I now know that my face is highly asymmetrical! The right half is a dead ringer for one of those extra-terrestrial-looking Eastern European models, while the left is… not so pretty. I’ve always thought the right side of my face was nicer (and have parted my hair so much of it fell across the left for 10 years), but I had no idea there was such a big difference between the two sides.
All thanks to this fun little game:
Use a clear picture of your face, straight on (it’s not very accurate if the photo is from an angle or your head is tilted).
Using a basic photo-editing program, cut your face cleanly in half. This is a challenge if your face is both crooked and asymmetrical, like mine; I got the best results starting with the straightest area, my chin/front teeth/cupid’s bow. There’s no way to cut my face in half equally if I try to start with my nose.
Copy and flip each image of your face, then slide the halves together to make two new faces.
Recoil in shock; laugh; share with your friends. It’s fun! It’s also very entertaining to do it with pictures of celebrities.
ETA: I’d love for this to be a photo thread but I’d also like to have some serious discussion on the role of symmetry in beauty, etc. Personally I don’t seem to find it very important - as long as someone has one good side to their face, I am happy. Where as most famously symmetrical people don’t do much for me (Denzel Washington, etc).
Wow, rhubarbarin, is that you? You’re flipping gorgeous!
Aha, I’ve just read your instruction to cut the image at the straightest part of the face, which I didn’t do - I started at my nose, which really veers off to the side on a mysterious errand of its own.
I’d say this is why these pictures are so hilarious, but no - I’m really, really unsymmetrical. My nostrils are completely different shapes, my left eyebrow has this odd little tuft, my eyes are different colours, I’ve got a dimple on one cheek and I tend to smile with one side of my mouth. Oh, and there’s the Sid Vicious sneer I’ve been doing since I hit puberty. Doesn’t help!
Anyway -
Version 001. Higher Lifeform wolf-alice. Eats souls. Awesome hair.
Version 002. Subterranean Troll wolf-alice. Interests: voyeurism, potatoes.
And no - I’m not too into symmetry either. The wife is even less symmetrical, and if anything I think it’s attractive - his nose, which is a pretty epic beak, goes off to the side, and it’s sort of like his philtrum and his teeth follow the angle - he’s no Lembit Öpik or anything, but it’s noticeable if you look. I think he’s hot, obviously. It gives character. Really statue-beautiful people don’t seem to register with me.
Same here. Front-facing photos look cringingly freakish to me. Those to whom I’ve complained downplay it and claim they never noticed, but I think most people’s perception of symmetry (and asymmetry) is unconscious, and informs their opinion of the attractiveness of others whether they realize it or not.
In other words, you may have never “noticed” that my eyes are askew, but it’s part of why you didn’t mistake me for a model.
For some reason, I tilt my head in every photo. But I already know my face is very asymmetrical and don’t need to torture myself by seeing exacerbated!
I don’t know about how whole face, and will probably play this game later, but my eyes are symmetrical. The optometrist marveled when he measured my face, and the distance my eyes were apart from my nose, that my eyes are almost exactly symmetrical. Something like less than 1mm away from perfect symmetry. Then he asked if babies like me, because apparently babies like symmetrical faces.
I’m pretty symmetrical - MeanOldLady - I’ve heard that, too, and babies stare at me and almost always smile. I don’t like babies much, but they sure like me. Even my teeth, where they are a little crooked, are mirror-images of each side.
I don’t know about my entire fact, but I do know something from my orthodontist. One side of my jaw is 1/8 an inch longer than the other. I still can get TMJ with foods that are too chewy.
I was offered to get surgery on it after it was clear that using rubber bands on my braces was not going to fix it, but I was so nervous that I started acting like a jerk and didn’t realize it, so they called it off.
Luckily, I found that wearing a goatee pretty much hides it completely.
