthetic?

-No.

-So you had stitches in your ear to put that together...

-Yeah.

-..with no painkiller?

-Yeah.

What's more painful, a bikini wax

-or having your earlobe stitched on?

-Bikini wax.

-Bikini wax?

-Yeah.

# I've got you under my skin... #

How do people in public react to how you look?

Here in London, really good, most of the time.

The thing that amazes them the most is the tongue split.

-Let's see.

-SHE SHRIEKS

We cut with a scalpel, we stitch. Four day later...

You cut your tongue with a scalpel?

-Yeah. It can be funny, look.

-Oh...

'It seems to me there's a fine line between body art and self-harm.

'So I want to know why she does it.'

Do your tattoos make you feel sexy?

Erm... No, they more protect me from the world.

Why do you think your tattoos protect you?

It's kind of an armour, you know?

-It's the filter against stupid people.

-In what way?

The people that judge you straightaway

cos they don't try to look further than the appearance.

# People are strange when you're a stranger... #

We head to Delphine's studio in King's Cross.

As I step off the busy, sunny street and enter the shop,

it's like passing into an extraordinary underworld.

# When you're strange

# Faces come out of the rain

# When you're strange... #

Here, Delphine's no longer the black sheep of her family.

She's created a new identity for herself by sticking needles

into her skin, and other people's.

# When you're strange

# When you're strange

# When you're strange. #

How much of how you look is about standing out?

Do you get a bit of a kick from it?

Erm, no. I wanted to piss off my mum,

because my mum was always controlling me and I had to show her

that, yeah, she gave me life, but she wasn't controlling anymore

-So, taking my ownership of my own body.

-Yeah.

'I don't know if I'm getting high on the fighting talk or the ink fumes,

'but a crazy thought's just entered my head.'

If I hypothetically wanted to get a tattoo,

how would I go about it?

We would have a consultation, darling!

I feel a little bit intoxicated by having spent all day

with people covered in tattoos.

So at the moment, I really, really want one.

But I just don't know how I'm going to feel when I go home,

watch a bit of telly, have a cup of tea, whether I'll feel the same.

At the same time as I'm contemplating

changing my body forever,

I'm also taking my first baby steps towards freeing it

from decades of beauty slavery.

It's day two of my attempt to embrace the fuzz,

and my razor is on sabbatical.

So, it's Wednesday night. It's hair night.

Normally, tonight I would have something really quick to eat

and then jump in the bath and do my legs, my fanny,

my underarm hair, do my eyebrows.

All in all, that would probably take me

a good hour and a half, two hours of faff.

Instead, I'm going to have a quick, five-minute shower, wash my hair.

In and out.

I've got friends coming over for supper. A couple of glasses of wine,

lots of gossip. Hurray!

But I can't help wondering how long my resolve will last

once the stubble rears its ugly head.

Will I lose my nerve and whip it all off again?

I am, after all, the girl whose entire hair-removal routine

is based around a couple of flippant things someone once said to me as a teenager.

But if my vanity has been about craving social acceptance,

then for others, vanity can signify success.

And for some, it actually pays the bills.

I'm about to meet a man who's fallen completely in love...

with himself.

# Because you're gorgeous... #

Lee Sapphire from London is a stripper,

and reckons he has the best body in Britain.

I think what's so extraordinary about Lee Sapphire

is that it's not just about having great shoulders, which I do have,

fantastic pecs, which I'm always getting complimented on,

it actually comes down to having a combination of things, you know?

It's a variety of things. It's a complete package,

or, as I like to call it, the pack-arge.

Possessing the complete "pack-arge"

has propelled him to the top of his game, allowing him to combine lucrative stripping work

with regular TV appearances.

So, perhaps he can be forgiven for being a bit big-headed.

To be Britain's number-one male stripper, you know,

it's not just about knowing about music, knowing about shows

and stage presence.

It's also about spending all those hours and hours grooming.

HE LAUGHS

Spending hours on my hair, my make-up, my tanning.

Shaving my legs, you know what I mean? Shaving my back.

To look this good does take a lot of time.

Lee even ropes in his ever-patient wife Amanda and all the family

to cleanse, massage and wax The Body.

Argh!

Everybody, no matter how young, gets involved in Lee's relentless pursuit

of perfection.

I probably spend about two to three hours a day working out.

You know, if I could, I'd be doing it at the bus stop.

What you see here is years and years of hard work,

and I'm very proud to say that.

It's not just something I say, you know, just blase.

It means a lot to me.

I've come to his house in Uxbridge, west London

to meet him and his wife,

and find out how much work goes into promoting the brand

that is Lee Sapphire.

-Hello. Are you Amanda?

-Yes, I am.

-I'm Cherry.

-Pleased to meet you.

-How're you doing?

-And you're Lee?

-I'm Lee.

-Nice to meet you.

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

When I arrive, it's dinner-time. But not for Lee.

This brand relies on its packaging, and it's a full-time job.

This is a pasta bake with tuna.

-Ooh.

-And the kids have it. They like crisps and cheese.

-Are you going to put them in the pasta?

-On the pasta.

-No!

-Oh, no, it's really good.

-Oh, my God.

-Cheese on top.

That looks amazing.

-And you don't eat this?

-No, I can't get all that.

Too much fat in there for me, you know what I mean?

So what will you have for supper tonight?

I've got a big old protein... Can I get this on camera?

I always see these in health-food shops and wonder,

"Who needs a tub of anything that big?!"

Do you know what, it's just full of whey protein.

And protein... When you're building your muscles up,

protein's one of the most fundamental things you can have.

-It's like the building blocks of muscle.

-It's quite hardcore, isn't it?

But it's no different from having a Ferrari and, you know,

buying the polish for it and the special cleaner for the wheels

and all the different extras.

And to present what you've got in the best way.

Do you think you're high maintenance?

Oh, mate, with knobs on.

MUSIC: "Hot Stuff" by Donna Summer

Lee spends five nights a week

entertaining the ladies up and down the country.

# Got to have some hot love, baby, this evening... #

He does everything from big clubs to small, private parties.

# Got to have some lovin'

# Got to have love tonight... #

Meanwhile, back home, his wife Amanda is left holding the scanties.

What's that, then?

They're Lee's underwear for his shows.

That's Lee's pants?!

# It's getting hot in here

# So take off all your clothes... #

# I am getting so hot... #

When Lee's performing, do you think, "Oh, no, here we go,"

or do you think, "I'm so proud of him"?

Um... It depends.

If he's doing a real cheesy, cheesy number, I think, "Oh."

But yeah, I am always proud of him. Some shows are better than others.

-Which ones are better than others?

-Like, ones that involve more dancing

and less taking his clothes off!

# Come here, rude boy, boy

# Can you get it up?

# Come here, rude boy, boy

# Is you big enough? #

Is it weird that thousands and thousands and thousands of women

have seen your husband's Wilbur?

Very. Very. Yeah.

I kind of think, "Oh, no."

# Come here, rude boy, boy

# Can you get it up?... #

If Lee's body is a high-performance sports car,

then its garage is his gym, where he spends over 30 hours a week.

Welcome to my workout room, Cherry.

-Yeah. Are you ready?

-I'm ready!

-GROWLING:

-Are you ready? Come on!

Are you going to make me sweat?

-How ready are you?

-Ready!

-"I'm ready!"

-Kind of.

Let's do it.

Lee seems to have it all - stripping success,

a loving family and a supportive wife.

But he wants more.

What is your dream and ambition for the future? What do you want?

Me? My dream life looks like living in Hollywood...

..and being a Hollywood movie star.

And I'm totally serious. Why not?

You know. I've got the looks, I've got the body,

I've got the moves, I've got the cheek!

I've got the cheeky smile.

I'm a martial artist, I can do so much.

I can be the next Sylvester Stallone. You've just got to believe in yourself.

Do you think Amanda ever worries about how much you dream?

-You do live in that dream world quite a lot.

-Yeah.

Do you think she ever worries about that?

Yeah, because she's a realist.

And then I worry about her the same way. "Come on, darling.

"Be a bit more ambitious." You know,

"Want it a bit more." And then she might do stuff that might

-kind of help that in a way.

-Like what?

I don't know, like, just help me to practice my lines for stuff.

I don't know. And maybe come to the gym with me more

and stuff like that,

and not moan so much when she has to shave my butt.

THEY LAUGH

-Oh, my God!

-It's true.

-Do you make her shave your bottom?

-It's got to be done.

-CHERRY GIGGLES

-I can't reach around there!

Amanda must love you so much.

A month later, I invite Lee and Amanda over to my hub.

I want to know if this self-declared legend believes his own hype.

There's quite a lot of pressure on you, because the way you look

-is your livelihood.

-Yeah. If I get on stage

or I'm in front of a camera, in a magazine or whatever it might be,

if I don't look good, then no-one's going to want to buy the magazine

or come to see my show, that sort of thing.

Why do you want to crack Hollywood?

Because it is THE place, isn't it? I mean, let's be fair.

Ask any actor that wants to be a big movie star,

"Where would you like to end up making films?,"

what are they going to tell you? Hollywood. It just comes to mind.

-Is it realistic, do you think?

-Why not?

Cos I suppose, maybe I'm wrong, but I think most people crack Hollywood

when they're in their 20s.

So do you think that... Are you deluded about that?

Do you know what I would say, right,

there's one sentence. Limited beliefs.

It's as simple as that. You know? If I was to think like that,

you tell me where I would get. Where would I go? Where would I get?

-Seriously.

-What do you think?

I think he's right, yeah. You've got to...

You've just got to believe it, I guess.

Do you think it can happen?

-Maybe.

-Do you think you'd ever get there saying that?

-No, you wouldn't. But there we go.

-You've got to believe in yourself.

What happens when your looks fade?

That's not going to happen, because I'm beautiful here.

That's going to carry me through, and when I'm an old man,

people will still say, "That older guy looks good, man.

"He's the kind of guy that matured well."

He's got a point.

-You can't fight that.

-I do. That point is solid as a rock.

Of all of the people I've met,

you are probably the only person, I would say, whose looks...

your life is almost dependent on them as it stands.

Yeah, I know how to shake my bum, you know,

and I've got a nice physique

and a few other hundred things. I rap, I make raps up.

-You couldn't do one now for me, could you?

-Oh, no.

-What, a rap?

-Mate, I'm...

-Don't you dare.

I'm ready to rap.

-Please do a rap.

-Here we go.

-To you?

-Yeah.

-It's embarrassing, Lee, don't.

-All right, look over there.

(RAPS) I'm the coach

You might have heard of me

Or seen me working out on your TV

Cos the coach is in the place

Check out the body and the handsome face

I'm number one, just for fun

I tan my body, I wiggle my bum

Training with the coach now, don't be scared

I'll help put chest on your hairs.

Come on, everybody, let me hear you scream

My hair is crisp and my eyes are green

I'm the coach...

-Oh, my goodness.

-Break it down!

HE BEATBOXES

Thank you.

Ooh!

That was amazing! I loved it!

I loved it. I'm actually crying a little bit.

MUSIC: "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" by Jermaine Stewart

Let's just say, Lee's got more chance of making it in the movies

than he does in the music industry.

But in homage to the pack-arge,

you can't fault his positive thinking.

It's week two of my hair-removal rebellion,

and I'm starting to feel like a bush.

So, it's been just over two weeks since I began growing all my hair,

and I'm in the "I hate it" stage.

Rrr! I'm dying to wax and shave and hair-removal-cream my entire body.

I'm about that close to shaving my head.

The only thing that's stopping me

is the beauty of getting that time back each week.

I love just jumping in the shower, two minutes, and then jumping out.

Oh! It's amazing.

But there's another piece of unfinished business

between me and my body.

'I've spent the week agonising

'over whether to get a tattoo of my daughter Coco's date of birth.'

-How does it feel?

-Painful.

-Oh, that's not encouraging!

-It's not that bad.

Now I'm back to see Delphine, and it's crunch time.

Date of birth, I would say more like on the left side of your ribs, there,

-because it's the side of the heart.

-Oh, that's nice.

OK.

I definitely want one. I definitely want one.

-Yes!

-Do it.

I'll take your virginity!

-Woo-hoo!

-Oh, my God. Oh, I'm really excited.

MUSIC: "Celebrity Skin" by Hole

I've started to go a bit clammy. My adrenaline's really pumping.

I'm pretty nervous now.

'It is tiny, and won't ever be seen by anyone,'

but it is a tattoo nonetheless.

Ready?

God, that is quite painful.

Agh! That was really painful!

Wait, wait, wait! I'm sweaty.

OK.

Ow. Owee!

You are probably getting one of the most painful places done there.

-Why do you tell me this now?!

-I told you.

-I told you as well.

I didn't listen properly.

OK, done.

-No way!

-Yes.

Oh, my arm! Oh, God!

I can't believe I've got a tattoo!

Let's have a look.

-Aw!

-Date of birth of Coco.

-Simples.

There's a part of me in the decision-making process

that thought, what is the big deal? My body is a temporary thing anyway.

Actually, no one's going to see it,

and even if they do, why does it matter what they think?

And I think that's what's empowering about it,

the process of deciding to get a tattoo,

you obviously worry about other people's judgements,

you almost go through this process to the other side, where you think,

"Actually, I don't mind what other people think."

And that's what's so empowering about it.

This is for you. It's on you, for you.

-Now you understand better.

-Yeah, I do. I really do.

'My tattoo was a lot more painful than I expected

'so now I want to find out

'why Delphine puts herself through it again and again.'

So the tattoo's healing really nicely.

Do you think it's finished healing?

Hmm.

-Nearly.

-Nearly?

-Nearly.

It was a bit sore for the first couple of days,

like, it felt bruised, but then it's been fine.

That is normal. It's really normal,

like, when I get black done, I'm sore for, like, two weeks.

How much does pain play a part in transformation for you?

Is pain important to you?

No. I don't like it.

I just don't like it, simply, like.

So why get the tattoos when pain is so much a part of them?

Because for me, I've been through a lot of pain,

as mental, as physical, because of what happened to me,

and I'm just fed up with being someone's toy, you know?

Like, you'd like to experience the pain because you decided it.

A pain that you decided is not at all the same as a pain you didn't decide.

What do you mean?

I had troubles with an ex-boyfriend,

and I had problems, and I... I can't have children, so...

Yeah. So...

Are you prepared to explain to me what happened with that guy?

-You don't have to.

-He took my femininity.

-How?

-Um...

-What happened with this guy that hurt you so much?

When a guy is cheating you and he doesn't even cheat you protected,

and one day, doctors tell you,

"Oh, you're going to have a few surgeries."

-Because of unprotected sex from a cheating boyfriend?

-Yep.

This infection went wrong, and I had to have surgeries

and I can't be pregnant, I can't carry a baby.

-So...

-So in my family,

you become a woman once you have children.

I'll stay forever a girl.

-So...

-So it was physically and emotionally life-changing.

-Yeah.

-Completely.

-I'll never be a woman.

-Do you still think that now?

-Yeah.

How can you, if you don't carry life inside you?

I don't believe that at all. I think of course you can be a woman.

You are now, you are, like, a wonderful person.

You don't need to have a child to prove that or be that.

Is that part of why you want to change your body

and change how you feel about your body,

-and make yourself feel...

-Yeah.

-..beautiful?

-Yeah.

That's why I love so much my job.

Because on each person, I'm doing a piece,

that's going to be living and getting older, full of love,

so it's my children, on people.

You said to me before that you feel like you're a work in progress,

that you're a chrysalis, and you haven't yet

come into being a butterfly.

When do you think that will happen?

I don't know. I hope it will never happen.

Because I could carry on doing what I have to do.

You'll run out of space!

No! Never underestimate the imagination.

Wow. Hearing Delphine's story is really heartbreaking,

but it has helped me understand what she does so much more.

Someone stole her fertility, and she felt really out of control

and by modifying her body, she's gradually getting that control back.

Whilst her tattoos may only be skin deep,

they seem to have changed her profoundly.

I'm now almost four weeks into my hair removal holiday,

and curiously enough for a lifetime body hair hater,

'I'm starting to see some benefits.'

It's now started to go quite nice and soft and furry.

It's stopped being spiky and uncomfortable

and it's now quite comfortable. It's fine.

Physically, it feels pretty nice,

like, you know, it's all soft everywhere.

But the problem is, is that while physically it's become lovely,

mentally, it's now a bit of a struggle

because I'm really, really conscious of it.

I don't want to get my legs out.

My hairs are really black

and my arm hair is the worst, I'm really self-conscious of that.

I can feel myself sitting like that,

because they are long, I can practically brush them.

I mean, I'm one step away from applying conditioner to them.

So the arms are a bit of a problem

and it's a really beautiful day outside. I really want to wear this.

No fricking way!

It's a T-shirt day, definitely,

because I've got some hamsters happening under my arms.

So there's an upside, but there's also a bit of a downside.

And to make matters worse,

two of those Pesky Dames, Holly and Becca, are back to check on my progress.

-Pesky Dames?

-Hello!

'Because today is the day I face my darkest demons

'and go hairy in public.'

-Shall I show you?

-Yeah.

-Shall I show you what I've cultivated?

I've been busy.

I don't think it's that impressive, but I'm really proud of it.

If I can just get it out.

-Oh, that's... Yeah. That's impressive. Lovely.

-It is.

The arms I don't like, cos they're well hairy.

-There's nothing there!

-That was your problem before, wasn't it?

Yeah, that was the one I was embarrassed about

but I wonder whether I should just get over it.

I think going swimming is probably the thing that I fear the most,

because there is nowhere to hide. It's all out there.

So I was wondering whether you might come with me this afternoon.

Oh... Yeah, all right.

-Yeah, I will. I will.

-OK.

'So, it's off to the pool to bare our hairy bits.'

Just the sound of people enjoying themselves is terrifying.

Bikinis and body hair

are two things I've never, ever dreamt of putting together -

until now.

So, ladies, moment of truth.

-Shall we have a little compare and contrast?

-Yeah.

Eee!

Six months, three months, one month.

-Shall we?

-Yes.

-Let's do it.

'Time for the walk of shame.'

'Holy crap, there's a group of boys in the pool!'

MUSIC: JAWS THEME

'Surely they've noticed my furry legwarmers.

'And that lifeguard is definitely close enough

'to spot the spiders trying to escape from my bikini.

'No wonder he's walking away.'

CHERRY SHRIEKS

-Shall we go for a little swim?

-Lets, let's.

-I'm going to swim like my gran.

-Me too!

'But after a couple of lengths,

'I can see no-one is standing and pointing.

'In fact, we're not even the worst offenders in here.'

Interesting to observe that there are a few guys here

that are so hairy, they look like they're wearing jumpers,

and I'm worried about a couple of millimetres of armpit hair.

I'm not feeling self-conscious at all, actually. No-one cares,

no-one can really see unless they're massively close,

in which case what are they doing so close to you?

'Now it's time to get right up close and personal.'

Shall we go and ask some people what they think?

Because there's one thing being in the water and people being far away,

but another thing people being up close and actually seeing it.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, shall we throw ourselves in at the deep end?

-I think.

-Yeah.

-Go swimming with the sharks?

-Drop it. Drop it.

-I don't have a pun.

'The last time I put this to the public test,

'most people said they would rather break a leg

'than be or be with someone hairy.

'How will I fare this time round?'

Hairy legs?

Horrible.

It's just, I don't know, dirty and sweaty and horrible.

Would you rather be with a girl with full-grown body hair

-or break your toe?

-Break my toe.

Right, ladies, release the beast.

-They're hairy.

-Yeah, they are!

-Ready, ladies?

-Yeah.

-Love it?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

It's funny, because I'm sensing repulsion from you.

I think it makes you kind of look unclean.

-It's not really my cup of tea, to be honest.

-No.

It's a bit too masculine for me.

Do you do body hair maintenance?

I do, because I was coming swimming this morning,

and I nearly forgot to shave my legs and I was like, "Oh! Crisis!"

so I had to go back home and shave my legs before I came.

-So you went back home especially to shave your legs?

-Yeah.

Name for me a really hot woman in the public eye.

-Jessica Alba.

-Jessica Alba?

-Yeah.

If she grew armpit hair, would you still really like her?

-Probably not as much, no.

-So it's a deal-breaker for you?

Not a deal-breaker, but...

I'm kind of digging myself a hole here, but I don't know,

just maybe a bit less attractive to have a bit of armpit hair.

So far, so predictable.

Is no-one enlightened around here?

-OK, ready?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant.

-Really?

-Yay!

Yeah, it's...why not? I don't find there's anything wrong with it.

I think it's really important that people, woman particularly,

feel comparable and natural with their bodies, and not panic or...

Because they haven't been able to shave that day.

I think it's important to relax.

And on that note, I don't mind if I do.

So my Julia Roberts moment has had mixed reactions,

but for the first time in my life,

I think I can genuinely say, "So what?"

-Hello!

-Come on the sofa.

'Now the Pesky Dames are back,

'I want to know what reactions they've had

'to the V-log we made together.'

Hair is manly! Rrgh!

Oh, wow! I can really feel my inner goddess.

LAUGHTER

I would never go down on a girl with a hairy bush.

It's so good!

578 views.

-When did you put this up?

-Last week.

-That's amazing.

-I think 100 of those will probably be my mum.

"Ha-ha, love this. So bizarre how women are seen as weird or gross

"if they don't get rid of body hair. We all grow it.

"How can something your body naturally does be unnatural?

"As the old saying is, show it, don't mow it."

-I love that saying!

-Oh, wow!

-I mean, all of the comments are really positive.

-Yeah.

-Do you feel quite encouraged by the comments?

-Yeah, definitely.

It's always really, really nice just to have people, like,

I don't know, not think that you're weird.

Well, shall I show you my puppies?

Yeah!

DRUMMING OF HANDS

CHEERING, LAUGHTER

-I know! I know!

-Amazing.

So, the problem is

that this one kind of looks like I've had a period on my armpit,

unfortunately. I won't choose that colour again. Yeah?

-But I like that one.

-That's good!

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

-I feel quite, quite jealous.

-I want to dye mine.

-I want to dye mine!

-I want to dye mine!

Why do you think growing your hair is so empowering?

I think, because it's not really doing anything,

because you're kind of just being OK with yourself the way you are

without making changes because, like, society or a magazine has told you,

so it's like, "Actually, I'll just chill and do my own thing."

I had absolutely no idea that it would make me feel the way it did.

What did you think it was going to be like at first?

I thought it was going to be itchy, scratchy

but I didn't really even give a moment's thought

to how it would make me internally feel about myself,

how empowered I would feel,

how exciting it would be that every single time you go out,

when you lift your arm up, there's this thing going on

where you see people looking and you think, "I don't care."

Every single time you feel that strength,

something changes in you again, and it's bizarre.

AND it does not make you more smelly.

-Oh, no.

-On your armpits or your fanny. It really doesn't.

People are always like, "Armpit hair, doesn't it smell really bad?"

But actually, like, the function of armpit hair

wicks away the bacteria and sweat.

How much do you think porn has a part to play

in how women feel about their body hair?

-I think it's a pretty big part.

-Yeah.

-Because I think, um,

quite a lot of men and teenage boys get their sort of expectations

about sex and what female bodies look like through porn

because that's, like, the most accessible way for them to see it

-and it's just wrong.

-But so do women. Like, the thing is,

I don't think it's so much, like,

it's not that men expect it or that teenage boys expect it,

-it's that woman think that men expect it, so they do it.

-Yeah.

This is definitely not an issue about men, definitely, is it?

Because I think women are just as... just as hung up on it as...

-Women sort of recoil from my armpits and stuff just as much as boys do.

-Oh, definitely.

I think there's a stereotype

of the kind of hippie feminist with hairy pits.

It comes in a package that's quite derogatory, isn't it?

Yeah, we're all like crazy hairy lesbian feminists

who hate men and want to enslave them all.

-Not really my thing, to be honest.

-No.

This hair challenge really has changed my life.

I'm not just saving myself time and money.

I also care much less about what other people think.

From now on, I'm going to be kinder to my body and kinder to myself.

For better or worse, I do really mind about how I look.

I'm a bit of a fashion junkie and everything else that goes with it,

but I have been really surprised

that by stepping away from conventional beauty for a moment,

actually, it's been really empowering.

I hadn't realised that whilst looks aren't the be all and end all,

they can be a really powerful way

of changing how you feel about yourself.

MUSIC: "Express Yourself" performed by Labrinth

'Next time, I'll be finding out how prejudiced we are these days.'

"Do you do the cooking?" No, I go on the fire engine and go out to fires.

You almost want to go up and shake them and say "I'm not a terrorist!"

We were disgusting lesbians.

CHEERING

'And how prejudiced I am.'

What does that say about me?

That I'm that surprised that she's still really overtly sexual.

Sorry, I just feel like such a mad moanie.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd