This Week’s Good News: the brand embracing body hair, a dad's heartwarming viral moment, and Barbie's new wheelchair-using doll

Don’t let good news pass you by. Read our round-up of the stories that put a spring in our step this week

Razor brand celebrates women’s body hair in stunning images

Isn’t it odd how adverts for women’s razors never show the razors actually removing body hair? Instead, they slide over perfectly shaven skin, with not a single hair in sight.

It’s illogical, but it’s also another way that shame and stigma about women’s body hair is driven home. Until now.

In an empowering effort to celebrate women’s body hair, US razor brand Billie has released an advert and photo series titled ‘Red, White, and You Do You’, that features women with – and without – visible hair.

“There’s a serious lack of female body hair on the internet,” Billie write on their website. “Search ‘woman’ in any image gallery and you’ll be scrolling for a while before finding a single strand. We’re here to change that. Because womankind is both shaggy and smooth.”

The campaign is a refreshing re-take of something that has been ingrained in our culture for decades. Whether you choose to go silky smooth, or au natural, make that choice yourself – it’s time to express the tress!

Dad’s heartwarming viral video shows son overcoming his fear

Most of us will be able to recall a time when we have been totally overtaken by fear. But in a touching Twitter thread that has been doing the rounds online this week, a father shares how his son overcame a paralysing fear of diving.

In the first video – which went viral when it was originally shared in 2017 – the user’s son RJ is seen visibly shaking as he attempts to jump off a diving board into a swimming pool.

Remember this kid that went viral a while back?? (My son RJ) Check him out 2 years later. This is what overcoming fear looks like!! A thread. pic.twitter.com/SnW5RA0NXt

— House Hampton (@Hampsworld) July 2, 2019

But two years later, it’s a whole different story.

‘Remember this kid that went viral a while back?? (My son RJ) Check him out 2 years later. This is what overcoming fear looks like!!’ Writes Twitter user House Hampton.

In the follow-up video, which now has more than a million views, RJ can be seen confidently walking along the diving board before jumping head-first into the water below.

This viral thread is a wonderful reminder of the things that we can do – and the fears that we can overcome – when we have the support of loved ones, and really put our minds to it.

As for RJ, we’ll be looking out for him at the 2028 Olympics. See you in LA, RJ!

Record number of people take tents home with them after Glastonbury

Festivals: they’re known for life-affirming music acts, getting stuck in the mud, and a whole load of left-over rubbish.

One waste problem that has been pitching up at festivals recently, is the large number of tents being abandoned on campsites. In fact, the situation is so bad that the Association of Independent Festivals estimates that as many as 250,000 tents are left behind at music festivals every year.

But this year, it's become clear that things have taken a turn after Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis shared that 99.3% of tents were taken home.

In an Instagram post, Emily wrote:

‘Just heard that 99.3% of all tents were taken home. That is absolutely incredible… HUGE thanks to the record numbers who loved the farm and left no trace!’

But tents weren’t the only things addressed this year, as the festival brought in a ban on plastic bottles, and even opened up female urinals to encourage people not to damage the local ecosystem by urinating on the grass.

Fantastic news for the environment; we’re well on our way to a summer of eco-love!

In a win for diversity, Barbie launches a doll in a wheelchair

We live in wonderfully diverse communities, and recently we’ve seen fantastic steps forward for representation with agenda-setting campaigns like Toy Like Me and streamlined efforts by toy manufacturers to ensure that children everywhere are able to recognise themselves in the toys that they play with.

Barbie is one of the brands leading the movement with it’s Fashionistas range, which offers dolls in a range of different body shapes and sizes, and a large selection of skin colours and ethnicities. But the newest addition to the collection is now set to make waves for disability representation, as Barbie released a doll in a wheelchair.

THERE’S NOW A BARBIE IN A WHEELCHAIR

i can’t even begin to express how happy i am that more and more young girls are growing up seeing themselves in Barbie pic.twitter.com/XL2PEetu6G

— julienne @ gerudo valley🏜 (@summersnoqueen) June 27, 2019

Designed in collaboration with UCLA Mattel Children’s hospital, the doll comes with a ramp accessory that can fit the Barbie Estate items – a deliberate design decision after Barbie’s first wheelchair-using doll was discontinued in 1997, when the wheelchair could not fit through the doors of the Barbie Dreamhouse.

Following the release of the doll, many took to Twitter to share their excitement, with one user writing: ‘i can’t even begin to express how happy i am that more and more young girls are growing up seeing themselves in Barbie [sic]’.

‘And it’s not a weird hospital wheelchair, it looks like an actual wheelchair that actual people use,’ added another.

With representation in toys at the top of the agenda for a lot of manufacturers, we look forward to seeing many more moments of joy when people are finally able to see themselves in the toys that play such an important role in shaping our attitudes toward ourselves and the world around us.

Couple get a surprise when they buy six guinea pigs, but end up with 52

When Mark and Sophie Mason bought six guinea pigs, they thought they were taking on a furry sisterhood.

But when they returned from their honeymoon to find that four of the guinea pigs had gained some weight, they made the discovery that one of the guinea pigs was actually male, and the tiny Castonova had managed to impregnate four of the five female guinea pigs.

With open hearts, Mark and Sophie chose to welcome all the new additions to the family into their home, and now have a guinea pig sanctuary – 52 guineas strong.

It sounds like life must be paw-sitively ructious for the Masons, but Sophie explains that their furry friends keep her calm through the hard times.

“I have a stressful life and they just bring me so much joy,” Sophie told Metro. “They all have their own quirks and you can’t help but fall in love with them.”

Fur-tunately, you can keep up to date with the guinea pigs by following Mason Cavies on Facebook – now that's the kind of adorable content we need in our lives!