Why are all young girl suddenly good looking?

[PodcastFunFair]

I'm 40 in the 90s I was reasonably attractive by 90s standards.
I was a size 12 blond curly hair, outfit deom topshop and put on nice make up with some Charlie perfume.
I look at my nieces all identikit long smooth hair, make up perfectly put on with false eyelashes, tiny sized, super stylish all could be models from their insta accounts as could their mates is everyone better looking these days or better tools?
Do I need a make up tutorial from one of them so I'm not such an old dog 😂

DD, 18, is absolutely not one of these identikit teens. She's never worn make up, has naturally straight hair that she just washes and leaves to dry with the occasional brush, and is short (like me) and normal sized (not fat, not thin). She also has great natural eyebrows that I would probably also have if I'd never started plucking 😩

I think it depends on the social circle they are in. None of my son's female friends are like this, although there are girls at his school that are, I would t say it's the majority. A lot seem to have rejected the Instagram perfect look

[quote Notahandmaid]@nineteensixy - you mentioned your neighbour's daughter's grungy look. I was very glad we had grunge when I was growing up. Bring it back![/quote]
I was a teen in the 80s, so my beauty routine typically involved tidying up yesterday's smudged eyeliner with a tissue, sorting out my hair with a bit of extra backcombing, and putting on yesterday's clothes, usually comfy, oversized, often stolen from my dad or brother. Job done! I suppose there were always teens who were more polished, but in those days it seemed boringly middle aged to care about things like that.

Filters, make-up, hair products, and posing skills I guess.
I was a teen in the early 1990s when he still grinned at the camera and said "cheese".

I disagree mainly because I think the strange false eyelashes look is horrid. Apart from that I would say that young women nowadays come in all shapes, sizes with varied fashion tastes (thankfully). Just as we were in the 90s. I teach A levels to kids 16-18 and don't think (for the majority) there is much difference (aside from the eyelashes). Foundation may be a bit more refined I suppose. Maybe it's more of an Instagram thing?

@Stormbraver99

Filters, make-up, hair products, and posing skills I guess. I was a teen in the early 1990s when he still grinned at the camera and said "cheese".

*we not he.

I do think false eyelashes look ridiculous.

@Wanderingowl there were always women who couldn't leave the house without their makeup. But I think what used to be favored was the girl next door look - so very natural foundation and eyeshadow in brown colours and sheer lip gloss- very Bobbi Brown. But now its all fillers and botox and fake tan- is it porn or Kim Kardashian?

Older posters would probably find the korean ulzzang look more palatable but it takes no fewer products than the kim kardashian look. its also not a very inclusive look as it is very hard to wear as a POC. Why I think the Kim Kardashian look is so popular is that it can be worn by brown and white girls alike.

A case in point is Emma Rugby (who used to be in Hollyoaks). She was a naturally good looking girl who attacked the fillers in a big way and really spoiled her looks. Especially the lips - like a bee sting them

I'm a bit older but when I look back at the informal class photos of my 6th from group there is hardly a good looking one amongst us. I'm sure some of it is hair and make up as we were a frizzy haired lot covered in acne. Short skirts and beige tights didn't help with our pudgy thighs either. Most of us are much better looking now as middle aged adults than we were then!

I'm a mature student and the younger girls on my course who are just stunning are the ones who wear next to no makeup. Most of them are beautiful though, until they're having a bad day and they come on Zoom with a bun on top of their head and bags under their eyes like the rest of us.
I suppose it's just effort. Makeup, access to tutorials, hair products etc have come a long way since I was a kid. I used to iron my hair FGS.

@CheeseMmmm- I was a punk in the late 70s and early 80s. Despite all the problems in society at the time, I now regard it as a great time to have been young. All the new, exciting music- punk, New Wave, electro and Two Tone ska! It was relatively cheap and easy to see my favourite bands live. Pubs shut early but we'd go back to people's flats or house parties and carry on having the craic without spending loads of money! To be fair, I was a bit better off than most of my friends as I was a student nurse and earning whilst most of them were on the dole! I still have great memories of that time though, it was so exciting!
I look at my photos from that time and unlike many posters, think I looked quite cool, as I had sort of a "rock chic " look before there was even such a notion! Black leather biker jacket, skinny jeans and band t-shirts. No poodle perms on me!

I'd mostly agree with OP. I think the teenagers/early 20s now seem more aware of clothes, make up, etc. Perhaps they have more exposure through social media? Access to YouTube tutorials? More disposable income due to part time jobs?

Like another poster mentioned, I'd also think we probably all looked good in our day too! We just did not realize it.

Makeup has fashions too (remember the awful lip liner of the 90s, and how everything was brown or blue?). Sometimes the fashion is for a more natural look and sometimes it's not. The 80s were full of neon stuff, sometimes people even painted actual shapes around their eyes.

I don't much like the Sharpie eyebrows, but I don't think they're worse than the pencilled-in ones of yesteryear. It's fashion, by nature it can't stay too long. Although it did take ten years for skinny jeans to die...

My dd is 15 and wont leave the house without false eyelashes on. She is also far better at makeup than me. Luckily she hasnt started asking for expensive treatments yet but some of her friends get regular spray tans,eyelash extensions,teeth whitening etc. I dont know how the parents afford it tbh.
I dont believe social media is a good thing for young people as the pressure to look a certain way is huge.

I don’t think an identikit fake plastic look with caked on make up is what you should be aspiring to.

It’s sad that girls are all expected to conform at the moment. The trend for surgical enhancements is depressing.

Embrace your own style and who you are. If you can’t be bothered to wear make up, don’t, do something else that actually matters or makes you interesting instead.

I’m only early 30’s and when I was growing up it was straighten your hair on the floor with a towel and an iron. Dream matte mousse foundation, blue shimmery eyeshadow and sunflowers perfume. I look at the young girls of today with my jaw to the floor! It must cost the parents thousands! I’m so grateful to have grown up in an era with no SM or smartphones

My teen dd has her natural hair and face. I can’t understand why people mess with themselves to this extent.

Notahandmaid
*@nineteensixy - you mentioned your neighbour's daughter's grungy look. I was very glad we had grunge when I was growing up. Bring it back!

My daughter wears stuff like that. Baggy jeans, oversized top, minimal make up. She hates all the contoured eyelash/eyebrow look. Deliberately doesn’t do it.

There is just so much more cosmetics, skin treatments, and tools than there was when I was growing up in the late 70s early 80s.

My mother was so naturally beautiful. The only makeup she ever wore was a touch of blue eye shadow and lipstick.

Me with stick straight hair that wouldn't hold a spiral perm and pale skin, it was hell trying to get the look of big hair or farrah and trying to look tan with the horrid self tanners.Thankfully I burned rather than tanned so I didn't ruin my skin staying out in it.

My DD and Niece are makeup pros! Occasionally they've put makeup on me but somehow I can never recreate the look myself.

I think the scornful identikit comments are detracting from the disturbing reality that our girls are being conditioned younger and younger to believe that they must conform to compete for male validation. These looks are cultivated and perpetuated by intense social media pressure and existing teenage insecurity. Regardless of whether you think they look good or not, it's incredibly sad to see the lack of compassion.

I’m only early 30’s when l was growing up it was straighten your hair on the floor with a towel and an iron

I was a textile teacher then. I turned round one lesson to see an Afro Carribean girl about to iron her hair straight. Applying the iron straight to her hair, no towel or paper.

@Emerald5hamrock

What happened to individualism? I'm fairly sure as teenagers we looked similar in style, the Jennifer Anderson hairstyle was everywhere.

You were clearly not a teenager at the same time as me.

I work for a financial services company. Gen Z and Millennial demographic. We have to capture true likeness photos of our customers in app for regulation reasons which are digitally compared to ID/Passport etc. Most people sign up when they are at home, in comfy clothes and no make up etc. The in app camera must disable all filters, must be in good lighting and front on. Once they have an account approved they can use whatever photo/avatar they like for their profile. Every uploaded profile photo looks like Love Island casting headshots - but their true likeness we have to see to approve account is so far away from that reality.

However until they change their avatar, our platform originally used to defaults that photo in their settings. We had a LOT of complaints from users claiming that seeing their unfiltered photo in the app - even for a moment was having an effect on their mental well-being. It's quite sad and scary really.

@Wanderingowl

Contouring and filters. It's not real and I can't actually imagine how much it must absolutely mess with your mental health long term to have to project an image of yourself to the world that isn't really you. Like at night when you wash the layers of contouring off your face and you look like a totally different person to the person you are pretending to look like? And then how it must limit you. How can you go for a swim? Can you dance with your whole body and soul if you worry your make-up will melt and you hair frizz up a bit? Can you play sports? Work up a sweat through play? Build the real muscle that will play a huge role in keep your bones and muscles healthy enough to keep you fully mobile through middle age and beyond?

God, I think it's a fucking awful, awful, awful way to live.

Absolutely this. It’s so sad.

A few years ago I formed an informal lunchtime running group with some colleagues. We’d run twice a week and had a great laugh. One girl, in her twenties, told me that she’d love to join us but couldn’t because her make up (heavily contoured, full face) took an hour to put on each morning and she couldn’t risk it sweating off because then she ‘wouldn’t look like myself’. I felt really sorry for her: she couldn’t imagine showing her real face, even to her work colleagues.