Aria Welsh was over the moon when she was crowned Miss Transgender UK earlier this year.
But despite being named champ, one thing has been seriously affecting her confidence for years – her facial hair.
The 27-year-old, from Perth, Scotland, claims constantly having to shave her facial stubble makes her feel more masculine that feminine.
Aria said: "I’d say during about 50 per cent of my waking hours I’m thinking about my facial hair, how to get rid of it, how to mask it, and when is it going to come back.
"I worry about my facial hair. The more I shave, the thicker it comes back. I’m constantly fighting a losing battle."
Even though shaving makes her feel more feminine and more comfortable within herself – it takes up a lot of time.
Aria said: "When I go to shave, I start off feeling masculine and when I finish I feel much more feminine, when I can run my hand across my face."
Her meticulous routine can take as long as two hours before she feels confident enough to leave the house.
Aria said: "I never go anywhere without shaving. It causes me a lot of dysphoria. I feel like people can see the truth."
And her mum, Rachel, also confesses that her daughter is finding removing her facial hair mentally draining.
Rachel said: "She isn’t the ‘Miss sass’ that she is when she has perfect skin. It upsets me because I just want her to be happy."
Aria is determined to manage her confidence issues and visits Dr Emma Craythorne at The Bad Skin Clinic to see if Dr Emma can help get rid of her excess hair once and for all.
During the consultation, Dr Emma explains to Aria that while hair removal is never permanent the benefits of are still long-term.
It could mean she will remain hair-free for up to five years.
After talking Aria through the options available to her, Dr Emma offers to start the first of six sessions to help manage her facial hair by getting her googles on and getting her laser out.
While covering Aria’s face in gel, Dr Emma explains exactly what she plans to do.
She said: "The laser we’re going to use works by targeting and heating up the hair shaft.
"That heating up of the hair shaft damages the follicle and means that the hair bulb dies and doesn’t regrow."
All prepped and ready, Dr Emma starts carefully and precisely blasting areas of Aria’s face, burning away the excess hair.
Working her way around Aria’s face, Dr Emma gives Aria some words of caution as the procedure can be painful in parts.
She said: "You might feel it [the blast] a little bit stronger in some places."
But Aria is determined and says "no pain, no gain".
She added: "It’s just feels like an elastic band hitting off your cheeks."
After finishing, Dr Emma points out that Aria can likely smell how the treatment works, jokingly adding “you can probably smell the fact that the hair has burnt a wee bit".
And Aria is delighted with the results.
She said: "I feel over the moon. She’s made me feel totally at ease. This is really going to change my life, I can tell."
Just 12 weeks after Aria is full of praise going into her fourth session of hair removal.
She said: "Things are changing dramatically. My skin feels really smooth compared to what it used to feel like.
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