This month, Cruelty Free International and The Body Shop joined forces once again in a bid to finish the work they started over 20 years ago – an end to animal testing for cosmetics. This time their sights are set on achieving a United Nations international convention that bans animal testing globally.

This unique partnership between one of the world’s first animal protection organizations and one of the world’s first ethical global beauty brands began in 1989 when Cruelty Free International teamed up with the late Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop, to ban on animal testing for cosmetics in the United Kingdom and then again in the European Union. Unwilling to rest on their laurels, immediately following the EU ban Cruelty Free International and The Body Shop launched the largest ever global campaign to end animal testing for cosmetics that reached over 60 countries.

Since then, real progress has been made. Following the EU 2013 testing ban, ten other countries have enacted some form of restrictive legislation – some more comprehensively than others – and several other countries have introduced bills or taken other positive steps away from animal testing.

But there is more work to be done.

Animal testing of cosmetic products and ingredients remains possible and is legally allowed in 80% of countries worldwide. Cruelty Free International estimates that more than 500,000 animals are used worldwide in cosmetics testing each year. That’s about 1,400animals a day!

Achieving an enforceable international convention through the UN that establishes a harmonized global ban would level the playing field for industry, save animals, and meet the expectations of consumers around the world. As Cruelty Free International has explained, “The UN Sustainable Development Goals aim to transform the world by 2030. If global sustainable development means human progress that simultaneously sustains and respects the natural world, then we need to make sure that we give a voice to animals.”

Modern alternatives to animal testing are available and are increasingly faster, cheaper and better able to predict human reactions than the animal tests they replace. The sharing and utilization of more human-predictive testing strategies between nations has potential benefits to public health that go beyond cosmetics – as many have applications in medical, chemical and environmental testing. A UN international convention provides an opportunity for strategic coordination between nations to accelerate the development of, and expand access to, these modern testing technologies.

The UN Sustainable Development goals call for the world to foster innovation and for responsible consumption and production. Using Innovative modern human-relevant testing methods to produce consumer products to do no harm to people, animals and the planet, certainly seems to fit the description. If ethical production and consumerism is a global development goal, then animal testing for cosmetics has no place.

You can support the campaign and its ambitious goal of collecting 8 million signatures urging the UN adopt an international convention to end animal testing for cosmetics around the world by signing the petition here.

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With rising temperatures and long summer days on the way, most of us are trying to figure out the best way to curb heavy sweating and body odor.

But if you’re one of the lucky few who don’t possess the gene that produces odor in your armpits ― it’s called ABCC11 ― you don’t even have to worry about deodorant.

According to the website LiveScience, the presence of the gene means that your armpits lack a chemical that, when combined with sweat, bacteria feeds on to produce smelly body odor.  

In January 2013, Ian Day, a genetic epidemiologist at the University of Bristol and Santiago Rodriguez, PhD and senior lecturer in population and molecular genetics at Bristol Genetic Epidemiology Laboratories, co-authored a study on deodorant after surveying 6,495 women. The two found that 2 percent of participants (117 women) had the ABCC11 gene. Of those 117 women, 78 percent of them still wore deodorant even when they didn’t have to. 

Though Day and Rodriguez’ study didn’t look at males, Day told LiveScience he thinks their research can be generalized. He also estimated in the interview that the rare gene is found in two percent of Europeans and nearly all East Asians and Koreans. 

“These findings have some potential for using genetics in the choice of personal hygiene products,” Rodriguez said in a statement about the study. “A simple gene test might strengthen self-awareness and save some unnecessary purchases and chemical exposures for non-odor producers.” 

For those of us who don’t have this lucky gene and tend to sweat a lot during the summer, try these helpful tips: 

1. 
   

   Try an Rx-strength antiperspirant, which is particularly helpful for people who sweat a lot in the underarms, palms of hands or soles of their feet. 

   
   


2. 
   

   Make sure to apply your antiperspirant at night, as it will help plug your sweat ducts better at that time, rather than in the morning. 

   
   


3. 
   

    Try Botox injections, which block the signals that turn on the body’s sweat glands at the injection spot. 

   
   

The HuffPost Lifestyle newsletter will make you happier and healthier, one email at a time. Sign up here.

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Newlyweds Pippa Middleton and James Matthews are positively owning wedding season style.

The duo touched down in Europe to attend a friend’s nuptials in Sweden on Saturday after their epic honeymoon abroad. Pippa rocked a floor-length floral gown from Erdem and walked hand-in-hand with her new husband, who wore a tailored tuxedo and classic white bowtie.

Pippa really knows how to stand out at a wedding, as evidenced by her infamously poofy bridesmaid dress from the ‘90s (not to mention her other, more famous bridesmaid dress). 

Since their own ceremony last month, Pippa and James have flaunted their fashion prowess in Sydney, Australia and also holed up on a private island, presumably working on their tans. 

Clearly, this Middleton can rock any role at a wedding. We can’t wait for the next event!

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Melania Trump wants you to know she’s really happy now that she’s moved into the White House to live with President Donald Trump.

Or rather, the version of the first lady played to perfection by Laura Benanti on “The Late Show” does.

“I couldn’t be happier, see?” she told host Stephen Colbert. “These are my happy eyes.” 

Here they are: 

Of course, Benanti’s version of the first lady is anything but happy even if she can’t quite come out and say it. 

“It was so lonely in New York doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted,” the fake first lady said. “I called it my prison of freedom.”

Throughout the interview, the bogus FLOTUS dropped some not-so-subtle hints about where she’d rather be and who she’d rather be with... and even showed off a tool that might help her get there. 

Check it out above.  

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A woman in Grand Rapids, Mi. said she was recently kicked out of a shopping mall because another customer complained to mall security about her outfit.

The outfit in question? Shorts and a tank top. 

Hannah Pewee posted a photo of her outfit on Facebook after being kicked out of Grand Rapids’ Woodland Mall on Saturday. In the photo, she wears what any woman might wear on a 90-degree day in June: a “Finding Nemo” tank top, jean shorts, and ballet flats. 

“As many of you know, it is NINETY degrees outside today in West Michigan,” Pewee wrote in the Facebook post.

“So, of course, I decided to dress for the weather: shorts and a tank top. But apparently, how I was dressed ... was too slutty for the public, as I was kicked out of the Woodland Mall today. Yup. Apparently some anonymous person reported me to MALL SECURITY for inappropriate dress and I was kicked out.”

Pewee’s post went viral over the weekend, with more than 4,000 likes and close to 9,000 shares. She said in the post that experience was so humiliating she “almost cried.” 

“I am so angry right now I’m shaking,” she wrote. “I felt so embarrassed I almost cried. All because a stranger didn’t like how I dressed.

Pewee wrote two follow-up Facebook posts after the initial incident. First, she thanked the Facebook community for their support and kind words, and in the second, she confirmed that a manager from Woodland Mall called her to apologize. 

“So I talked on the phone with the someone on the management team at Woodland and they apologized for what happened yesterday,” she wrote. “Apparently they’re going to revise their clothing policy on their website so it is clearer what is and isn’t acceptable. In addition, security will be discussing how to properly handle situations like this.”

The Woodland Mall website policy page currently has vague language about what clothing constitutes as “inappropriate.”  

“Appropriate attire, including shirts and shoes, is required,” the policy guidelines read. “Clothing with inappropriate words, phrases or graphics is not permitted and is subject to mall management approval.” 

HuffPost has reached out to both Pewee and representatives of Woodland Mall for comment and clarification, and will update this piece accordingly.  

H/T The Cut

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Anita Pallenberg ― model, actress, It girl, style icon and former partner to Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards ― has died. She was 73. 

The sad news was confirmed by friends of Pallenberg, including Stella Schnabel and Bebe Buell, on social media. Richards, who has not publicly commented on Pallenbger’s death, is reportedly “devastated.” 

A cause of death has not yet been released.

“I have never met a woman quite like you, Anita,” Schnabel wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her and Pallenberg.

“You showed about life and myself and how to grow and become and exist with it all. The greatest woman I have ever known,” she added, according to People. (Schnabel has made her Instagram account private.)

”I will love you forever, dearest Anita,” Buell wrote alongside a vintage photo of a smiling Pallenberg. “Sleep with the special angels, Gods & Goddesses.”

Pallenberg was born in Rome in 1944 to an Italian father and German mother. In her teens, she began modeling and, according to the Guardian, even spent time at Andy Warhol’s Factory in New York.

In 1965, Pallenberg met The Rolling Stones backstage at one of their concerts and developed a relationship with guitarist and founding band member Brian Jones. After about two years, in 1967, Pallenberg left Jones for Richards as the previous relationship reportedly became violent.

Pallenberg and Richards, who both struggled with drug abuse, remained in a relationship until 1980 and had three children together: Marlon, Angela and Tara, who died during infancy. 

Pallenberg became a muse for the Stones, providing backup vocals for their hit “Sympathy for the Devil” and reportedly giving the band feedback on their music, according to the Guardian.

She also appeared in a number of films, including “Candy” (1968), “Barbarella” (1968), “Performance” (1970) with Stones frontman Mick Jagger, an episode of “Absolutely Fabulous” in 2001 and Harmony Korine’s film “Mister Lonely” (2007). Pallenberg also tried her hand at a career in fashion, graduating with a degree from renowned school Central Saint Martins in 1994. 

She is survived by two of her children, Marlon and Angela, and five grandchildren. 

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John Nation just wanted to give teenagers in Bristol, southwest England, a safe place to spray-paint without fear of arrest and prosecution.

Little did the then 21-year-old youth worker know back in 1984 that his “Aerosol Art Project” at the Barton Hill Youth Center would go some way to shaping British and global street art over the coming years and decades.

It spawned an entire generation of influential and genre-defining artists ― including Banksy. But as Nation, now 54, told HuffPost in a wide-ranging interview, the initiative also almost ended up costing him his job, his reputation and his liberty.

Nation was just 18-years-old when, in 1981, he became an outreach worker at the youth center in his home neighborhood of Barton Hill. “We helped kids deal with the nitty gritty of life [...] providing sexual health awareness, talking about drugs, that kind of thing,” he told HuffPost. A trip to Amsterdam in 1982 sparked an interest in graffiti, which he saw adorning the Dutch capital’s streets. “I started reading whatever material I could.”

Coincidentally, some of the 14 to 19-year-olds attending the center were also becoming interested in the art form. Inspired by movies such as “Wild Style” and “Beat Street” and the painting of Bristol’s earliest-recognized graffiti artist 3D (a.k.a. Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack), Nation said they’d spend hours copying outlines of the work featured in the seminal book “Subway Art.”

When one teen returned from New York City with photographs of the graffiti he’d seen, Nation allowed the teen and his friends to paint the club’s front wall.

“Barton Hill was rough,” Nation said. “At that time the club was very territorial, seen as right wing, predominantly white and very hostile to outsiders.” Its exterior walls, he said, were mainly daubed with anti-authority slogans such as “No Police State in Barton Hill” or ones promoting the far-right movement, the National Front.

“These guys produced a piece that was so vibrant,” Nation said. “It helped break down some barriers. Lots of these guys listened to hip hop, reggae and black-inspired music. Lots of the artists they looked up to were black, hispanic and Puerto Rican, but they were in a predominantly white area. Being involved in graffiti opened their eyes and helped to lower their prejudices.”

Inspired by what the teens had produced, Nation sought permission from his employers at the now-defunct Avon County Council authority to set up the “Barton Hill Aerosol Art Project” — a place he envisioned would let the youngsters, some of whom were only a bit younger than him, to “express themselves freely and legally” on the center’s walls instead of tagging or painting unauthorized spots on public or private property which could lead to their arrest.

Cheo and Inkie were among the first generation of budding street artists to attend the center, which had the added appeal of being the only one in the city with an indoor skate ramp. Before long, the artists covered most of the building with their work.

“Once word got out that it was a safe environment to paint and look at books and photographs and watch films about graffiti, then people from across the city started coming,” Nation said. “Once you had that one group of people give it their seal of approval, others saw it was safe and followed suit.”

At its peak, more than 40 youngsters regularly attended the project. Graffiti writers from across the U.K. also visited, and it inspired other authorities from around the country to launch similar initiatives.

“It was a great atmosphere, very expressive, very creative,” Nation added. “There was never any bad vibes or competition, none of that element. It was all about being a crew and a togetherness and I still think that’s true to all the guys who still know each other and paint now.”

Not everyone was in favor of the project, however. Unbeknownst to Nation, from 1988 to 1989 the British Transport Police surveilled the center and several of its artists as part of a city-wide investigation into graffiti tagging and criminal behavior.

“There was never any bad vibes or competition, none of that element. It was all about being a crew and a togetherness and I still think that’s true to all the guys who still know each other and paint now.”

John Nation

Operation Anderson sought to profile graffiti artists suspected of criminal damage and culminated with a series of raids on properties across the region. Police arrested dozens of people, including Nation. Officers searched his home and the center. “Bearing in mind that I was running an aerosol art project, there was no way there wasn’t going to be any material at the center,” he said. “It was like an Aladdin’s Cave for them.”

Police seized a “massive stash of paint” Nation had procured from the project’s sponsors and his treasured 5,000-plus snaps of graffiti he’d either taken himself or been sent by writers from around the world.

Nation believes police thought the club was “some kind of ‘Axis of Evil’ that was the main meeting point for all of Bristol’s illegal graffiti writers and a place where other writers from across the country would come.”

“It wasn’t that at all though,” he said, although he acknowledges some of the artists were painting on unauthorized spots on their own. 

As was revealed in the BBC documentary “Drawing The Line,” (above), police matched tags on the artwork in the club to tags on illegal works across the city.

They charged several artists with criminal damage. Nation himself was charged with suspicion of conspiracy to incite individuals to commit criminal damage.

“Their main case against me was that the photos and books I had, if shown to a young person of impressional age, would incite them to go out and commit criminal damage,” Nation said. “They also said I was covering up for the young people and I was duty bound to divulge information on them. But I didn’t assist them whatsoever. I answered ‘no comment’ to pretty much everything.”

Several artists were found guilty of criminal damage and received fines. Nation’s charge, however, was dropped on the day his trial was due to begin after prosecutors offered no evidence of incitement. 

Nation says he then consciously used the subsequent press coverage to promote his project’s work and to argue that without a place to legally paint, “the illegal culture of the art form just gets reinforced.”

Following the police raids, Nation says many of those involved in the city’s street art scene went “underground for a while.” “It was like they were regrouping,” he said. “Many of the guys arrested took a break, lessened their illegal activities, and some decided painting legally was the only way.”

Nation says the publicity did inspire, however, a new generation of artists to begin visiting the project ― with one of them being Banksy.

“As a young boy, he’d come to the center and watch people paint. He was heavily into hip hop culture, graffiti, and Barton Hill was where it was happening. Every weekend there was fresh work going up on the walls and people would exchange ideas,” Nation said.

“He says he called it his religious pilgrimage every weekend to go. Many of these guys had their own crazy, little dreams and he said what Barton Hill showed him was very powerful, that you could go on to follow those dreams.”

At that time, Nation says Banksy (who despite multiple attempts and theories has never been officially identified), wasn’t producing the political or social commentary pieces that he’s since become globally famous for.

As part of a crew with some slightly older teens, Nation says he was “into graffiti and letterforms and writing.” He also didn’t stand out “as one of the graffiti writers you’d call a ‘top boy,’” nor was he using his “Banksy” moniker either, says Nation. “The Banksy thing came later.”

Nation claims Banksy is “without doubt” the biggest contemporary artist in the world right now, but admits he didn’t foresee his rise to prominence during his early days of painting at the center. Instead, he believes Banksy truly began to make his mark when he changed his style and began using stencils.

“Not only could he paint quicker, he could paint more locations and produce more work. He started off with quite crude stencil work, like the rats, then he started progressing to more clean work, more sharper,” Nation said.

“These smaller stencils started appearing across the city and for me, it’s once he made that conscious decision to change the style of what he was painting and the content of what he was painting when he exploded,” he added.

Banksy himself admits in his book “Wall and Piece” that his switch in style came when aged 18 transport police chased him through a thorny bush after spotting him painting “LATE AGAIN” on the side of a train.

“The rest of my mates made it to the car and disappeared so I spent over an hour hidden under a dumper truck with engine oil leaking all over me,” he wrote. “As I lay there listening to the cops on the tracks I realized I had to cut my painting time in half or give up altogether. I was staring straight up at the stenciled plate on the bottom of a fuel tank when I realized I could just copy that style and make each letter three feet high.”

Nation said that change led Banksy to “strike an accord with first and foremost the Bristol public, and then the British public.” “Lots of people who wouldn’t be into street art could relate to the simplicity and the fun and the characters he was painting. As he’s become more mature, the images and message have become more hard-hitting — he’s a clever guy.” 

Nation does question how Banksy creates some of his works, such as the “Brexit” piece (above) that he unveiled in Dover, southeast England, in May as a commentary on the U.K.’s referendum vote to leave the European Union.

“Yes he painted it, but he’s got to have a team of people that set up the scaffold and he must have approached the people who own the property before that,” Nation said. “You can’t just rock up and set up a scaffold on the side of someone’s property without there being no questions asked. It’s a huge wall. It’s massive.”

With so much history between Nation and Banksy, one may assume the pair remain close and in touch. When faced with the suggestion, however, Nation responded with a stony silence before changing the subject.

While the legacy of the Barton Hill Youth Center often focuses on Banksy, many of the center’s other alum have also gone on to enjoy hugely successful careers. Jody Thomas, who in April gave HuffPost a helping hand in unveiling its new logo (below), has painted and exhibited his signature photo-realistic style around the world:

But for him, it also all began at the center, which he first attended when he was just 15 years old after being encouraged by a school friend who’d described Nation to him as “outspoken, politically militant and not one to suffer fools.”

“It felt like I was being led to meet the leader of a despotic cult,” Thomas told HuffPost, adding that Nation “didn’t disappoint” when he finally met him.

“He immediately went through my school folder of work based around the comic art of 2,000 A.D. and classical painting and drawings,” he said. “I think he saw in me the opportunity to add a different artistic dimension to the club’s repertoire and left me to recreate on the walls of the club what I had on paper.”

“For me, John is the ‘Darwin’ of street art in the U.K. and gave me an opportunity to express the art that spoke to me all those years ago.”

Jody Thomas

Thomas credits Nation as being at “the forefront” of the street art movement at that time. “His energy and personality has garnered him an amount of respect amongst Bristolians on the level of any rock star or public figure,” he said. “For me, he is the ‘Darwin’ of street art in the U.K. and gave me a opportunity to express the art that spoke to me all those years ago.”

The admiration is mutual. Nation still remembers the day that Thomas first brought in his work which was “totally different” to what was being produced in the club at the time. “I thought to myself, ‘fucking hell, this is amazing. He’s 15 and painting like this?’ I thought, ‘this boy is going to go far,’” Nation said.

“At first he wasn’t accepted as much by the graffiti lads. Jody was into indie music and a lot of that music had dark imagery on its album sleeves,” he added. “He embraced that kind of artwork. He painted small pieces, then he painted these two black and white heads (below) and that was it. I have a lot of time for him. He didn’t stick to what everyone else was doing. He just wanted to be an artist and express his talents.”

Inkie, a.k.a. Tom Bingle, also emerged from the center. He’s since worked as a head of design at SEGA and hosted his own shows across the globe. Recently, he painted alongside Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the “Hope” poster that came to define former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign.

For Inkie, Nation’s project acted as a vital “central hub” for the city’s graffiti artists in the pre-internet era of the late ‘80s to mid-90s. “Without this center and John’s support of our artwork, Bristol would not have had the scene it maintains today,” he told HuffPost.

By 1991, however, Nation had become disillusioned with the restraints he felt the authority was putting on him and quit.

“I was seen as being quite outspoken, left wing and a bit of a socialist,” he said. “But I’m proud of what I did back then. And the fact that people still talk about then and what I achieved for me is justification for what I did do.”

Nation went on to forge a successful career in promoting dance music events across the U.K. and the NASS action sports and music show in Somerset.

With the explosion in the popularity of street art, which he puts principally down to the rise of the internet and social media, he’s since come full circle ― and now gives regular tours of Bristol’s scene via the WhereTheWall tour.

“People from all over the world come, and no one tour is the same. Street art is here today, gone tomorrow. The art form is transient,” he said.

In April, Nation curated his first ever solo show, “Graffiti Nation,” at Bristol’s Upfest gallery, the home of Europe’s largest live street art festival.

He also worked with Inkie on the “See No Evil” art exhibition in 2011 and 2012, and remains a fierce advocate for spaces where artists can legally paint. He’s also set to feature in another BBC documentary, which will analyze the U.K. street art scene in the decades since Operation Anderson.

Nation’s pedigree, knowledge and influence of street art and the genres that umbrella term encompasses have seen him nicknamed the “Godfather” of the Bristol (and increasingly British) scene. But it’s a label that doesn’t sit well with him.

“I look back and I feel that all those years ago I was vilified and I could have possibly lost my job,” he said. “Then two years ago I’m being used as the face of Bristol tourism as someone who represents it as a progressive, cultural city. Who would have thought it?”

“I get called the ‘Godfather,’ but I’m not. I just had a faith and a belief in these young people when no one else would give them the time of day,” he added. “I’m just lucky enough that i’ve been involved in the graffiti scene and seen it emerge. Bristol is not what it is because of me, far from it. I’m just one cog in the wheel, just like Banksy and all the others.”

Check out John Nation’s Instagram, Facebook and the tour website for WhereTheWall.

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While the rest of us are keeping up with the Kardashians, Kim is just trying to keep up with her sister Kylie Jenner’s growing beauty empire. 

Kardashian announced Tuesday via all of her social media platforms that she’s launching KKW Beauty on June 21. 

“I am launching my own makeup brand,” the 36-year-old said in an interview with ET Online. “We’re launching with a contour kit, so it’s going to be cream contour and highlighters in this collection with great brushes. I’m so excited about it.”

No price points for the products have been announced. 

The website is mostly blank, save for the launch date and a place for fans to enter their email address. Kris Jenner and Kardashian’s longtime makeup artist, Mario Dedivanovic, were over the moon about the news.

“The Glam Queen has arrived... get ready to be SNATCHED,” Dedivanovic wrote on his Instagram account. Jenner wrote, “I am so proud of you @kimkardashian and excited for your beauty line #KKWBEAUTY!!” 

Considering the success of Kardashian’s video game (which raked in over $100 million in the first five quarters), her app, her Kimoji line and recent collab with Kylie Cosmetics, this venture makes all the sense in the world for the savvy businesswoman. 

When talking about her new beauty line, Kardashian made sure to praise sister Kylie and her work ethic. 

“Kylie, we did our lipstick collab together, our lip kit, and she was so amazing to work with. She really works so hard and it was so refreshingly surprising, ‘cause you see things on social media and I’m not there with her 24/7,” Kardashian told ET.

She added, “But you think, ‘Oh, she is coming out with her makeup and it’s so easy and fun.’ [But it’s] so much work and I am so proud of her that she just works so hard.”

We’re sure there’s a KKW Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics collaboration coming our way soon. 

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Gigi Hadid isn’t immune to all the crazy denim trends circulating this season. 

The 22-year-old model stepped out in all-white everything in New York City over the weekend and rocked a pair of white, detachable jeans. The $332 detachable cut-out side Y/Project jeans are available at Opening Ceremony and can also be worn just as shorts. 

Hadid paired the interesting pants look with a belt, a few layered necklaces and a small purse. She also curiously wore lace-up stilettos tied around the white jeans themselves. 

“These Y/Project trousers come in a 2-in-1 style with detachable straight-fit legs,” says the description of the jeans. “The high-cut shorts and legs are held together with button tabs along the front and back.” 

Over the past few months, crazy denim has been popping up from designers and stores all over the internet. 

There’s Vetements’ $1,700 jeans that unzip to reveal your bare bum: 

And Nordstrom’s $425 jeans splattered with fake mud: 

And we can’t forget about Topshop’s $95 “Clear Panel Mom Jeans” that Millie Bobby Brown recently rocked: 

What will the denim industry think of next? 

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A California mom’s side-by-side photos show how much she’s changed in 10 years ― and how much she’s learned to love her body.

Lindsay Wolf, an actress and writer, shared two side-by-side photos on Instagram on June 5. The first photo shows her at 23 years old, and in the caption, Wolf wrote that she was self-conscious then and “critical of her physical shape.” The second photo shows her at 33. Wolf wrote that the pic captures a “woman who is learning to love her body without pressuring it to be anything other than what it is.”

“And in the process, she is healing a lifelong struggle of never fully seeing herself for the extraordinary human being she is,” she wrote.

Wolf, who has an 11-year-old stepdaughter and a 19-month-old daughter, told HuffPost she felt motivated to share the post because her journey to completely loving her body has been “20 years in the making.” After she gave birth, she wasn’t actively attempting to make herself smaller for the first time in her life, which marked an incredible turning point for the way she viewed her body. 

“It took becoming pregnant and watching my body support a baby, along with a weight gain of almost 50 pounds over the course of 20 years, to realize that my body is just right exactly as it is,” she told HuffPost.

Wolf said a photo her husband took immediately after she gave birth reflects the pride and appreciation she had learned to have for her body.

“I’m grinning from ear to ear at him in the photo, because while my body looks vastly different than it ever has before, I was basking in the immediate pride of my body doing something truly magical,” she said. “This body of mine held and grew and pushed out my incredible daughter.”

Through her post, Wolf hopes other women learn to embrace their bodies, especially moms after they’ve given birth. She pointed out how many moms are encouraged to erase their pregnancies from their bodies as soon as they welcome their babies.

“It’s funny ― women are cherished while in their pregnant bodies. We are constantly told things like, ‘You’re glowing!’ and how beautiful we are in the state of pregnancy,” she told HuffPost. “But it seems like as soon as we’ve transitioned into full motherhood mode, the appreciation for what our bodies continue to be capable of ― and how they look ― goes completely away.”

Though she’s focusing on moving forward, Wolf said if she could go back and tell her 23-year-old self anything, she’d tell her she is “so much more than her physical body.” She’d also tell her that one day she would learn to love herself unconditionally despite the harmful things she heard and damaging pressures she faced growing up. 

“Most importantly, I’d tell her that she couldn’t control how others viewed and commented on her body growing up and that those destructive words slung at her body had nothing to do with her and everything to do with how little we are taught to love ourselves,” she said. “But it is now her responsibility to love herself as fiercely as she can.”

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting. 

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As Rebel Wilson celebrates victory in her defamation case, we’re celebrating the brilliant look she wore for the occasion.

Wilson sued Australia’s Bauer Media Group after it published a series of articles claiming she “had lied about her age, real name and some childhood experiences,” according to Reuters. 

We admire her courage to stand up for herself and her career. But that dress though!

Wilson’s sharp black and white shirtdress, worn with patent leather flats, is a pitch perfect lesson in courtroom attire. She looked both professional and oh-so-chic.  

The actress also shared a photo on Instagram thanking her family, friends and supporters. “Just crushed my defamation case in Australia,” she wrote. 

She certainly “crushed it” when it came to the outfit, too. 

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No one is safe from the seductive, aesthetically pleasing millennial pink phenomenon. Not even Pamela Anderson.

The 49-year-old attended a gala in Northampton, England Wednesday wearing a perfectly pale pink gown and a tousled updo.  

The front of the gown can’t be seen plainly in any of the photos. Perhaps that’s because, as any millennial will tell you, the key to getting the most likes on a photo is highlighting the best part of your look.

In Anderson’s case, that is undoubtedly this adorable, ruffled trim. 

She appears to have paired the dress with pink earrings, matching the floral centerpieces and rounding out her delightfully on-trend look. 

So pretty, Pammy.

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Soaking up some rays is an ideal way to spend a summer day. But if you’re going for beautiful skin in the long run, managing sun exposure is critical. 

“The number one thing that causes [skin] problems is the sun,”Janellen Smith, dermatology professor at the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine, told HuffPost. “So if you can protect yourself from the sun, that is a good thing for longevity of your skin.”

Too much sun exposure over time can lead to a higher risk of skin cancer and premature signs of aging like wrinkles. Luckily, there are a few ways to protect your body (and they don’t involve shielding yourself from the outdoors).

Check out Smith’s tips below on how to enjoy the sunshine but still keep your skin healthy for years to come:

Take sunscreen seriously.

Use sunscreen and reapply it often, especially after sweating, swimming or toweling off, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You should also make sure your lotion has an SPF of at least 15, but it wouldn’t hurt to do more.

“Most people don’t actually put on enough, so we like to say 30 SPF,” Smith said. As a rule of thumb, she recommends applying one ounce of sunscreen from head to toe, which is about the size of a shot glass.

Wear light, protective clothing.

Clothing is considered the first line of defense against the sun, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. But a loose, open weave shirt won’t cut it. The best sun protective clothing has a thick, tight weave, such as denim or twill. But denim? In the summer? It probably makes you sweat just thinking about it.

Some companies like Coolibar and Cabana Life make clothes with an ultraviolet protection factor, which is the measurement of UV rays that can penetrate the skin while wearing the garment. In theory, a tunic with UPF of 50 would allow only one-fiftieth of the sun’s UV radiation to get to your skin.

Of course, you can also always wear what you’ve got. If you play an outside sport like golf or tennis, consider lightweight shirts with long sleeves. 

Invest in a bigger hat and sunglasses.

Hats with a brim are a better choice for skin longevity than a baseball cap, Smith said. Wider-brim hats not only shade the face, but the back of the neck and ears.

It’s also a good idea to invest in some shades. The skin around your eyes is very tender and easily damaged by sun exposure, according to the CDC. So keep that area covered and reap the benefits in the long run. 

Keep your skin moisturized.

Drinking plenty of water can help keep the skin healthy and hydrated. And a consistent moisturizing routine can help trap water in, too. Smith recommends applying moisturizer within 15 to 20 minutes after you get out of the shower. (Bonus points if you use a product with SPF in it.)

Enjoy a well rounded diet.

Research shows that nutritional deficiencies can cause dry, flaky skin. And while most diets for perfect complexion are pretty bogus, it’s a good idea to consume fruits, vegetables, whole grains, oils and fats, Smith said. This guarantees you’re staying healthy from the inside out.

Take these tips to heart and then enjoy your time outdoors, whether that’s gardening, swimming or just a stroll through the neighborhood. Research shows that spending time outside can help people age more gracefully. 

Go on, soak up that sun.

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Having a child in the NICU can be an emotional roller coaster for parents, and for so many, nothing compares to the joy of bringing their baby home for the first time. 

A hospital in North Carolina is helping NICU parents celebrate this milestone in a heartwarming way. Preemies at CaroMont Health in Gastonia get their own “graduation days” when they leave the NICU.

On a baby’s “graduation day,” he or she receives a homemade grad cap, a little goodbye ceremony and a complimentary photo shoot.

The graduation program is the brainchild of NICU nurse Melissa Jordan.

Jordan, who has been a nurse for over eight years, started working in the CaroMont NICU almost three years ago. 

“As a nurse working in the NICU, you become so close with not only the patients but their families as well,” she told HuffPost. “Some babies stay in the NICU a month to two months so it’s very easy to form a special bond with the family and baby.” 

Jordan said she got the idea about six months ago after the parents of a baby boy born at 28 weeks bought him a onesie that said “NICU GRAD” in honor of his discharge from the hospital.

Excited for the family, the nurse brainstormed ways to make baby Wyatt’s discharge day even more special. In keeping with the graduation theme, she figured out a way to make a little graduation cap, and when the baby’s last day arrived, Jordan and the NICU staff gathered to present the cap to Wyatt while singing and dancing to “Graduation” by Vitamin C. 

“The parents smiled ear-to-ear and that brought me an immense amount of joy!” Jordan recalled. “I wanted to keep making parents smile just like that.”

For most mothers going to the hospital to give birth, the expectation is that they’ll get to leave with their babies in two or three days. “So for our preemie mothers, it’s extremely hard to walk out of the hospital doors without their babies,” Jordan said. “I wanted to help make discharge day special and bring some kind of normalcy and excitement back into going home!”

Thus far, the CaroMont NICU has held graduations for 14 babies, including three sets of twins. Jordan told HuffPost she goes to the craft store once every two months and makes the graduation caps with foam paper, glue and yarn for the tassels.

In the future, she plans to decorate the caps the way high school and college grads do. “Maybe I’ll even decorate it with the dreams of their parents and what they hope their child will aspire to be one day,” Jordan said.

In addition to the ceremony, the preemies also receive free photo shoots from Bella Baby Photography. Jordan said the hospital is hoping to set up a wall of graduation photos in the NICU to offer hope to other families going through this trying time.   

The NICU graduation tradition has been a hit with parents. “It felt like it signified an ending to one journey and a beginning of another,” Matthew and Monica Becton told HuffPost. 

“We loved it! It really made us feel like all of our sweet boy’s hard work had paid off,” added Shawn and Erica Sutton. “He had accomplished so much while we were there and the graduation cap allowed us to celebrate those accomplishments and that milestone.”

Jordan told HuffPost she hopes others who see the NICU graduation photos feel a sense of inspiration. “I hope they are inspired to keep going or inspired to never give up, or rather to simply have courage and strength, just like these little babies do,” she said.

“Mostly importantly, I hope preemie parents around the world remember the feeling they have when they see these pictures,” she added. “I hope it reminds them of not only the strength they have within themselves but also the strength within their child.”

Keep scrolling for more adorable NICU graduation photos.

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When a woman suffers a miscarriage or infant loss, she usually has access to support groups, products and other resources to help her cope with the grief. But the same can’t always be said for her partner. 

Mom and “Birth Hour” podcast host Bryn Huntpalmer wants to change that.

In honor of Father’s Day, she created a T-shirt to acknowledge a dad’s loss and celebrate the piece of joy many parents find in the aftermath ― a rainbow baby.

A rainbow baby is a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, neonatal death or infant loss. Huntpalmer’s shirt features a rainbow and the words “rainbow dad.”

“As the host of a birth stories podcast, I hear stories of loss regularly, but I also know that in the mainstream world of all things baby, pregnancy and infant loss aren’t as widely discussed,” Huntpalmer told HuffPost.

“One question I always ask my guests is, ‘What types of resources were most helpful to you during your journey?’” she explained. “They always tell me about how helpful the pregnancy loss community was to them, whether it was a Facebook group, a local support group or a hashtag on Instagram; they want to feel like they aren’t alone. And while there are so many ways for moms to find support, dads are often left out.”

Huntpalmer has two kids, ages 3 and 5, and recently suffered a miscarriage. She said she first got to know the pregnancy and infant loss community when her best friend lost her baby at 34 weeks pregnant. 

“I found that it was always the moms that were finding ways to share their child with the world, whether through wearing a necklace with the baby’s footprints or wearing a “rainbow mama” shirt, but there’s not a lot out their for men,” she said.

Huntpalmer thought having a ‘rainbow dad’ shirt could serve as a small way to bring more men into the pregnancy loss community. She enlisted a group of moms and dads to help design a shirt that fathers would want to wear.

“Funnily enough, my husband actually gets a little jealous that I have so many mom-and-me matching tees with our kids while there’s nothing like that for dads, so I designed a “rainbow kid” shirt too,” she told HuffPost.

The shirt is available on Amazon and comes in five different colors. Huntpalmer is asking people to use the hashtag #rainbowdad to post photos of dads wearing the shirt and share their stories.

“The response has been so heartfelt and enthusiastic that it has really confirmed the need for something like this for dads,” she said. “The dads that I have spoken to really love the idea of a way to recognize their role in the family after the loss of their child. The moms are thrilled to be able to include their partners in the celebration that comes with having a rainbow baby.”

One father told Huntpalmer that his wife had lots of items to recognize her loss, but he couldn’t find anything suited to him. “He decided to get a tattoo of his baby’s name, which he loves, but he also knows that tattoos aren’t for everyone,” she explained. “So it’s so great to have something like a shirt that’s more accessible.”

Huntpalmer said a couple of dads have wondered if wearing a rainbow shirt would make people think they were repping LGBTQ pride, rather than the rainbow parent experience. “But they said that they didn’t care if it did and that if anything, it will be a fun conversation starter,” she added. 

Ultimately, starting conversations is the main goal of the shirt. 

“When you’ve lost a baby, it is always on your mind, and this mistaken idea that it hurts to have it brought up is what has contributed to the stigma around infant loss and miscarriage,” Huntpalmer said.

“All of the dads that I know that have suffered a loss are eager to talk about their baby, and being able to wear a shirt that brings that conversation to the forefront is just one more way to do that,” she added. “The grief that parents go through after a loss is a hard thing to put into words and often people assume that once you have your rainbow baby, you are ‘all better.’ While rainbow babies do bring an overwhelming amount of joy, the child that died is such an important part of the journey as well.”

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There’s no shortage of stories that dismiss body shamers and celebrate the people who speak out against them. But those stories don’t always examine why people participate in body shaming in the first place. 

Adamari López, an actress and Telemundo morning show host, was subjected to negative body comments in May after posting a swimsuit photo from a recent vacation with her partner Toni Costa. But instead of just speaking out against all the negativity, López took the opportunity to remind us that body shaming actually has little to do with the body in question.

“I think that when people criticize, they criticize themselves more,” she told the “Today” show. “I do not take it personal. Most likely, those individuals that criticize so brutally have a void in their lives, which reflects in trying to destroy or denigrate others, when in fact it is a reflection of what they have in their heart.”

The internet makes it so easy to dehumanize another person, and it can be difficult to understand the motivations of people who shame others in the first place. That’s why this reminder from López is so important.

And oh, if you were wondering if the comments did have an effect on López, she set the record straight on that, too. 

“What some may not understand is that I am happy with my life and the things I have achieved as a woman, a professional and now a mother,” she said, adding, “The size or shape of your body doesn’t define you as a person, it doesn’t determine who you are or what you can contribute to the world.” 

We’ll pose for a swimsuit snap to that. 

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Tess Holliday is proud to be a sexy mom.

On Wednesday, the model shared a black-and-white photo of herself on Instagram and included an empowering message in the caption. 

“Gentle reminder to myself that as a mom, I deserve to feel sexy & desired,” she wrote. “Fat women & moms are robbed of our sexuality so I’m here to tell you to stop that shit. Ok?” She also added the hashtag #effyourbeautystandards.

Anyone who follows Holliday knows she frequently speaks out against society’s impossible beauty standards for women. And since becoming a mom, the model has been vocal about her support for breastfeeding in public as well as the body-shaming comments she endured when she was pregnant. In a 2016 Instagram post, she wrote about how her pregnancy was “beautiful,” but “frustrating.”

“What I’ve had to be learn to be okay with (WHICH IS NOT COOL) is the fact that people still think it’s okay to comment on my body: ‘you don’t look pregnant’, ‘you must be have quadruplets’, ‘you are putting your baby at risk’ & a slew of other uneducated statements that are very far from my reality,” she wrote.

She also offered advice for other women on how to deal with similar experiences.

“It’s also okay to tell someone to fuck off when they give you unsolicited advice about what’s ‘best’ for you & your baby,” she wrote. “As women, we know what’s best & that’s our business. No one else’s.”

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.  

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Sun worshippers might someday be able to get a tan without exposing their skin to the harmful ultraviolet radiation that’s responsible for skin cancers, a new study suggests.

The goal of the research is to prevent skin cancers by darkening the pigmentation of people’s skin, senior author Dr. David Fisher told Reuters Health.

“Very light skin and a very poor ability to tan correlates with a very high probability of developing cancer,” said Fisher, who is chief of the dermatology service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Darker skin may block harmful UV radiation, Fisher said, so it’s possible that darkening the skin’s pigmentation might help neutralize the risk associated with genes for light-colored hair and fair skin.

A decade ago, Fisher’s team found a way to change the pigmentation of skin cells in mice from very fair to dark, which protected their cells from the type of UV damage that can lead to skin cancer. Unfortunately, the topical agent that worked to darken the skin of mice didn’t work as effectively on thicker human skin. 

Since then, the researchers have been trying to find alternative ways to achieve the same goal in humans, Fisher said.

Eventually, they identified enzymes ― called small-molecule salt-inducible kinases ― that help control pigmentation in a cell.

When the researchers applied the enzymes onto mice and samples of human skin in a lab, both the mice and the human skin turned increasingly dark as more enzymes were applied, according to the study published in Cell Reports.

Fisher said the darkened skin responded like a normal tan, but without the damage seen with UV radiation.

The darker pigment ― the melanin ― “won’t go away until the cells mature, die and fall of the surface,” he said.

The enzyme solution used in the study is far from being available at local pharmacies, however.

“As in anything that’s a new strategy, this needs toxicity testing to know it’s safe before going into man and all sorts of clinical trials,” said Fisher.

A drug that darkens pigmentation may have uses beyond the theoretical protection against skin cancer, including to cosmetically darken skin among people with other medical conditions, said Dr. Jonathan Zippin of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Dermatology in New York.

“There is a clear cosmetic application,” he told Reuters Health. “If you want to prove that you’ve improved skin cancer risk, you’ve got to do that study and that’s going to require time,” he noted.

“There is a limited number of drugs available that can effectively elevate pigmentation in a safe way,” said Zippin, who was not involved with the new research. “So this is exciting in the sense that it could be one such drug to fill that niche.”

Fisher is focused on developing a product that will protect against skin cancers.

“There is such a prevention opportunity that is missed right now,” he said.

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Stefano Gabbana loves Melania Trump and he doesn’t care what you think. 

The outspoken fashion designer’s brand recently released a white T-shirt that says “#Boycott Dolce & Gabbana.” The shirt trolls critics who disagree with Gabbana’s steadfast support of the first lady and often call for boycotts of the fashion house. 

“Dolce & Gabbana boycotts itself,” reads a caption on the brand’s official account, accompanied by a photo of the $245 shirt.

“All the lovers and all the #HATERS Reliving #boycottdolcegabbana,” the designer wrote on his personal Instagram account. 

”What a stylish way to communicate your contempt for democracy and basic human decency,” one commenter wrote on a photo of the shirt. Another added, “Your brand is getting more and more pathetic.” 

Over the past few months, Gabbana has posted fawning Instagrams of Melania Trump, as well as Ivanka Trump, wearing Dolce & Gabbana: 

It doesn’t look like he’ll be stopping anytime soon. 

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We’re sailing away ― straight to J. Crew to copy the Duchess of Cambridge’s latest style win. 

The former Kate Middleton visited the a sailing event for children at Docklands Sailing and Watersports Centre in London Friday. She dressed on theme in a pair of nautical-inspired J. Crew trousers and shoes with a white Zara blazer. 

As you might have guessed, the $138 wool sailor pants and $278 tweed Avery heels are already sold out on the J. Crew website.

But don’t let that take the wind out of your sails ― the brand has plenty of sailor-inspired items still available, any of which might look delightful with this similar Zara blazer ($99.90). Like these pants: 

The look is so on point, it’s actually funny. Isn’t that right, Kate?

Sail on, stylish sailor. 

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