People Share How They Found Out They Were Unattractive And It Hits Way Too Close To Home
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but clearly, some people need their eyes checked. We're all very good-looking and functional human beings, thank you—and it's not just our moms telling us that.
So don't listen to what obnoxious strangers have to say about your looks. Even if it gives you a painful "Eureka!" moment.
Here are some times people realized that they might be unattractive. You will feel these deep in your anxious preteen soul like I did if you ever had more than one pimple on your face at a time. And glasses. And braces. And an older sibling who reminds you of those things.
You Know It's Been A Rough Year When You Have To Scrub The Internet Of Your Tagged Facebook Photos
"You unconsciously contort your body and face to look more attractive when looking in a mirror or taking a selfie, so I had a way distorted image of myself. Then Facebook comes along and my friends are tagging me in all sorts of photos where I was caught unaware, and I'm way more of a potato than I thought." —Reddit
Give It The Old College "Try Not To Implode From Lack Of Self-Esteem"
"In college, my RA was handing out free condoms to anyone who asked after the floor meeting. I asked him and he genuinely laughed and didn't reach for anything. Then he realized I was serious." —CryptidCodex, Reddit
The Thought Of Potentially Looking Like A Family Member Truly Terrified This Kid
"My 5-year-old cousin once pointed to an old photo in my great aunt's house and asked, 'Is that me?' Me: 'Nope, that's me when I was your age.' Her: 'You used to look just like me!' Me: 'Yep! And when you grow up this is what you'll look like!' (pointing to myself). She BURST into tears and ran to her mother." —sweettalkersweettalker, Reddit
This Person Would Probably Rather Go To Prison For Life Than Get A Profile Mugshot
"Prior to the age of 16, every single photograph I had ever seen of myself was taken straight on. And, of course, looking in a mirror I only saw myself straight on as well—I had no idea what my profile looked like.
When I was 16, however, I had the chance to go on a European tour with my high school choir, and when we got back everybody shared their photographs with everybody else. For the first time in my life, I saw what I looked like in profile and discovered, much to my horror, that my nose looked a lot different from the side than it appeared straight on." —Barry Goldberg, Quora
As If Seeing Hot Strangers At The Gym Wasn't Hard Enough
"I was walking toward a piece of equipment in the gym. An attractive young woman was standing between it and me. She noticed me walking in her direction and her facial expression changed immediately. Just dropped. She seemed to think I was approaching her and was disgusted." —BigOldCar, Reddit
A Plastic Surgery Recommendation Is Almost Too...On The Nose
"Your wife's friend suggests you see her plastic surgeon husband. It happened to me. Above the neck, I'm the cartoon ugly guy." —larrymoencurly, Reddit
This Doctor Has A Degree In Being A Jerk
"When my family doctor took my school photo and drew a line down through the center of my face to illustrate how asymmetrical it was." —dephress, Reddit
Cashiers Get Paid Minimum Wage, So They're Not Going To Spare Your Feelings
"Cashiers stopped to greet me back, I always say hello and most of the time they either say nothing and look away while scanning my groceries, or give me a weird look. It destroys me. Why do they always greet everyone in the lane back except me?" —pen0r_, Reddit
Thank You, Homeless Man, For Your Input
"Homeless man came up to my friend and I. He told her how gorgeous she was and then turned to me and said, 'and you seem cool too.'" —snakemistake, Reddit
Love Getting Mistaken For An "Old Woman" When I'm Half-Naked In A Swimsuit
"I was at the beach with my 5-year-old nephew and he pointed to a lady right in front of us and said loudly out of the blue 'IT'S AN OLD WOMAN!' He was so excited too..." —WhiteOleander, Reddit
Don't Have An Answer For You, Kid
"So damn true. I had a 5-year-old look at me once and say, 'how come you're so ugly?' That's the only time I've ever wanted to throw hands at a kid." —MyNamesCandy, Reddit
Halloween Is Terrifying Mostly Because We're The "Duff"
"I remember being 6 or 7 and going trick-or-treating with some neighborhood kids for Halloween. Me and the girl across the street were both dressed up as princesses. At several houses, the following scenario would play out:
A neighbor girl walks up to get candy. The person answering the door: 'oh my Goddddd! Look at you, you're so pretty!' When I walked up the person answering the door, wearing a strained smile and forking over candy: Here you go." —blueeyedsredlipstick, Reddit
My 12-Year-Old Self Felt This Chatroom Romance
"MSN chatroom/messenger days. I start talking to this random girl in a chat room, we add each other on messenger and just talk for a few months. Eventually, she gets me to send her a (face) picture. She says 'EW!' and immediately deletes and blocks me. I always had my suspicions about my unattractiveness up to then, but it was a real moment of clarity for me." —psalmoflament, Reddit
Eighth Graders Are Cruel (But We Already Knew That)
"Similar thing here. I had a massive crush on a guy in eighth grade, so I spent all year working up the courage to ask him out and he said yes! Immediately after that, he avoided me for a week and then dumped me. Afterward, his friend told me he'd only said yes so people wouldn’t think he was gay." —astrelly, Reddit
Can We Outlaw School Dances Already? They're Just Torture
"Every year in high school, there was a dance where the tradition was for the girl to ask the guy to be her date. I was literally the only guy among my group of friends that never got asked." —Bullwine85, Reddit
You Can Tell From The Awkward Silence Following The Question,"What's My Best Feature?"
"Got many red flags before this, but what made me sure is when I was in middle school, this one girl was asked to write what's the best feature of each of our classmates, and when it's my turn, she's clearly struggling to come up with something and actually write down 'nothing, sorry Azrielmoha.'" —Azreilmoha, Reddit
You Can Really Tell When Someone Got Dared To Ask You Out
"When people I'd never spoken to would come up to me at school and say 'I really fancy you, will you go out with me?' and then run away laughing to a group of their friends that had obviously dared them. Also any time I accidentally open the front-facing camera on my phone." —Reddit
Okay, We Don't Need A Thought-Out Argument On Why I'm Unattractive, Thanks
"When I was in high school, one of the pretty, popular girls and I got on really well in a class. Looking back now, I know she was at least a little interested in me.
When someone else pointed out she might be attracted to me she very clearly and concisely explained which of my features were unattractive and how they were unattractive, as I was standing there. We did not get along well after this." —Daedalus_0_, Reddit
Sometimes You're Just Putting Out "I'm Not Interested" Vibes (And That's A Good Thing)
"Probably around the third or fourth time I was out with friends and they'd constantly get hit on while I got ignored, and sometimes literally shoved away. Then I realized I was gay and while I might be unattractive to straight men, queer women seem to be picking up what I’m putting down." —Reddit
Insulting Someone After A Breakup Is The Epitome Of Kicking Them While They're Down
"When my first real relationship ended and I hear them say, 'well yeah, I’ll admit they're kinda ugly.' It hurts. Especially after they’re the first person that ever called you cute, yet they thought you were ugly the entire time." —GravityBringer, Reddit
Not The Cashier Thinking She's Out Of His League
"I knew I was ugly when the cashier at the grocery store put a divider in the middle of our food between me and my girlfriend at the grocery store checkout." —Reddit
Not A Tiered List!
"When my friend ranked everyone in our friend group by attractiveness and I was at the bottom." —Wajirock, Reddit
Normally, you can tell yourself that you're decent looking, but there's nothing worse than a definitive ranking that says otherwise.
This Is Why I'm Afraid Of Teenagers
"When I was 20, I was walking through a library and a group of teenagers ( maybe 15-16-year-olds) were talking about me and how disgusting it is that fat people are allowed out in public. One made a token protestation on my behalf, and then they all cracked up laughing. And yes, I am 100% sure they were talking about me." —stealthxstar, Reddit
Being Beside A Hot Person Really Solidifies It
"When I started to hang around with a significantly better-looking friend and, all of a sudden, we got interrupted in public by girls who for some reason had something to say to him." —Gockel, Reddit
Truth Or Dare Should Be Illegal
"When I would play truth or dare with my friend group as a kid, none of the girls wanted to do any dares involving me, but they had no issues doing them with my friends." —Hernerfer, Reddit
Picking Teams In School Was Diet Bullying
"I was never picked for teams or groups even when I had friends. It was always me and a really unattractive nerdy guy left. Also, my mother is very attractive, and I'm always told I look like my dad. It really hurts." —Jaylinworst, Reddit
Talent > Dates In My Opinion
"Well, I got really good at stuff that takes a lot of practice and talent—music specifically. I realized I had tons of time to practice because I wasn't going out on dates like all my peers. That's when I realized I was ugly. But hey, I can play like 5 instruments, so I guess it balances out." —powerlesshero111
It's The Worst To Realize People Don't See You The Way You See Yourself
"When I would talk to people online and eventually send them a picture, and they would block me. I had always thought that I was at least average." —Korrin85, Reddit
It's Not Always About The Physical
"When I was younger, I thought it was pretty cool that girls only wanted to sleep with me. Now that I'm mature and just want some commitment in my life, I'm seeing I'm not worth much more than a one-night stand to the girls I've met and they start dating other guys. So it's like they like something about me but not necessarily me as a whole. It may not be about looks but something about me just screams 'use him and lose him.'" —Strych-9, Reddit
Sometimes It's That Simple
"The mirror?" —BakedScorpio, Reddit
Let's be real: most times, the person who is most critical of our appearance is ourselves, and we size our looks up against what we see as the beauty standard, leaving us feeling like we fall short.
