Bored Panda reached out to Ashley, who shared her selfie on the inspirational "nose appreciation" Twitter thread, who told us what her journey to self-love was like. “I have definitely felt like my nose was not good enough. When I was younger, I used to spend hours staring at myself in the mirror and looking at my nose and crying.”
Ashley said she would look at it from all angles and “mess around with it, trying to squish and shape it into what I wish it could have been.”
Now that Ashley is 25 years old, she claims that no young girl should ever have to feel like that about themselves. “It even held me back from getting contacts until literally last year! And I’ve worn glasses since 3rd grade."
She only started finally loving herself at around 20-21 years old. “I decided to start being kinder to myself when it came to my physical appearance. I realized I wasn’t the hideous monster I always thought I was, and that everyone has things they don’t like about themselves.”
At this point in her life, Ashley always reminds herself of the things she likes about herself. She believes that “there are more important things to worry about than how my nose looks or any other little thing I used to obsess over when I was younger.” Sticking to what you love about yourself makes negative thoughts pass rather quickly.
To everyone who’s struggling to love themselves, Ashley wants to remind them that “we put way too much power in our physical appearance.” This is how we become self-destructive.
“It’s good to care about how you look but only to a certain extent. And how you look on the outside says nothing about the person you actually are on the inside. I know it’s cliche, but it’s true, and it’s something I’ve realized as I’ve gotten older.”
Most importantly, nobody should ever let their insecurities hold them back. We are all beautiful in our own special way, and even though not everyone may think so, Ashley insists that “what these random people think does not matter.” So, “don’t give them the power to control how you feel about yourself,” she concluded.
Thankfully, over the past decade, beauty trends have slowly shifted towards what we commonly refer to as natural beauty, no matter what a slippery slope this definition may be. Today, more than ever do we speak about self-love and acceptance, which seems very paradoxical when thinking of the enormous influence social media and influencers have made on society at large in the same decade.
And although it’d be impossible to draw general conclusions when it comes to particular parts of bodies, our noses, to be precise, the ways we perceive them have changed drastically. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons has reported that rhinoplasty is down 43% since 2000.
Many factors have come into play when it comes to this shift, from body positivity movements to the renaissance of all things natural, to horror stories of celebrity nose jobs gone wrong (Michael Jackson, anyone?!), to the financial crisis of 2008, to the fact that face tune apps have done the same job without the need to go under the knife.
Lately, Covid-19 and the compulsory use of face masks are also likely to have contributed. Most importantly, more and more people are now willing to openly talk about their anxieties when it comes to appearance, which helps everyone realize they’re not alone.
In reality, there’s nothing more perfect than the imperfect nose. When you think of it from a human standpoint, it’s our uniqueness that makes us who we are. After all, people grow tired of a fake, cyborgian look that looks blank and honestly, soulless.
