Scrolling through my newsfeed this week, I was bombarded with an unusually large amount of selfies. Not just any selfie, I may add. No, I’m not talking about the ‘belfie’ – that is, the bum selfie – nor am I talking about the selloselfie or the classic duck face. I’m talking about the latest trend to hit social media: the no makeup selfie. Now usually when I take a selfie, I do my best to look as flattering as possible and often use make-up to enhance what my mumma gave me. So, I was certainly surprised to see a sudden flux of girls with no makeup on boldly flaunted across my screen. What was going on?

Well, it seems to be a campaign for cancer awareness. Beginning on social media on Tuesday 18th March, it asks women to post photos of themselves online without make-up, with the hashtag #nomakeupselfie. They must then nominate some of their friends to do the same – like neknominate, but less idiotic. Originally, I was sceptical. Like most of those Facebook campaigns where you’re asked to ‘like’ something to show your support rather than actually do anything proactive, I didn’t really see the point. The first few selfies I encountered were literally just that: selfies. Perhaps an excuse to show the world that, y’know, you actually look quite attractive without makeup on. It seemed like passive politics. But, as the backlash started and people began to moan that this was just vanity under the name of a good cause, the campaign took a change. Instead of just uploading photos, people were expected to donate. In the flurry of selfies since then, evidence of donations has been attached to the #nomakeupselfie.

Since Tuesday, Cancer Research UK has apparently seen more than 800,000 donations. And so, I guess it has made a difference. I too have been converted, after being nominated by a friend. I donated by texting BEAT to 70099, and have since passed the buck over to some other friends. I can certainly see why people were, and are, sceptical. But this campaign seems to me to be forcing people to actually do something, and prove it. Perhaps there are more causes that we need to be made aware of, but for something that affects 1 in 3 people, Cancer Research seems like a pretty good cause. Definitely better than neknominate, this campaign uses social media to do something positive. This mode of activism is certainly better than none.