Hi, I’m a 21 year old guy and every time I’m outside for example to buy groceries I see so many good looking people (both female and male).
I don’t know what it is but they seem almost perfect, their faces are so beautiful and perfect, their clothes are so stylish and perfect, their hair and make up appearance looks so well groomed and beautiful. (I’m mainly referring to people around my age from Gen Z)
They’re all so confident and wear jewelry etc.
I don’t even have the knowledge how to dress good and stylish as I don’t have a feel for that. I just end up wearing what’s most comfortable for me like random sneakers, sweatpants/shorts and a polo shirt. But even if I was able to dress stylishly my face naturally still looks very average and not like all these other people.
I wonder why people look so perfect nowadays. When I look at old video tapes or pictures (like from the 1900’s) people seem to have looked way more average like me. Why could this be? Is the pressure from social media a reason because that’s why I’m purposefully not on there.
And honestly I also don’t feel like putting so much time and effort into my looks as I think this is only secondary in life and I mainly value human connections. Obviously I put some extra time into it for some occasions where I put on contact lenses, creams, a little make up (one that’s for men of course), hair gel/spray and perfume but even then I feel like I don’t look as good as many of these people I see on a regular basis.
I live in rural America and can’t say I have the same experience as you do. I (34F) dress like a “bum” 99% of the time (T-Shirts, jeans/leggings, hair thrown in a bun) and thats how most of my busy friends dress too when they are not at work. However I do think if you live in a city or just a more populated area that its realistic to think you may end up on camera at any point during the day, and you want to look good for that, so you could feel compelled to try and always look your best.
Every once in a while, I do get full glam to go to the local grocery store because I really don’t go anywhere else, and I want a reason to “dress up” and I can imagine that there’s a lot of that going on too.
I live in a small town but in Germany. From hearing what you said about that rural place in America makes me wish to live there too. It would be so relieving to put looks secondary and see more people embracing comfort and not constantly stressing out about looks.
But from the videos I’ve seen online it looks like Americans often look even better than here in Germany with perfect white teeth and everything (even from videos recorded in grocery stores like Kroger and Walmart).
But like you said the factor of “dressing up” most likely plays a role here too.
Sometimes that’s regional. Are you located in Bavaria? I don’t know any German man that use makeup at all.
I very very very rarely use just a concealer because I have extremely dark under eye circles from very thin skin. I found it on Shark Tank where they showcased that male make up line. But I literally only use a microscopic amount to get rid of the worst darkening, that’s it.
Let me assure you that this is not the case. People of Walmart might be a better representation of much of the U.S.
Would people there (in the US) care if I don’t put much effort into my style and wear random sweatpants with a random (polo) shirt?
Nobody outside of churches and expensive restaurants really care how you dress as long as the important bits are covered.
Anywhere you are, some will care some will not. This is part of how we filter one another out
White teeth are commonplace with people that post videos and images of themselves online on a daily basis. I would hesitate to refer to any videos with an influencer vibe as being reflective of the average in North America.
There should be a name for this kind of bias. Influencer bias, celebrity bias? Something else?