I posted gross pictures of myself and lost over 3,000 Instagram followers

Wanting to appear more genuine on Instagram, a model decided to swap photos of her perfect life for far less flattering photos. 

Stina Sanders, 24, has modelled for FHM, Maxim and usually keeps her Instagram updated with posed selfies, holiday photos and pictures of food.

But wanting to be more honest with her thousands of followers, she started putting up pictures of hair removal, sweaty gym feet and even a selfie during a colonic irrigation.

The model, who admits she “travels all over the world to pout” only expected her likes on individual photos to go down, but she ended up losing more than 3,000 followers.

Stina told The Tab: “The hair-defuzzing and colonic irrigation is something that I knew would either be deemed as really cringeworthy, but it’s not exactly something people can deny that they don’t do.

“We all poo and have unwanted body hair. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t!”

Facial hair removal doesn’t appear in many shower selfies Stina captioned this photo: ‘I still haven’t showered or brushed my teeth. I’m on my second cup of coffee and I’m going to see how long I can go without caring about my personal hygiene.’

She added: “My Instagram feed is usual holiday snaps, food snaps, quotes, my french bulldog tossed with a mixture of selfies and pics with friends.

“I decided to post unglamorous images of my daily life that I wouldn’t dare send to my friends, let alone share on my Instagram page.

“I honestly thought that my followers would remain the same but my likes would reduce, but the complete opposite happened.

“Girls started commenting more on my images because they could relate, but men barely commented at all.”

You don’t usually find colonic irrigation selfies on Instagram She usually posts very different photos on Instagram

Inspired by Essena O’Neill who started giving her Instagram photos more honest captions, Stina took things a step further and went more honest with the photos themselves.

She said: “I hate the way social media can portray people. I’ve been judged all my life for being a model, yet when people get to know me they’re always surprised that I’m not the usual stigma that is attached to a fun job like my own.

“I found this would be a fun way to reveal not only what’s behind my mask but to also show the world that perfect is not real.

“I think Insta-fame is a bit ridiculous if I’m honest. It fuels young minds to feel that they’re not doing well because they’re not driving the latest Range Rover or wearing a Rolex – but they’re only 16.”

As well as the fun photos like colonic irrigation and no-make up photos, Stina also posted a photo of herself coming back from a psychotherapy session.

She said: “I had just finished a gruelling two month session and not only felt pleased with myself, I felt it would help others to realise that there is help out there.

“I’ve blogged about my anxiety issues before and knew that there is a definite gap to fill in terms of talking openly about depression.

“So many people suffer – celebrities and just every day people – it’s silly that only recently, as a society, we’ve only just recognised the importance of understanding mental illness and the issues that it brings.”

A few of Stina’s friends got in touch to ask why she was over-sharing, but most of them admitted they hadn’t even noticed the experiment.

She said: “This may be because they do know the real me and know that if I didn’t pluck four times a week I’d have a massive bushy mono-brow.”

Stina hadn’t expected to lose more than 3,000 followers, but Stina suspects most of them just wanted to see photos of her modelling.

She said: “To see a photo of my bowel movements and not me in a bikini must have annoyed a lot of them.

“It’s that kind of ‘I didn’t sign up for this’ attitude. Perhaps sharing my real life was too much for them.

“It’s interesting to see that real life is not to everyone’s taste. Perhaps Instagram is an escapism from reality.

“I see so many women comparing themselves to other people’s images, whether that’s the girl down the road or a Victoria Secret’s model. It’s just silly. No one is perfect.

“I can’t speak for everyone on instagram, but I can guarantee that the majority of images that you see will have been edited one way or another.”

Follow Stina Sanders on Instagram and on her website.

@Jackcummings92