Beauty, truly, is in the eye of the beholder. It’s clichéd but it's true. When it comes to society’s definitions, you could have the perfect look one day and then be considered too tall or too small the next.

Just think back to when Kate Moss reigned supreme in the 90’s. All teenage girls wanted to be super-skinny – in fact, near emaciated. High schools were full of starving young ladies trying to copy their idol. If only they had known that, in just a few decades, skinny would be out and “thick” would be in. They definitely wouldn't have worried as much about the extra wobbly bits that we all carry at some point.

Back in medieval times, the “egg-shaped face look” was all the rage. Yes, having a high forehead was the height of fashion. Often hairlines were in fact tweezed back to increase the forehead’s real estate - and eyebrows were even shaved off. And eyelashes were plucked out to create a “pure and innocent” look. Can you imagine having to do that today? Here we go ladies, remove all the hair from your face and extend your forehead. We’d consider it utter madness now. But, believe it or not, it was a beauty standard at some point in time.

The point is, beauty standards change all the time. Fashion and media houses create them to profit from our desire to remain on-trend and to be considered beautiful. To try and keep up with modern beauty standards is probably only going to drive you insane – and it is actually not really feasible as there are so many different points of view. Some of us are born skinny, some not. Some have bushier eyebrows. Some don’t. Also, it's a fact that none of us will stay young forever. And what will happen to your self-esteem when age finally creeps in and you can’t fit into the clothes you used to?

Our advice? Create your own beauty standard. Define what makes you look and feel good and invest in that wholeheartedly. Celebrate other women and what makes them uniquely beautiful and resist the fashion and beauty houses that keep wanting us to believe that we’re not good enough. You are. We are.

So let’s set traditional beauty standards on fire and just rock what we’ve got! Our lives will be so much healthier and happier for it. Dove celebrates real beauty and real women by encouraging women to feel their most attractive inside and out.

P.S. for the ultimate body confidence, use Dove body lotions for smooth and moisturised skin.

Check out Project #ShowUS. It’s the world’s largest photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes.