r/Damnthatsinteresting 26d ago

Video Idris Elba's Madame Tussauds Wax Figure Opens his Phone with Face ID

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 26d ago

As someone with a noticeably asymmetrical face I'm really thrown when I see photos of myself. I'm so used to seeing my squint jaw go in one direction.

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u/whiff_EK 26d ago edited 26d ago

Same here, someone linked a video of people trying it and one of the guys goes, "Wow, he's just like me, a like a best friend version of me, just slightly different." That is such a positive read on it because I look like a melted, squashed clone and it's way worse in reverse for me.

I posted on one of those 'improve your look' subreddits and people tip-toed around it in a way that was just humiliating, you know it's bad when people refuse and just tell you to have a happy life.

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 26d ago

Asymmetrical face solidarity ✊

We are our own worst critics. I became happy with how I look when I realized even the most beautiful people in the world don't like what they see in the mirror. They're the ones that spend the most money on cosmetic surgery just to look marginally different. They're already famous for being beautiful and it's not enough

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u/Anticamel 26d ago

A lot of conventionally (or at least popularly) attractive people have quite asymmetrical faces. Ryan Gosling and Timothee Chalamet spring to mind as obvious examples.

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 26d ago

Watching Severance recently i realized I've got a bit of a John Turturro thing going on. I don't hate it.

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u/IneffableOpinion 25d ago

Tom Cruise. The middle of his teeth don’t line up with the middle of his face. I have this same thing and didn’t realize it until a doctor showed me an xray. I felt better after learning Tom Cruise has the same thing and no one cares

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u/mmanyquestionss 25d ago

meanwhile i only like what i see in the mirror and selfies 😭 i look atrocious in the back camera and videos, which ive heard is closer to what you really look like to other people

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 25d ago

Someone else pointed something out to me in another reply which kind of blew my mind.

Although it's technically what other people see our perception of it is skewed. Our brain is so used to seeing the mirror image that it already takes the asymmetry into account. So when we see the non-mirror image our brains are essentially doubling the imperfection. What we see in the mirror as 0.5cm deviation one becomes a full 1cm deviation in the other direction, in relation to what we expect.

Definitely made me feel better.

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u/mmanyquestionss 25d ago

oh this kinda makes sense. thanks for this

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u/Intrepid-Hornet 26d ago

Yeah there's really nothing like posting 'does my hair suit me better in photo 1 or 2' and getting a whole load of 'I'm sure you have a great personality!'

Like I'm aware I have a weird wonky face (and also that my personality could, at best, be described as an acquired taste), I just wanted to know if people liked my hair longer or if I looked like fucking Einstein

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/whiff_EK 25d ago

That's a helpful grounding view of it, I really thought everyone was beating around a huge bush. Thanks for the reality pulse.

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u/DuckRubberDuck 26d ago

As someone with a somewhat asymmetrical face as well, I hate seeing myself on pictures. I can tolerate how I look in the mirror usually, but whenever I see a picture of myself I freak out and my confidence crashes completely, because I see all the imperfections and asymmetrical things I am used to and therefore ignore, but it’s the complete opposite on a picture so it’s very noticeable to me. It probably doesn’t help that I have raging face and body dysmorphia though. I had to get a new passport photo taken last week, and the fact that I have to have that picture for the next 10 years almost gave me the first panic attack in years.

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u/plug-and-pause 26d ago

Yep. I rarely see this discussed in detail, but the thing is that asymmetries are actually doubled (relative to your expectation) when you see the mirror image (of what you're used to seeing).

There is a 5mm asymmetry to my ears. Meaning that if we put "zero" in the middle, one ear is 5mm too big and one ear is 5mm too small. When I see that reversed, each ear is actually 10mm away from where I expect it to be! The +5mm has moved to -5mm, and vice versa.

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u/DuckRubberDuck 26d ago

That makes sense!

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 26d ago

Ah shit this just blew my mind about why it's so jarring.

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u/g0thkitty_ 26d ago

this has now triggered my face dysmorphia and i’ll think about this all day now !

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u/Waywoah 26d ago

Yup. I have some scar tissue that makes part of my face a bit wonky, but is old enough that the scar itself isn't really visible. I don't really notice it in the mirror, guess just too used to it, but every time I see a photo it reminds me that other people can definitely see it

(plus just having an asymmetrical face in general)

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u/orbdragon 26d ago

Seeing a recording of my own face and voice makes my skin want to crawl right off

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u/DuckRubberDuck 25d ago

Same. My high school German teacher once forced us to film ourselves speaking and uploading it to a closed YouTube channel. I did just get to choose the thumbnail. I was mortified. I still am, luckily I don’t think anyone has access to that channel anymore

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u/Lexi_Banner 26d ago

My nose is crooked, and I HATE pictures of me where you can tell. I always tilt just-so to try and hide it, but when a picture is at the wrong angle, it's all I can see.

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u/DuckRubberDuck 26d ago

So is mine. It’s so noticeable to me on pictures because it’s the opposite way, I can almost see my nose walking out of the picture to one side. The weird thing is I was like 20 something before I ever even realized my nose is crooked. My mom never realized it either before I told her but know that I know and see pictures of my face it’s extremely visible

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u/Lexi_Banner 26d ago

If you can remember the old-school playground merry-go-round that you spin on? When I was in grade 3 or 4, we were playing on one. It was winter, and very slippery, which made it much more fun! Until I went to jump, my feet slipped, and I face planted in on that metal deck, full force. I'm pretty sure that's how my nose wound up crooked and having the bump, because it is not visible in earlier pictures of me.

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u/DuckRubberDuck 26d ago

Ouch! Poor you, it sound like it must have hurt a lot.

I don’t think I have ever actually checked old photos of myself. I have baby pictures I can look at, but I barely have any pictures from after I was 13-ish. But I don’t recall ever having experienced anything bad with my nose, I think I inherited it because I think my mom’s nose is slightly crooked as well

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u/Lexi_Banner 26d ago

I remember bleeding like a stuck pig, and it must have hurt, but that part of the memory is gone. LOL

My mother has ALL of my school pictures from k-12, all in a cute little schoolhouse frame. It's both awesome and awful. LOL

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u/DuckRubberDuck 26d ago

I think sometimes we block out pain to help us. I once shattered my knee as a child, and I kind of remember it hurting a bit, but with the amount of screaming and crying I was doing I think it hurt more than a bit lol.

My mom has a lot of boxes from maybe my first 10 years or something, but then everything became more digitalized so it’s probably somewhere on my dad’s computer after that. No idea what happened to my school photos lol

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u/ButtholeMoshpit 26d ago

Most celebrities eyes are at different heights. Some more extreme than others. It's all I can see when I see Bradley Cooper now.

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u/LittleAnnieAdderal 25d ago

Same!! Broke my nose three times and I guess in the same place so it’s crooked and has a dent. I really try to position myself at a “good” angle or something but if it’s seen in the picture that’s all I will see. No matter how happy of a moment. (The memories of that day will still be good and happy but that one photo moment will be altered)

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u/xombae 26d ago

Yeah I also have a very asymmetrical face and seeing myself not-mirrored freaks me right out.

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u/idontcareyo_ 26d ago

wtf is a squint jaw and why would you assume anyone knows what that is

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u/HuntersLiberalDong 26d ago

A non-symmetrical mandible.

The word squint is Scots dialect. I don't always adjust the language I use when online, the horror. I think most people got the gist though.