Ms Great Britain finalist plans to compete without makeup

‘We owe it to the next generation to say it’s okay to be you,’ says Elle Seline

Elle Seline, 31, is competing as the first makeup-free Ms Great Britain contestant (Elle Seline/@elle_seline_official)

A contestant in this year’s Ms Great Britain is aiming to compete completely makeup-free to “empower young women”.

Elle Seline, 31, said she used to get bullied at school for having a “frizzy” hairstyle and body hair.

The mental health worker grew up on the Greek island of Skiathos before moving to Wiltshire to attend Warminster School.

Now based in Surrey, Seline told the BBC she was also “ridiculed for my body shape”, adding that her school peers would “always say that I had head lice and that I was a gorilla because I had a bit more facial hair and arm hair”.

She began wearing makeup and straightening her hair from the age of 13, using foundation that “was a bit lighter than my skin” in order to fit in.

Now, Seline, who is also a singer and songwriter, has noticed that filters in popular apps such as Instagram and TikTok “are doing exactly what I did at school”.

Seline previously entered Ms Great Britain, a new category for the Miss Great Britain competition for 27 to 38 year olds, in 2020, but felt that she gave the judges “something I thought they wanted to see”.

But during the coronavirus lockdown, the pressure to wear makeup everyday was lifted and she learned to “accept myself as I was”.

In June, she told WalesOnline that she made the decision to become the first Ms Great Britain finalist to compete without wearing any makeup in order to support body positivity and promote realistic beauty standards.

Although the decision made her “very nervous about how it is going to be received”, she added at the time: “I decided to go public about it now to help me keep the courage to go through with it.”

Beauty pageants nowadays are less about looks and more about “who you are and what you bring to the table”, she said, adding that she will “feel really good about myself” whether she wins or not.

“We owe it to the next generation to say it’s okay to be you,” Seline said.

The Miss Great Britain finals will take place in Leicester on Thursday 16 September and Friday 17 September.