We’re taking part in the Eve Appeal’s Get Lippy campaign during the month of May and you can too!

The Eve Appeal is the only UK charity raising awareness and funding research into the five gynaecological cancers – womb, ovarian, cervical, vulval and vagina. It’s a sad fact that 21 women a day die from these cancers and some of these deaths could have been prevented if the women were diagnosed earlier.

The aim of the Get Lippy campaign is to encourage all ladies – and their male friends - to talk about female health using the correct terminology (let’s not be frightened to name our parts) and to ask for help if we spot something that’s abnormal. At Become, we’re already opening up health conversations about symptoms of the menopause in our Facebook Group, The Chilled Menopause, and encouraging women to share their stories without fear of being judged and we feel like Get Lippy is a natural fit as it’s all about empowering ourselves to speak openly about what we’re going through.

 Here are three great reasons to take part:

 1) By knowing cancer symptoms we can catch it early

 Let’s start with a real life story:

Until 2004, Jane kept up with her cervical screening tests. “Unfortunately, bodily changes brought about by the menopause and fear (partly induced by my smear that year being very painful) led me to stop attending”, she says.

Then two years ago, after developing a vaginal discharge and having a vaginal bleed, Jane was diagnosed with stage 2 squamous cell cervical cancer. It was a massive shock and her treatment was tough.  She adds: "I’m forever telling women to keep up with their smear tests. Not a day goes by where I don’t speak to someone – I can turn any conversation round to cervical screening!

“I think mutual support has a lot to do with encouraging women to go. I’m very sad I didn’t keep going – but I feel a bit empowered because I’m telling other women the right thing to do.”

 Every week for the next five weeks, we’ll look in detail at one of the five gynae cancers and share what symptoms to look out for on the Become social media platforms. Look out for it every Thursday - when you see fruit shaped like a body part, the information is on its way.

 2) By sharing stories we realise we’re not alone

If you’ve ever been to The Chilled Menopause you’ll see that one of the amazing things about it is that lots of women offer up solutions when somebody posts a problem or asks for advice. There’s no shame in talking about menopause symptoms, there are only positives as one comment opens up the floodgates for other women to admit that they’re going through the same thing.

In the fast-paced, anonymous world we live in, it’s comforting to feel like there are others out there experiencing similar things to us. We all have wombs, vulvas, vaginas and cervixes – it’s time we talked about them more. Get Lippy is asking anyone brave enough to talk for one minute on gynae health on the social media platform of their choice. Find out more in this video:

 3) It’s super easy to raise funds for a great cause without donating a lump sum

 Hands up if you like shopping! Hands up if you like fashion and beauty! Simply by purchasing your favourite lipsticks, skincare brands and fashion items, you will be contributing to the Eve Appeal without it coming out of your pocket.

For example, if you buy a Become vest top, 10% of the sale price will go directly to the Eve Appeal.

A full list of brands that are also donating a percentage of sale can be found on the Eve Appeal website. It’s a good excuse to splash out on some Elemis to brighten the skin, treat yourself to a new lipstick in Tesco, or to try a lovely new Smashbox cosmetics lipstick shade.

Remember to check out @become_tm on Instagram or @BecomeTM on Facebook every Thursday for more information about symptoms.

Visit the Eve Appeal’s website to find out more about their important work.