When Indiyah Polack got the call to go on the eighth season of ITV2’s Love Island in 2022, she had just had another bad acne breakout. “I didn’t want to go on the show anymore because of it,” the 24-year-old admits. “But then I really thought about it, I did my interviews and spoke to the producers, and they loved me. “I had to tell myself, ‘Well, Indiyah, they didn’t love you for your skin but your personality. I guess they want you for you. So don’t let it get to you. Your skin doesn’t define you’. This was how I started looking at it.” Polack ended the show in third place with Dami Hope – and the pair are still together. Since then, the former waitress has gone on to present Love Island: The Morning After Podcast with Sam Thompson and ITV2’s Love Island: Aftersun, alongside Maya Jama. “Imagine if I didn’t go on Love Island, I probably wouldn’t be in this position now, having this conversation,” she says. “We can’t let superficial things get us down.” Polack says she has always struggled with her skin. Growing up, her acne “definitely affected my confidence but I’ve got to the point where I’ve been living with it for so long. I don’t think anything is ‘bad skin’. Skin is skin. You either have spots or you don’t. “And as I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to think more about whether I would be in this position if I didn’t have acne. I know it’s a weird way to look at it, but I just think my skin makes me who I am. When I meet people, whether they like me or not, they don’t not like me because I have ‘terrible skin’.” As a result, skincare has become such a big part of Polack’s life. She has a morning and night time routine which can “get quite tiresome and hard to keep up with, especially during busy periods”, she says. “ I usually stick to five steps and make sure I wash my face, cleanse, moisturise, use SPF and then squalene.” Polack became a marketplace ambassador for PrettyLittleThing and has launched a new collection, designed with Chris Parnell, the fashion retailer’s head of design. The collection includes a range of mini dresses, cargos, corsets, and edgy co-ords, which Polack says will take you from day-to-night. There are added details like chunky buckles, lace ties, cut-out detailing, mesh and PU leather. But a statement denim trench coat with an exaggerated train, that Polack “fought long and hard for” is one of her favourite pieces. “I don’t think people really realise how much actually goes into designing a collection, there’s a lot of trial and error. There are a lot of fittings, reworking things, and making sure you’re happy with the quality of the materials,” she says. It was inspired by festival season and her own sense of style instead of ever-changing fashion trends. “I would say my personal style is sexy, chic, a bit cool, a bit amazing – no, I’m joking. I take a lot of inspiration from Rihanna. I love how she’s so effortless. And she does wear a few streetwear outfits and still looks sexy. That’s how I want people to feel in my collection.” Polack didn’t always dress the way that she does now, though. She still can’t really put her fashion style under one umbrella, but went through a lot of phases, including punk rock, where she says she would wear whatever made her happy and put chains on everything. The TV presenter’s relationship with her hair has drastically changed, too. Polack was first introduced to the nation on the reality dating game show, with her skunk stripes hair pulled back into a high ponytail (her go-to style) with flicked ends, another term for a two-tone hair colour where there is a contrast of a darker hue next to very light blonde. “Hair is just hair, so I don’t hold it as close to me,” she says. “When I went into the Love Island villa, I had tape-ins, as they were the most convenient hairstyle for me at the time. I have afro curly hair, so it would be very hard to maintain things like a wig in the heat. “But my hair got really damaged by the tape-ins. When I came out of the villa, my hair was so short, dry, and broken. I actually couldn’t get my hair in a bun and people – who can be so fickle at times – had so much to say about it in my comments. It’s going to grow back. But I feel like I have a good relationship with my hair now. It’s moisturised, I can tell you that. We’ve not got as many split ends.” Ironically, there was a time in Polack’s life where she hated putting her hair in a ponytail or bun. She felt like it made her look too young and didn’t want to look like a teenager but now she says, “it’s like a free face lift. I like it”. Skunk stripes are “the most subtle hairstyle” she’s done. “I used to dye my hair all the time. I’ve been every colour under the sun. When I was in sixth form, I used to rock a hot pink afro.” Was she allowed? “I wasn’t but I did it,” Polack says. “My hair was bleach blonde [at one point]. I went to a girls’ school and they were quite strict – no crazy hairstyles were allowed. They told me that I wouldn’t be able to go into my exam hall with my hair that way, but I was like, ‘Well I am, and I’m going to get an A*’.” It helps that the content creator believes everything is an assimilation. “ I do believe that nothing is that serious. I think going into the Love Island villa has changed me, and I don’t know if that’s for better or worse,” she says, with a laugh. “I just believe anything in your life can happen. I’m so blessed to be in this position and meet amazing people. It takes confidence and knowing what you really want. I’m a big believer of the law of attraction. If you ask, you will get it.“The only caveat is, you need to be grateful for everything you already have.” Shop Polack’s latest PrettyLittleThing collection at prettylittlething.com

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The UK’s first womb transplant means that, in future, dozens of women born without a functioning organ can carry babies of their own. – What has happened? Surgeons have performed the UK’s first womb transplant on a 34-year-old woman whose older sister donated the organ to her. In a complex procedure, the medical team removed the womb from the 40-year-old woman and implanted it directly into her sister. Both women have made a good recovery. – Have any babies been born? Not yet. Experts want to be sure the transplant is stable and the womb is functioning fully before the younger woman undergoes IVF. She has stored eight embryos and will have fertility treatment later this year in central London. The woman hopes to have more than one baby. Once she has completed her family, the womb will be removed to prevent her needing immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of her life. – Has the NHS paid for the operation? No. Each womb transplant costs around £25,000 and is fully funded by the charity Womb Transplant UK. This includes payment to the NHS for theatre time and the patient’s stay on a ward. The operations are only carried out at times when the NHS is not using the operating theatre, so they do not impact on usual NHS waiting lists. Surgeons and medical staff involved in the transplant have not been paid for the operation and have given their time freely. – Have other womb transplants been carried out around the world? More than 90 womb transplants have been carried out internationally, with most operations involving a living donor. The first successful womb transplant took place in Sweden in 2014, with the baby – Vincent – born to a 36-year-old woman who described him as “perfect”. In 2000, a transplant was performed on a 26-year-old woman in Saudi Arabia but the donor womb survived for only 99 days due to problems with its blood supply. To date, womb transplants have been carried out in more than 10 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sweden, the US, China, Czech Republic, Brazil, Germany, Serbia and India. – How successful is the operation? Data from the US shows that more than half of women who received a womb through a transplant in the US went on to have successful pregnancies. Between 2016 and 2021, 33 women received womb transplants in the US and, as of last summer, 19 of them (58%) had delivered a total of 21 babies. In 74% of those receiving a womb, the organ was still functioning one year after transplant and 83% of this group had live-born children. – Will there be more transplants in the UK? Yes. The second British womb transplant is scheduled to take place this autumn and experts believe a maximum of 20 to 30 per year could be carried out in the UK in the future. Transplants could help women born without a functioning womb and those who lose their organ to cancer or other conditions. Estimates suggest there are 15,000 women in the UK of childbearing age who do not have a functioning womb. – Will there be a shortage of donor wombs? Womb Transplant UK is running two programmes, one involving living donors and another with organs from people who have died. The living donor programme in the UK has so far focused on women with relatives who are willing to give their wombs. However, the team believes that in the future, the living donor programme will expand to include friends or altruistic living donors. This is currently more common in the US. The use of deceased donors is assessed by the team on a case-by-case basis. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Why are wellbeing experts concerned about the ‘lazy girl job’ trend? How to check for cancer, as Morrisons puts NHS cancer advice in underwear labels Prostate screening ‘could save lives’ – the symptoms and risk factors you need to know

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