

Dascha Polanco Is Learning True Body Positivity One Nude Photo At A Time
It is a truly amazing feeling to be able to love the woman you see looking back at you in the mirror.
Our flaws can make us feel broken, and the concept of comparison can be overwhelming, especially when you never felt whole in the first place. These feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt create a negative self-image that we never actually agreed to. We are then prisoners to our physical bodies, left to suffer in what feels like hell forever. Dascha Polanco is among the women determined to break free from these chains.
After overcoming years of depression and self-loathing, the Orange Is The New Black star is taking her power back. Dascha recently spoke with Women's Health about how she is confronting her lifelong struggle with body positivity one nude photo at a time (peep that photo here).
"Reminding yourself of how strong you are is a powerful thing. I want to be mentally healthy, not just physically strong—that's what shines through the screen no matter what."
The 35-year-old mother of two made the bold decision to bear all in the magazine's latest issue, and shared details about when she first developed a negative self-image. She said:
"My whole life, I've had ups and downs when it comes to confidence. I remember looking at myself as a kid and knowing I was different than the other girls—I was chubby and curvier and had rolls and thick thighs. My school uniform skirt never fit right—it was longer in the front and too short in the back."
We can all relate, being a young woman is a real-life struggle. Not only do we have to endure periods and erratic hormones, but our bodies also sometimes develop in ways we aren't always comfortable with or confident about. As we become curvier and grow hips, bellies, and breasts, most of us, like Dascha, begin to formulate concepts about our bodies: what they are, what they should be, and most importantly, what they are not.
"In reality my body type was the norm, but I was always looking at it negatively and comparing myself to the super-slim 'cool girls.' I questioned my body—why couldn't it be like theirs? I just wanted to look like those girls."
From that point, Dasha's perceived value of herself decreased and ultimately began to affect her mental state. She created a cycle of negative-self talk that sent her into a spiral of depression. She told Women's Health:
"I got to a point where I wished I could cut off my rolls with scissors. I would grab at my thighs and say, 'Ugh, I hate you, you're ugly, I don't like you! Oh my God, I just want to get rid of this!' But talking to myself that way never made me feel better, just guilty."
Dascha, like many of us, was trapped within the unrealistic expectations of perfection that we set for ourselves when we were only children. It wasn't until she became a mother that she decided it was time for a change.
"The biggest shift in how I viewed my body happened when I became a mother 16 years ago. I wanted to instill in my kids self-acceptance and a sense of self-love. I wanted them to know they're unique and that that's what makes them beautiful. I wanted them to be confident, and I knew I had to model that."
This change included adopting a new standard of beauty, and taking the time to celebrate her eccentricities instead of focusing on her flaws. Dascha reminded us that one of the key ways to attain self-love is to master self-acceptance.
"I started focusing on the things I really love about myself. Like, I've achieved the dream I had my whole life to be an actress. That's incredible. I'm a leader and a volunteer in my community. And wanting to eat a burger doesn't impact my acting or my ability to help people. Neither does getting older—reaching new decades and going through physical changes is something we should celebrate, not fear. When I realized that, it helped me let go of the little things that bugged me and respect my body for what it allows me to do. I wanted to care for it."
Dascha's newfound self-care practices include exercise, meditation, and most importantly, changing the narrative of her self-talk.
"The most important change I've made is in how I talk to myself. Now, I look at my thighs, and I celebrate them. I say, 'I love you guys! You help me walk, you fill my pants up.' I thank my vagina for giving me my womanly power. It's important to talk to your body and thank your body."
Dascha's story is unwritten, and so is yours. Making the decision to invest in who she is, rather than the expectations of who she should be, turned out to be one of the best decisions of the young actress' life, but it wasn't easy.
Developing a relationship with yourself is the same as developing a relationship with a new friend or partner. Even when you may not be fond of their every characteristic, you love them flaws and all. The same is true for the relationship that you develop with yourself. She said:
"Learning to love yourself is just like learning to love someone in a relationship. You don't like every single thing about them, but you love them. You can love yourself without liking everything all the time."
To read the full essay, click here.
Featured image by lev radin / Shutterstock.com
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Taylor "Pretty" Honore is a spiritually centered and equally provocative rapper from Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a love for people and storytelling. You can probably find me planting herbs in your local community garden, blasting "Back That Thang Up" from my mini speaker. Let's get to know each other: @prettyhonore.
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Why Do Millennials & Gen-Zers Still Feel Like Teenagers? The Pandemic Might Be The Reason.
There’s nothing quite as humbling as navigating adulthood with no instruction manual. Since the turn of the decade, it seems like everything in our society that could go wrong has, inevitably, gone wrong. From the global pandemic, our crippling student debt problem, the loneliness crisis, layoffs, global warming, recession, and not to mention figuring out what to eat for dinner every night. This constant state of uncertainty has many of us wondering, when are the grown-ups coming to fix all of this?
But the catch is, we are the new grown-ups.
As if it happened without our permission, we became the new adults. We are the members of society who are paying taxes, having children, getting married, and keeping our communities afloat, one iced latte at a time. Still, there’s something about doing all these grown-up duties that feel unnaturally grown-up. Enter the #teenagegirlinher20s.
If there’s one hashtag to give you the state of the next cohort of adults, it’s this one. Of the videos that have garnered over 3.9M views, you’ll find a collection of users who are overwhelmed by life’s pressing existential responsibilities, clung to nostalgia, and reminiscent of the days when their mom and dad took care of their insurance plans.
@charlies444ngel no like i cant explain to her why i had to buy multiple tank air dupes from aritzia #teenagegirlinher20s #fyp
The concept of being a 20-something or 30-something teenager is linked to the sentiment of not feeling “grown up enough” to do grown-up things while feeling underprepared and even nihilistic about whether that preparation even matters.
It’s our generation’s version of when we ask our grandmothers how old they are and they simply reply with, “I still feel 45,” all while being every bit of 76 years old. In this, we share a warped concept of time while clinging to a desire for infantilization.
Granted, the pandemic did a number on our concept of time. Many of us who started the pandemic in our early or mid-20s missed out on three fundamental years of socialization, career development, and personal milestones that traditionally help to mark our growth.
Our time to figure out and plan our next steps through fumbling yet active participation was put on pause indefinitely and then resumed provisionally. This in turn has left many of us hanging in the balance of uncertainty as we try to make sense of the disconnect between our minds and bodies in this missing gap of time.
Because we’re all still figuring out what the ramifications of being locked away and frozen in time by a global pandemic will have on us as a society, there really is no “right” way of making up for lost time. Feeling unprepared for any new chapter of life is a natural rite of passage, pandemic or not. However, it’s important to not stay stuck in the last age or period of life that made sense to us because self-growth is the truest evidence of personal progress.
So whether you’re leaning on your inner child, teenager, or 20-something for guidance as you fill the gap between your real age and pandemic age, know that it’s okay to grieve the person you thought you would be and the milestones you thought you’d hit before you ever knew what a pandemic was. If there’s anything that the pandemic taught us, it’s that we have the power to reimagine a better world and life for ourselves. And if we tap into our inner teenager as a compass, we can piece together our next chapter with a fresh outlook.
Sure, we’ve lost a couple of years, but there are still some really amazing ones ahead.
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Featured image by Stephen Zeigler/Getty Images