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Love Is Blind UK season 3 star Yasmin Toseafa wasn’t sure if she would reveal her skin condition to her dates on the show.
But then came Jordan, the teacher and former military soldier who completely swept her away in the pods.
When Yasmin, who is of Egyptian-Lebanese and Ghanaian heritage, was eight years old, she was diagnosed with vitiligo, which causes patches of skin to turn white.
For the next chapters of her life, Yasmin camouflaged herself with makeup, refusing to let her natural beauty shine through until supermodel Winnie Harlow, who radiates with the same condition, became the biggest supermodel in the world.
‘I thought to myself, if this woman can be a Victoria’s Secret supermodel, I can open the doors to the postman without covering up all the time,’ she says.
‘I got Covid, it was isolating, and I was thinking to myself, “Gosh, if all things were to go south today, and this was my last day here, is that the legacy that I would want to leave?”
‘I decided that if the thing that I’m most worried about is people finding out about my vitiligo, why don’t I just take that fear away and tell everyone? I took a picture of myself with no makeup on, aside from a little bit of red lippy because you have to bring a bit of drama, and posted it on my socials.
‘I threw my phone away for five hours, then when I finally picked it up, the response was just fantastic. I can’t believe it took me 20 years to do it, but that was the beginning.’
According to the NHS, ‘vitiligo is a long-term skin condition where permanent pale white patches develop on the skin. It’s caused by the lack of melanin, which is the pigment in skin.’
Vitiligo can affect any area of skin, but is ‘most common on the face, neck and hands, and in skin creases.’
While certain treatments exist for Vitiligo and can help restore colour to the skin, the effect does not usually last, nor does it stop the condition from spreading.
Since then, she’s graced the pages of Vogue magazine, became the first Miss Universe GB finalist with vitiligo and now is inspiring millions more in her pursuit of love on the Netflix reality TV series. All of that, and she’s also a qualified associate physician.
Yasmin’s power shines through instantly on Love is Blind, but she grows stronger with each date in the pod with Jordan. They just fit; even if life outside the pods proved the ultimate hurdle when he wasn’t prepared to move south and sheepishly stopped Yasmin from moving to Birmingham.
But their chemistry was undeniably real – even if short-lived. Easily the most poignant moment of the entire series came when Yasmin told Jordan about her condition; she was shaking as she spoke of her childhood and shattered security, unaware that on the other side he was completely unfazed but captivated in his care for her.
