(It's rare that my Facebook posts elicit much response. This has had more than most).
July 1st: They say judge not, lest ye be judged yourself, so I'm trying not to. But I'd really like to be enlightened here. You see we're watching Traitors US season 2 (there, try not to judge us), and there's a character on it (no spoilers) called Larsa Pippen.
And the thing is, you think she's evil cos she's got an evil face. It's a sort of plasticky Uncanny Valley effect she's achieved. And what I wondered was, what did she look like before she made her face look like that. (And believe me, you're never under the illusion that that's a natural face).
So I just googled and have to say I'm gobsmacked. On the left is a picture of her from only a dozen years ago. On the right is what she's done to herself.
What I really can't fathom is why. I've been told off for body shaming when I've expressed my reaction to plastic surgery before. But this is pretty extreme isn't it? (And, by the way, on this Traitors series, she's not the only person to have taken the Pete Burns route.)
So can anyone explain what the thinking is? Is it my problem, seeing faces and thinking how much they look like cartoon evil expressions? Does everyone else see this and think it looks fine?
Or will I be told, once again, that it's none of my business, and that people are allowed to look however they want to look.
Ian : Most women who destroy their faces this way look fabulous in the ‘before’ pictures. It totally puzzles me why they do it!
Charmian: Nose job and lip filler . The lip filler can be reversed. It makes the whole face just lips and women doing this are driven by pornification of female beauty.
Joss: She looked MUST better before!
Felicity: Insecurity, I guess.
Ben: She looks Ridiculips !
Rick: What people want to do is up to them
Brian: I won't judge you for watching Traitors. The last episode of series one (UK) was classic television, all human life was there.
Yiskah: Men of a similar ilk and age expect this from Their women. Keep in mind they grew up with the internet and have no idea what an actual adult woman’s body and or face look like. So yes don’t body shame her ask why and where the expectations come from. And look at the wider media and society.
Edith: She porno-ed herself for likes. If you want to see this weird filter face in real life, go to Harrods. Half the staff n half the clientele look like this. From the front it goes from I see what you've done there, to semi fine, to dead strange, but from the side, omg always total freaks the lot, duck lips a go-go.
The reason women do it is a combination of the desire to look younger, or stay 'young', the pornification of images generally, & filters normalising looking like a mask. Yes people have the right to mess with themselves, but it's fine to comment on it as far as I'm concerned. This look is entirely artificial, therefore it can be critiqued. It's not remotely the same as taking the piss out of a ginger kid for example, or someone who has simply left themselves au naturel. If you don't want to be talked about, don't be famous, don't take selfies, don't get on this treadmill.
Chris: Obviously it's none of our business but I feel very uncomfortable when I see faces like this, it's unsettling and I don't understand it at all
David: People ARE allowed to look how they want. But I think it's also valid to question the motivation behind such a dramatic change as this.
I mean, I hate seeing myself in the mirror. I only grew a beard because I look less like me with one than without one. I suspect if I could afford this sort of cosmetic surgery I'd be tempted to make some dramatic change to my appearance so I don't have to look at me. But that's not the best motive.
Catriona: Ha ha Pete Burns route purrrfect
I don't get it, even all the fillers & things folk feel they need to do to their faces, it makes them all stuck faced void of facial expression carbon copied faces of sex dolls....sorry am being judgemental it has to be mental health issues like eating disorders, insecurity, wanting to fit in with the 'in-crowd' fashionistas. It's no longer confined by gender many men feel the need to spend a fortune 'getting work done'. Baffles me but I like our uniqueness & differences.Laura: I automatically found myself rooting for the "naturals", regardless of their actual personality, or lack of. But if you want to see an example of other-worldly cosmetic work check out Nicole K in the Netflix film A Family Affair. It's terrible - no surprise - but she is impossible to watch. She's not ugly but she looks like a cross between an alien and an AI representation of herself. Freaky.
Delphine: Utterly not a fan of the look. Or the process. Both make me shudder. I’ve always assumed it’s a fantasy rubber doll look that appeals to men. But it looks cartoony to me too. I much prefer the first picture. So much more soul and character.
Steve: Just about to start watching Season 2 of Traitors NZ. Not a kettle-kisser in sight. Probably because most of them are just regular punters. It's so much better without 'celebs', although I did watch both US seasons, reluctantly. Alan is on top form in S2 though eh?
Wil: People are entitled to look
however they want and to have whatever cosmetic surgery they want done and there are people here subjecting a fellow human being to criticism about their body they probably wouldn’t like very much to receive themselves
Rupert: That mentality leads to no valid criticism or help to stop people harming themselves now or in the future about any subject, not just surgery.
It’s human and I think moral to comment on the way other people live their lives as a sanity check if nothing else.
Delphine: you make a good point and it’s making me think about my comment. Does your point remain the same if the comment praises their natural pre-surgery/treatment look.
Wil: I’ve had a lifetime of people going “what are you wearing that for?” and “why is your hair like that?” Often they’ve tried to do me actual physical harm because they object to how I dress. By your mentality people who shout abuse at me in the street are morally right.
Kev F: If someone self harms with a Stanley knife, we reach out to help them. When someone can pay 20 grand to have it done to them, we treat them as role models. That’s what I find problematic, that for vulnerable youngsters this is seen as aspirational.
Rupert: If you were harming yourself then of course it would be right to help and discourage others from emulating you. Stretching that to dress and hair breaks any logic.
Chris: I applaud you for saying this, Kev. It's not like you're having a go at her, it's the same curiosity I had when it started to become so common.
I'll go further because I won't be told what I can and can't say. It looks incredibly ugly. A child would be frightened by a face like that and that doesn't seem healthy in any way. It's hideous.
Kev F: In the show (Traitors US2) there’s a game where they find someone born in the same year as them. Another player finds that Larsa is the same age as her (49), and is surprised, thinking Larsa was ten years older.
Adina: Is it just her lips? This is a thing at the moment
Irene: No. Looks as though she's had a nose job as well
Lois: I would say it looks like: rhinoplasty (nose job - as there’s a change to the tip shape and nostrils which can’t be achieved with make up, and a straighter and narrower bridge which potentially could be make-up), a brow lift (as brows, especially lateral brows, are higher - higher than likely achieved with Botox alone), an upper blepheroplasty (her upper eyelids are no longer hooded on the right) and possibly a canthoplasty (a “fox eye lift” which has changed the lift on the upper elevation of the eye) but that could be an effect achieved by make up.
For non surgical I see evidence of: Botox and facial filler to the cheeks, temples, chin and excessively to the lips.
You’re looking at significant work probably costing between $80-100k over the years. Especially if she had multiples of the same procedure. I’d suspect more than 1 rhinoplasty because the right hand nose is so small and because she still has some filtrum space (between nostrils and lips) even though her lips are now huge - that would have meant lifting the placement of the nose tip. Nobody would have done that with her natural lip as it would have created a crazy long filtrum.
Kev F: So if you’ve got a spare $100k the choice is buy a sports car or make it look like you’ve been hit by one.
Lois: I should caveat - for those who don’t know me - that I’m not a surgeon so could be wildly wrong. Make up and lighting, and camera angles/distance, can alter the appearance of a face significantly. But those are the differences I see in these images and the procedures which could account for them.
I think it’s a curious effect of social media - especially instagram - on a specific generation. They wanted to look more “perfect” but these procedures tend to create a very distinctive face type.
People repeat procedures and injectables over many years which then results in them losing any sense of what is normal. Surgeons are sometimes irresponsible and don’t refuse procedures but injectables (filler and Botox) can be given by medically unqualified “aestheticians” these days - you can get this done in hair salons - which results in way more instances of the “too far” face.
Of course - as you say - we are making judgements based on our own aesthetics which are (and should be) supremely unimportant to this woman who is doing exactly whatever she wants with her face.
Kev F : Until I googled yesterday, after watching the show, I had never heard of her. I was expecting to read that she had had some kind of accident, which would explain the surgery (in which case I wouldn't have posted in the first place).
When I saw her face, the word that sprang to mind wasn't "cosmetic" surgery, it was "reconstructive".
