Faces beat bodies

In the inquest into the question “what makes one beautiful” faces trump bodies by a country mile. When people see a beautiful face, they are very likely to (literally) overlook a whole lot of the body’s excesses. This however doesn’t necessarily mean that your body type isn’t important. This is bad news for people (like myself) who have made their perfect bodies not so perfect by eating too much and exercising too little.

You know what I’m saying?

Of course you do.

Winter hits us yet again and it promises to be a cold one. With the arrival of summer, I will yet again be finding myself thoroughly inspired to raid my cupboard in search of swimwear, and as is the case every year, while standing in front of the bathroom mirror I will find that my swimwear has somehow mysteriously managed to shrink. Being the avid scientist I am I will soon I will soon have to admit that the likelihood of my swimwear shrinking is far surpassed by the likelihood of my waist expanding.

You know what I’m saying?

Of course you do.

Research has shown that babies prefer attractive folk to non-attractive folk. Something that people the world over, irrespective of age, race, culture, sexual orientation etc. can agree on is whether or not someone is good looking. Though it might be fun to argue with your friends about whether Brad Pitt is better looking than McConaughey, you have to agree that they are both very, very good looking fellows. What makes a face attractive? Well, I hardly have to tell you. Just like babies the world over, you just know.

This brings me back to faces and standing in front of that incomparable bathroom mirror.

If you want me to say that your sparkling personality is enough to distract people from the way you look, you’re wrong. People have learnt to trust their senses (especially their vision). This is especially good if the senses override reasoning, for example, if your senses tell you to back away from the hungry lion despite your fondness for cats. People are only human, and humans are only very, very clever primates.

You know what I’m saying?

Of course you do.

In my experience, I have come to learn that people have far too much confidence in their opinions about themselves. We often judge ourselves as being beneath others in terms of looks, but the truth of the matter is that we judge ourselves by more stringent criteria than we do others. Why is this? Well, quite simply put, judging special people require special criteria. The opinions formed on these judgments thus linger precariously between being either “wildly inaccurate” or “purely speculative”. Too much confidence in your own looks can lead to much disappointment and sometimes even depression when you wake up to look in the mirror only to find that you’re not as good looking as the perfectly airbrushed cover model

So what then is the solution to this relentless torture in the quest for beauty? Well, it’s quite simple really:

1. Take what you think of yourself with a much greater pinch of salt than you currently do.
2. Be kinder to the man in the mirror, yes he is special, but judge him by more realistic, down-to-earth standards.

Finally, smell nice and smile more.