A woman who suffered burns to 96% of her body in a crash in the French Alps is the face of a new beauty campaign.
Catrin Pugh from Rossett, Wrexham, was given a one in 1,000 chance of survival and has had 200 operations since the 2013 crash near Alpe D’Huez.
Catrin, now 25, is determined to help represent people who look different in the media, and is the face of Avon’s new Perfect Nudes beauty range.
She said it began when she tried to read a magazine in hospital.
“Every single page was about looking a certain way, all these things that were completely unattainable for me,” she said.
“It does make life difficult because I look so different in a world where people are supposed to look a certain way… I don’t meet the standard what that should be, there’s this idea that beauty is one way.”
Catrin was among more than 50 passengers on the coach which was taking ski resort staff back to the UK when it crashed, killing the 63-year-old driver.
She spent eight months in hospital and underwent about four years of rehabilitation, and will continue to have checks and procedures for the rest of her life. Only the soles of her feet were not burnt.
Catrin, an ambassador for the charity Changing Faces which supports people with a visible difference, began to advise the beauty company Avon on diversity. She said it has been “empowering”.
“At the time [of the accident] I didn’t feel like there were many role models at all,” she said.
And while Catrin says the situation has improved with regard to size, race and age – she says there is still not much representation for people with visible differences like scarring.
Catrin says she still experiences some negativity, but she takes strength from how lucky she was to survive the accident.
“I shouldn’t be here… People aren’t supposed to survive. Somehow, I made it through.
“I’ve come a very long way but it never really ends for the rest of my life.
“But I got the best of an awful situation, I shouldn’t be here so every opportunity I get to do something, I celebrate that.”
A survey by Avon of 14,000 women in 15 countries found 40% did not feel represented by women they see in the media, and almost two thirds felt pressure to meet certain beauty standards.
