Where are all the ugly teens?

[PattyDuckface]

I want to preface this with Just For Fun. I don't judge people on their looks, I am just indulging my inner superficial anthropologist.

• Why are all teens good looking these days?

When I was a teen we all looked pretty random and not very polished to be honest, a few people were stand out stunners but most of us... struggled 😬

Sure we all turned out fine and beauty is absolutely skin deep but my chat post is about how/why teenagers these days look so much better than we did (80's 90's). Why is it? How do they all look like Insta models? Everyone is a 10.

Where are all the ordinary and ugly looking kids, a bit ok, a bit not - still figuring it out. Where's my people at 😀

Even the kids of my peers who were very ordinary looking (and even a bit ugly) have turned out to be absolutely gorgeous.

No, it's not filters. I have met them irl

Are we talking about in real life or on social media? On social media everyone is beautiful. I real life the young spoke on my nearest town are not looking insta ready. We have lots of people wearing clothes three sizes too small. Lots of orange make up and false eyelashes. I. An only think many of you are living places with high disposable income.

Also loads of pissed old people which is weird and a huge amount of people with a limp.

Ive looked at old teenage pictures of myself from the 90s and I've realised that actually I was just as pretty, but just not as confident or well groomed as many girls today..
I had curly frizzy long hair and I remember the day I discovered hair serum in Boots!! It was a revelation.
GHDs weren't invented until I was about 26!!
And I used sun-in instead of having proper highlights which just looked rubbish.
Luckily I didn't use foundation which tended to be quite orange & cakey in those days.
I didn't actually look as bad as I thought I did at the time.
I found this meme on Facebook and it's very apt for me.

My 3 are pug ugly, so I don't let them out.

Two teen girls opposite me on the train the other day were scrolling through their feeds and discussing a common friend/acquaintance with the withering putdown “yeah, but I just don’t think she’s naturally pretty.”

what a fucking way to live.

This is true. To my shame I’ve learned curly/frizzy hair routines off girls on YouTube young enough to be my daughters…

I’m 35 and GHDs came out when I was about 14 - transformative!

They are so much more aware of 'image' these days. And they have the tools to look good. The hair straighteners, the serums, the wardrobe!

I grew up in the late 70s early 80s and had basically 2 sets of 'going out' clothes which were shit, didn't suit me and made me look frumpy - and they were chosen by my mother. I remember getting a Saturday job - on 60p an hour and saving desperately for a denim mini skirt from Etam which cost £10. That was the reality of life for us.

Nowadays, Primark is cheap, they have access to a lot of fashionable clothing. My friends and I looked terrible! But they also have their nails done, their eyebrows done, hair done professionally and have the tools to keep themselves looking groomed. They have Youtube videos to teach them the skills we lacked. And yes, as a PP said, they have parents that pay for orthodontic treatment, etc.

We had no bloody idea of what to do! Or the money to do it.

My 18 year old isn't massively stylish or put together looking. She's a pretty girl but doesn't care much about how she looks - never wears makeup etc - and plenty of her friends are the same.

Youth is generally beautiful though. You were probably much prettier as a teen than you thought you were - I know I was!

We need to help teens realise that they are already beautiful, they are fine, move on, and not rate them as 10s and below!

I was swimming in a waterfall and a bunch of teens were there. They were noticeably beautiful, but it was because they were so happy and care-free. I know that sounds corny as fuck, but it's true. Why don't we ever talk about how awesome youth and young people are?

Go to any inner city and you'll find plenty who aren't. Just as it's always been

Without sounding mean, but take away the hair straighteners and products, make up, cool clothes and all the superficial stuff then they look just average like most of us did.