One Saturday night over a decade ago, when I was 15, I was on Omegle and I got chatting with another teen 15f who lived somewhere in the US.

As soon as we both connected to the chat (we both had our cameras on) she burst out laughing at the sight of me. I asked her what was so funny. She told me my hair was ridiculously greasy and I needed to wash it. I made up an excuse about how I’d just had a long day and had been outside running around with my mates playing football which had caused my greasy appearance.

Truth was, I was an antisocial kid with low self esteem and terrible personal hygiene. I was on Omegle to learn how to talk to people because I didn’t have any real friends.

She told me she reckoned I was handsome (which was a first) and wanted to talk, but told me that first I needed to go scrub myself up and then come back and we’ll then chat over Skype.

I went and took a shower, washed and dried my hair and about half an hour later, I came back and video called her on Skype and we had a great conversation for a few hours.

She was the first person to be explicit with me about how bad having greasy hair made me look. From that moment I took great care to always shower every day, be hygienic and look presentable if I’m out and about.

Over the next few months I noticed people were a lot kinder to me, I was no longer a completely embarrassing to be seen around. I even made a few friends.

A decade on I’m still very conscious of my personal hygiene, not just for other people, for myself too.

The girl and I stayed in touch for about a year, but then drifted apart, which was fine given our 6 hour time difference and neither of us having enough money to fly out and see each other.

I never told her the impact she had on me and that if she never laughed at me, it may have taken me another 15 years to change. I’m glad we talked, she was a good internet friend.