When it comes to looking good on a night out, your choices are, well, diet or get some unstylish control pants. However, for Karen Macauley, 45, these weren’t good enough options to hide excess skin following the birth of her four children, so she turned to extra strong sticky tape – and a new body wellness product was born.
According to Karen, ‘I was going out somewhere quite important but whatever I did my belly kept popping out from under my top. Out of desperation I just opened up my cupboard and the first thing I saw was some very strong adhesive tape. I thought to myself “I must be insane doing this” but I cut off three pieces and I went out and had no problems with it. It wasn’t months of testing in a laboratory – just pure desperation.’
Now, the support worker from Bocking, Essex, has now developed Tum-Tape, which she describes as using ‘stick and slim’ technology to help hide excess flab. ‘They say necessity is the mother of invention and that was definitely the case here,’ says Karen. ‘Overnight the problems with my stomach had gone as I finally had a solution to it. I felt really confident all night and knew I was on to something – though taking it off was horrific so I knew I needed to tweak the idea.’
The product tapes your stomach to your upper thigh to stop it from bulging out from under clothing, and it has revolutionised Karen’s life. ‘I used to say anything as an excuse to avoid going out as I hated my body,’ she admits. ‘It really began affecting my life and I became a recluse. I developed the idea over the last couple of years to help other people in the same position.’
The mother-of-four has had to demonstrate her product in front of local businessmen, in order to receive backing. ‘I was very nervous as I’d never done anything like this before and I was in front of three businessmen,’ she explained. ‘It was like something out of Dragons’ Den. In the end, I asked to be excused for a moment, went out and applied my prototype tape – then went back in and lifted my top up to show them the difference. Sometimes, actions speak louder than words.’
Karen has pledged that the money from the business will be donated to recovery centres for those struggling with body image issues. She commented, ‘Tum-Tape was never about building a business – it’s about building a better future. It’s helped me deal with my own body issues, to the extent that I now feel like a different person. If it gives just one woman her confidence back or helps her feel fabulous when she wants to then that’s how I’ll measure success.’