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Members of Hull's transgender community have been given the chance celebrate their individuality thanks to a new Hull hair and beauty salon.

Ria Cooper, Britain's youngest person to change gender, says her new salon gives members of the LGBT and cross-dressing members of the community a sense of belonging.

Hair and Beauty Lounge by RC, which opened in October, has been visited by Danielle Oliver who styles out her new wavy hair.

Danielle, 35, was once male and another customer having a nearby manicure is desperately awaiting hormones to become a woman.

Danielle, who looks incredible after her seven-year journey to become a woman, says more people than ever before are finding the courage to change.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

"There's been a lot of criticism about transgender being a lifestyle choice but that's rubbish," she says.

"It's not about choice. It's about who you are.

"The journey isn't an easy one though. Something as simple as walking into a beauty salon can be filled with anxiety. As soon as anyone walks in a hairdressers, all heads turn to look and that can be particularly daunting for people who are transitioning.

"I know of transitioning people who have been asked to leave women's hairdressers and visit the barber. It can be humiliating. Having somewhere like this is great."

WATCH: Inside Hair and Beauty Lounge by RC

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Danielle has just undergone £9,000 worth of plastic surgery in Turkey to lower her hairline, change her jawline and remove a bump from her nose to look more feminine.

But it has cost her - emotionally and financially. She split from the mother of her eight-year-old daughter after confessing she wanted to transition, although she says they are now best friends.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

Speaking about her journey, Danielle said: "I come from an ordinary working class family who found it difficult to accept I wanted to become a woman.

"I'd spent years emulating male behaviour. As a school boy I'd stick my hands in my pocket, spit on the floor and date girls like all the other lads.

"I carried on dating women as I got older but when my daughter was born I knew I had to be myself.

"I had to be honest about who I really was because I didn't feel I could lie to her as she grew up."

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

Danielle has once experienced the loneliness felt by fellow customer Victoria Wright, of Hessle, who has known since she was a small boy that she wanted to become a woman.

Victoria, 30, says: “While all the other lads were chasing girls I was more interested in the style of skirt they were wearing than what was underneath.

"I tried to deny who I was for years until I tried to kill myself by taking a knife to my male parts. It was then my parents found out."

Victoria is at the start of her transition after a failed suicide bid last year.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

Victoria added: “It's a massive relief for me to talk to people like Ria and Danielle who have transitioned because it's easy to feel isolated, that there's no end in sight.

“I wouldn't have the courage to walk in to a beauty salon and ask for a treatment without feeling everyone was staring at me.

“There are hairdressers who refuse to style wigs and you have to leave. It's all so demoralising.”

Since that horrific experience Victoria has forged online friendships with other trans people and is slowly becoming more comfortable with herself.

(Image: Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)

She is awaiting an appointment with an NHS gender clinic in Leeds which could take up to two years but in the meantime wants to appear as feminine as possible.

“It's a difficult job to keep on top of it all,” she says. “I'm just relieved that there's somewhere I can come without feeling so self-conscious.”

Even Ria, who runs and works in the salon, has had her own struggles through the years.

(Image: MDM)

Ria was born a man, but underwent gender reassignment surgery to become a woman as a teenager.

Now, Ria, 25, is aiming to help other people also feel comfortable in their own skin after opening her new hair and beauty outlet in Spring Street.

Ria, said: “The salon is about giving people a safe place where they can come and feel good about themselves, no matter who they are.

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“I've been through the transition from man to woman with a few bumps long the way, so I can identify with lots of my customers going through the different stages.

“I know how difficult it is to get rid of facial hair, how hard it can be to style a wig and how tricky it is to apply make-up properly when you first start transitioning.”

(Image: MDM)

She became the youngest person in the UK to be prescribed female hormones aged 15 and the upheaval affected her mental health.

She then halted her hormone treatment and switched back to being Brad for a year after blaming her troubles on her constantly changing emotions, brought on by treatment.

Ria's salon offers everything from eyebrow shaping, waxing and fake nails to fillers and Botox.

Cross-dressers can become someone else for the day with a full makeover - with optional photos - for £500.

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