EXCLUSIVE I have seen politicians, royalty and movie stars naked - this is why you need to stop hating your body
Von Hep co-founded the celebrated tanning brand Isle of Paradise and has over twenty years of experience spray tanning 'every type of person', from bridesmaids to politicians and movie stars.
After recently leaving the company he helped create, Von Hep now dedicates his time to spreading a body positive message to his over 109,000 Instagram followers.
Having struggled with body image issues throughout his career, the beauty industry insider has channelled the lessons from his personal life and career into a new self-help book, The Confidence Ritual, which is available now.
'Everybody, whether they're famous or not, has some kind of hangup when it comes to their body', Von Hep told Mail columnist Bryony Gordon.
'This was a massive learning experience for me, and I realised that everyone is conditioned to hate the way they look.
'Everyone I worked with – when they enter the spray tan tent and take their clothes off – the first reaction is always an apology.
'We are told to hate the way we look in order to sell products so brands can make money. They need to make us believe we have a problem which doesn't really exist.'
Von Hep has made it his mission to counter these sinister sales tactics by helping people love their bodies as they are.
He explained: 'I am not teaching anyone something new, I am teaching you how to unlearn the beauty industry's programming.
'We're not born hating our bodies – it's a learned behaviour through our teenage years and into our early twenties. That's when we first think there's something wrong with us.
'Whatever you think you have on your body – I'll tell you now, as someone who has stared at naked bodies for literally twenty years, someone else has it.
'Don't stress about it because your body is carrying you through this life. It's giving you every experience, every joy and every moment to be present.
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'You've got to be grateful. Don't waste time hating it.'
To prove his point, Von Hep recounted an experience from a fashion shoot that exposed the industry's distortion of body image.
'I remember tanning a very famous model for a fashion shoot', Von Hep said.
'She was naked, lying on the side of a pool. I was on the set with my little kit bag running on and off, moisturising her thighs and shoulders.
'I remember looking up at the monitor - she looked great in the pictures. Anyway, six months later, that image was on the side of busses and used in TV campaigns. It was everywhere.
'When I saw it, I thought to myself: f*** me, her ass didn't look like that on set. All her cellulite was gone; all her wrinkles had been removed.
'I was with my friends at the time, and I remember thinking, they don't know she has been retouched. They actually think she looks like that – and I know she doesn't.
'It was a light bulb moment. People need to know that every image they look at has been retouched. It could be a flyaway hair; it could be a wrinkle.
'I know celebrities who have it in their contract to remove one wrinkle from one hooded eye every time an image of them goes out.
'People are beautiful exactly the way they are – it's all so pernicious.'
Listen to Jules Von Hep's full interview, including his personal battle with body dysmorphia, on The Life of Bryony - available now wherever you get your podcasts.
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