A Forres businesswoman who was moved by the suicide of a celebrity has taken steps to make her beauty salon a place where body shaming and tittle-tattle are ‘off-topic’.
Shanna Arthur has ditched gossip magazines from Highland Beauty on Forres High Street following the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack last month, and replaced them with publications that feature art and provoke thought.
She says her spa is a place that promotes inner beauty as much as looks, and her walls are adorned with positive and motivational messages.
“I hate the way these magazines make everyone feel they have to be the same as other people, ” she said.
She posted on the Highland Beauty Facebook page: “After the recent sad news of Caroline Flack, the unfair press, the negativity bred in these magazines is not healthy. Pages and pages of fat-shaming, shaming celebs with no make-up and much more.”
“We will only supply positive magazines about personal growth, decor, food, fashion, health and wellbeing.”
At 26, Shanna said she has an old-fashioned outlook on beauty, and didn’t think boob jobs and lip fillers are what people should be focussing on.
“Everyone should celebrate their differences and people shouldn’t be hiding the features that make them unique.”
“I was shocked to hear the news about Caroline Flack, and it just made me think with the type of job I’m in, I see people getting slated if they’re not perfect and skinny.
Caroline Flack posted on her own social channel before her death: ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’
“And that’s what I’m trying to encourage. You never know what people are going through. There are two sides to every story.”
“I watch Love Island, and I like that there are a lot of different types of people: small, tall and curvy. I saw this one character and thought how confident she was even though she looked a little different. I looked her up on social media, and there were so many vicious, critical comments. People called her ugly, sausage legs and things like that. I couldn’t believe it. There’s no need to be so nasty.”
“My clients come here to relax. I just want them to be happy.”
