A service has been launched to help teenage girls remove unwanted facial hair in a bid to crack down on bullying.

Emma West, of Alton Avenue, Kings Hill, gave her younger sister a helping hand after enduring a tough time in primary school by waxing her eyebrows and upper lip hair.

The 22-year-old is now looking to give more young girls a confidence boost by offering the service to anyone in the village who wants her help.

She said: "When I was younger, I moved schools and I didn't really have any friends - everyone had their little groups so it was tough.

"The girls were quite mean to me about how I looked - I used to press my lips together to make sure they didn't see my lip hair.

"It does affect you - even now, every two weeks I make sure I do it because I remember that feeling and I'm conscious of people looking at me.

"I would hate for a young child to feel that way."

Miss West admits she has no professional background in beauty therapy but has been satisfied with the work she has done on herself and her mother in recent years.

Now she is offering villagers the chance to come to her home for a waxing, or visit them, only charging £1 each time to cover the cost of the wax.

"It's definitely an issue, in fact just the other day I saw some kids on the bus talking about it," she said.

"The pressure is increasing, particularly with cosmetic surgery - people have all this work done and you wonder why you don't look like that" - Emma West

"You don't want to intrude, especially as some people don't like or believe in hair being taken off their body, I just wanted to make life a bit easier for them as they start new, challenging stages of their lives."

Miss West, who works in democratic services for Kent County Council, feels teenagers are now under even more pressure over their appearance, thanks to the rise of social media.

She said: "It's completely unavoidable, obviously it's all over Instagram and Facebook but you also see it in shops and in the paper - there's pretty people everywhere.

"The pressure is increasing, particularly with cosmetic surgery - people have all this work done and you wonder why you don't look like that.

"I don't want to make a business out of it or anything, I just want to help young, self-conscious kids."