When I look in the mirror I see an attractive normal face, when I look at a photo of me, I see a weird, hound-like creature

[FoxandHound]

The two images, the one in my head, and the one documented photographically are so wildly at odds with eachother.

Have name-changed because I'm embarrassed about possibly appearing self-absorbed. I'm not. I only ever feel this after I've seen photos of myself. The rest of the time I feel relatively good about myself. I mean, I know I'm not gorgeous, but I don't dislike my looks.

Anyone else suffer from this mysterious syndrome?

Yeah, it's an effort.

Why I don't do them more often I don't know - they definitely help.

My face feels really tight now I've done them (it's been a few months weeks since I last did them). Now I feel as if I've got a face pack on.

I once read that Katie price looks into the far distance and pouts by pretending t blow a bubble

rofl

I did it to dh and he said "why are you pulling a fishface?"

I had a fecker of a mouth ulcer the other week. Right where that stringy bit under your top lip is.

I'd wake up every morning looking as if I'd had a collagen injection in my top lip. I'd spend a minute or two doing my Sharon From EastEnders impression in the mirror.

It hurt but I miss it now it's gone.

If I tried that staring into middle distance I think it would turn out cross-eyed.

Just can't work out why my Mother is in all the pictures of my kids....Oh God thats me, middle aged, bloated, grey roots Aaaargh!

Helloooooo HM!!

I have that reverse body dysmorphia thing: when I look in the mirror I see a thin woman.

Didn't Robbie Williams say 'chin down, eyes up' or summat?

Me too, Wilf - maybe we should start a group?

Only read OP

I have this BIG TIME

It is horrendous

I simply do not recognise the person in the photos

It has begun to affect my relationship with my MIL (who is a photographer)

I have to accept that I am actually really unattractive when I feel...ok...I do, I feel I don't look too bad.

People who have very strong features tend to look good in photos but often not so good in RL. If you have a strong chin and nose you will probably look better in photos than if you have a rounder, softer face. That's why people like Kate Moss, Sophie Dahl etc photograph well.

You know, I think you're totally right.

My friend and I were amazed when we found out that a girl we were at school with had become a model, because she really was not strikingly attractive - but she was very tall and had very elongated, bony features (actually she looked rather like her horse) and it would make sense if that comes out well in photographs.

Is that one of the reasons why catwalk models are thin? So that when the camera distorts their bodies they look slender rather than just scrawny?

This thread is the funniest thing I've read on here! Oh how true and yet our children love us (we hope?!)

I'm crying with laughter reading this thread but it's oh so familiar. I usually look ok (even pretty good on some days though I say it myself!) when I look in the mirror, but on photos I suddenly sprout a nose like Gonzo from The Muppet Show and hips the size of Texas.

I too am a camera-dodger (and camcorders the same) but I keep thinking the kids will want to look back at photos of me when they're older and there won't be any around. Still, that may be preferable to having a mom who looks like Gonzo...

THREADKILL!

I think it has to do with makeup. I can't be objective about myself (I blame DD for aging me overnight by 15 years), but when I look at photos of friends I notice that the ones who cake themselves in make up don't look that well in the flesh, but come out really well on camera. Those who are beautiful, with perfect skin, and no need to bother with makeup turn into weird hound like creatures in photographs once they pass 30.

So I have recently resolved that, at any event where I am likely to be photographed, I will liberally apply make up, and otherwise continue my camera dodging.

You know you're not allowed`TO DO that turning sideways on the stool and turning your head towards the camera for passport photos anymore. I used to do that slightly, just a bit, not too hammy, and it did help, but now they send them back if you are not just staring straight at the camera like colonel ugly.

You know you're not allowed`TO DO that turning sideways on the stool and turning your head towards the camera for passport photos anymore. I used to do that slightly, just a bit, not too hammy, and it did help, but now they send them back if you are not just staring straight at the camera like colonel ugly.

Only read OP.
In agree. I look in mirror, I look ok, I like my face. Someone takes a pic and I look totally different...

Balloonslayer

"Have you never caught sight of yourself in an unexpected mirror? You never think - ooh, who's that sexy lady, do you? It tends to be: oh look at the state of her, oh, she looks a bit like Mum, quite a lot like Mum, oh holy God and fuck it's ME!"

Exactly that has been happening recently to me. Made worse by relatives commenting ad nauseum that I look exactly like her, or we could be twin sisters.

She smirks. I think, can I really look 60? Sleep deprivation has really taken its toll!