“I thought it looked good but in hindsight I’m like ‘Woah’.” Megan Gale on her teenage beauty disaster.

Megan Gale is one of Australia’s most respected models and businesswomen. She’s not afraid to stand up for what she believes in (like when she slammed a publication for putting words in her mouth recently) and her new #100Hours campaign, as L’Oreal’s ambassador, is no exception.

“One Australian woman dies from ovarian cancer every 10 hours, unfortunately we’re not quite there yet in terms of developing an early detection test, and that is the key goal we need help and we need funding to help women,” she explained when The Glow caught up with her recently.

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We spoke to the 39-year-old about motherhood, fitness and her biggest beauty disaster.

Do you have any beauty regrets from your younger years?

“Oh gosh, who doesn’t? When I was 14 I was just obsessed with lightening my hair so I used this product called ‘Sun In’ because it was gradual and I thought I could hide it from my mum. I thought it looked good but in hindsight I’m like ‘Woah’. It made my hair that really brassy colour – it was not good at all. I hid it up in my wardrobe behind my soft toys and I would get it out every now and then and put a bit in. Mum definitely knew there was something going on.

When I look back, I just thought she wasn’t being fair – and other girls were doing it so I wanted to – but she was just trying to protect me from ruining myself. And I see it now with River, there’s so many times I’m like, ‘I just don’t want him to be broken at all’.”

Can you tell us what your signature red lipstick we always see you wearing is?

“L’Oreal Colour Riche ‘Bloody Mary’ ($21.95). Really easy one to remember too!”

Some mothers say their personal hygiene just went out the window, and they rarely had a shower when they had kids.

“You can’t. It’s amazing. It just happens. You think ‘How can you not have a shower?’ but it’s the last thing you think about. So the baby goes down and the first thing I need to do is sit down and pump [milk]. That takes ages. So you do that, you put it in the fridge. Then you’ve got to do dishes, then you’ve got to do washing. Everything’s a mess, and then it’s just like, OK, the baby’s up again. It’s just a constant cycle and it just happens."

After giving birth there’s such an enormous obsession with a woman’s post-baby body. Particularly women in the spotlight, like yourself. How do you navigate that kind of intense pressure?

“You don’t. It was the last thing on my mind and it was the last thing I even wanted to think about because my main focus was just letting my body heal. Your body goes through so much with pregnancy and childbirth and then after pregnancy with the breastfeeding and the hormones.” (Post continues after gallery.)

How soon after pregnancy did you get back into exercise?

“I remember once I’d given birth and I was still in the hospital I said to one of the midwives, ‘When can I go for a run?”, thinking she would say three or four weeks. And she replied, “12 weeks minimum”. I was like, ‘Really?’. Even then your pelvic floor is so fragile, you need to let yourself heal. I remember going for a run after 16 weeks and literally, I had to stop because I felt like my bladder was going to explode. Everyone’s different."

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“Some women can just magically bounce back. It took me a full 12 months from when my son was born to feel like my body was back to its old self. And by that I don’t mean weight or dress size, I mean, felt like it was mine again. And it just feels differently. I mean I had back aches and aches in my legs and my feet. I had this weird thing happen with my ankles. I felt different, it just didn’t feel like my body, and then finally, I put myself back together again.”

And you’ve got to have that process.

“You do. You have to respect your body. It’s not about 'Oh my god I’ve got to lose the baby weight', who cares about that, really? Even having the job that I have, I felt it was more about allowing your body to do what it needs to do, and putting the focus on your child." (Post continues after gallery.)

How has your life changed since having a child?

“You definitely do feel like there’s more to do in the day and not enough time to do it all in, but you really do learn how to multitask. I’ve got a great man by my side, he contributes so much, and we’re both working parents and we both just want to be around our son as often as we can. But we obviously want to provide for him and have and great life together. So we just find a really good balance, and you have to work hard to get that balance, it doesn’t just happen.

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What are the practical things that you do to keep a happy and healthy relationship?

“Communication is key. All the time. Don’t let things sit there and fester. Don’t get resentful. And it’s not just about having communication, it’s how you communicate. I rarely fight with my partner, but if there’s an issue, we’ll sit down and say, ‘Hey I need to talk to you about something’, there’s no need for anyone to raise voices.

We’re not perfect, we do have times where we really do debate things, but we never go to bed angry, we never leave each other angry. We apologise immediately and I think it’s just about having that mutual respect.”

Are there any at-home beauty products you love using?

“Coconut oil I used a lot during my pregnancy. I was actually using almond oil throughout my pregnancy and I ran out, and I was like, ‘I’m going to the pantry and getting some coconut oil’. It smells amazing. It’s a good one to use on dry heels as well.”

RELATED: Can coconut oil REALLY be used for everything, Miranda Kerr?

Have you found a bit less time for yourself and your beauty routine?

“Yes, definitely. You do get a very self-indulgent time prior to having kids, but when you have them, it’s about them, it’s not about you. But that said, I still feel like, yes you become a mother but you’re still yourself as an individual, and it’s really important to honour that and respect that, and you try and find that once your child’s in a routine. Like now I’ve recently gotten back into yoga, which just makes me feel so centred and grounded and healthy and focused and my partner knows I need to do that at least once a week. So we allow for me to do my things and for him to do his things, us to go to work and us to be together as a family and that balance is really important.”

Is there any difference between day and night as a new parent?

“Day, night, lunch, dinner, it’s just around and around. You’re like a mouse on a wheel for a while and then it just kind of falls into place. You just get it done and figure it out.”

What have you learnt as a new parent?