It is
interesting to see these different classification of facial shape, and my
current area of research that shows just how intimately the shape of our faces
are affected by our lifestyle.
Which face
is most aesthetic?
I think most will look at the art and pick the top left, the oval shape as that
appears most normal or least exotic.
But if you
compare oval shape face to square shape face, which one has the more wider and
horizontal mandible? Which one has the more defined cheekbones?
I would argue that the square shape face has the best structure out of all
facial shapes, and it is the one that chewed more than anybody else growing up.
Notice how
the oval shaped face has the lower jaw that is slimmer and tapers to a point,
this is sign of narrowing of the mandible as well as mandible hinging back
because of vertical growth of maxilla.
I think
there is a myth that favors slimmer jaws on women as having more elegance and
beauty, while this may have been true back in the old days when everyone had
stronger jaws and the slim jaws were sign of wealth as money gave access to
softer foods, and it was also rare.
On basis of
supply and demand, the rare faces probably do get favored, to a certain degree.
But in this
modern world, I think people are beginning to favor towards more broader faces
now. It is a sign of good development which is becoming the rare thing, well at
least in the western cultures, as everyone was industrialized.
I have found
that many plastic surgeons in Asia, especially Korea, create slim jaw faces and
it seems to be the more preferred face over there.
SNSD or Girl
Generation is a famous girls band in Korea.
Which girl
is the hottest?
I guess within Asia the popular ones are:
5- Yoona and 7- Taeyeon
From stand
point of who has the best structure, in my opinion it is 3 – Sooyoung, but she
is not regarded as the most beautiful in the group by S. Korean standards.
#3 –
Sooyoung has the broadest face amongst the members, notice the distance between
her eyes is the widest. And you can see the broadness of her smile. She has the
most “square” face out of the members, notice oval face of rest of the members,
the more oval the face the less distance between the eyes.
Sooyoung’s
broad face, I believe makes her look more mature than other members with
slimmer faces.
For example,
the popular 5- Yoona and 7- Taeyeon have slimmer jaws indicating they had more
vertical growth, this makes them look a bit more child-like, which seems to be
the preference in Korea. There seems to be more preference towards cuteness,
naivety, and dependence as desirable qualities in women.
While #3 –
Sooyoung with (imo) better structure seems more independent and leader like.
It is
interesting to note that in one of the interviews all of the members voted #3 –
Sooyoung as having the best natural beauty, meaning the most beautiful without
make up. Members commented that they are often shocked when looking at her waking
up out of bed because she naturally looks beautiful.
Make Up
Covers up the Downswing of Maxilla?
Here is
group photo of them with less make up. Notice most members now begin to show
bit of darkness under the eyes and the face became a bit more “plain”, but what
is interesting is Sooyoung still seems to look just as good as before? (top row
second from the left)
It may be
bit unfair because she’s smiling, but again it is clear she has the wider face
with a great wide smile.
Yoona – who
is regarded as one of the most beautiful of the group, with less make up has
dark circles under the eyes, the maxilla has dropped down and the cheekbones
are thin. Her tongue posture is low.
Taeyeon –
The stronger vocal of the team & quite popular. The maxilla has dropped as
evident by the flat frontal cheeks. more vertical oriented lower jaw which
shows weaker muscle tone.
Sooyoung –
Girl that’s more closely approaching Victoria secret type structure, with
wider, broader face with more horizontal lower jaw. I put her picture
next to Rosie Huntington (V. Secret Super model) to show the resemblance.
Nice
horizontal lower jaw – evidence of good muscle tone. She’s the tallest member
so it’s possible she ate more growing up, causing her to chew more. Perhaps…
Sooyoung’s
maxilla is further up and forward. Maxilla the cause of natural facial beauty,
it seems to determine the winner of better face when no make up is involved
quite dramatically.
To study
above picture is to understand the effect of maxilla on the face, notice the
difference in nose sizes. Because Sooyoung has the better muscle tone that kept
her maxilla up, her nose is nice and small. The distance between the eyes is
wider because of it, and she has more orbital support, she will also have
straighter teeth naturally. The two girls to the left might of had ortho work
done. Nose is bigger because as the maxilla fell it dragged the cartilage of
the nose down.
It’s bit of
a shame Sooyoung is not regarded for her true beauty qualities, it could be
that Korea is still relatively new developing country economically meaning not
too long ago many of them still lived more natural farmer type lifestyle where
people had more broad features, so Sooyoung is more representing traditional
face of Korea and as the country became modernized the new, slim type of modern
faces became more popular, and regarded as more beautiful.
I see many
older Korea women up in the 50’s + often have these broad faces, as I am sure
their childhood was a lot different than modern times.
But in the west is the preference now towards more strong
features?
For example,
many stars get involved with increasing volume in the cheeks and lower jaw to
make the structure appear more defined.
So this
means the square type of face is more desirable than the oval face?
Our
ancestors had square, robust faces. Almost to insane levels as I have heard
their inter-molar width went up to 52 mm. While modern average is 28-33 mm,
with the occasional super rare, greatly developed individual in the 42 mm
range, that often came from 3rd world countries.
Because when
your jaw muscles are very strong, overtime it sort of crushes the skull and
makes it wider. When your jaw muscles are weak, it begins to elongate.
Traditional
good looks are the square type of faces that looks good on a movie screen.
Oval faces
can look cute with make up, but what makes the most aesthetic face the square
jaw seems to be important, meaning good muscle tone.
The cartoon
artist is not truly representing the actual difference of a square face,
because he is not accounting for square faces having:
§
larger distance
between the eyes
§
smaller nose
§
shorter face
§
possibly larger
eyes, as maxilla gives more support for the eyes
He is
showing that the side cheekbones are larger which is correct, but again with
simple drawing he is not able to express the difference in the front
cheekbones.
Quick
opinion on how other faces are developed
Oblong – the
person left their mouth open as a child and caused vertical growth of the
maxilla, when they got older they learned to keep their mouth closed and
started developing some muscle tone that began to square off the lower jaw. To
make the face shorter again needs more extensive strengthening of jaw muscles
and tongue posture correction.
Round – the
lower jaw is weak, not very good muscle tone. The person may have tongue
between teeth posture, causing vertical growth and suckle type of swallow where
the cheek muscle is used to suck food down, this is causing enlarged cheeks and
the not the hollow cheeks adults are supposed to have.
Pear –
Larger lower jaw than the round face, better muscle tone. Could have the same
improper swallow causing enlarged cheek muscle, or obese.
Diamond –
low muscle tone and low tongue posture, face is slimming down and going
vertical.
Heart – not
entirely sure the cause of difference in forehead size, but again low muscle
tone leading to set back lower jaw. The tongue posture may be good so the
person may still have good front cheeks that support the eyes and midface, but
the lower jaw just melted away.
These are
general speculations based on my current knowledge and not to be considered
absolute truths, studying each individual’s real face will serve better reading
on what is actually going on, because its the combination of few factors, the
main ones being 2 factors:
The balance between the biting muscle and the
tongue posture & function.
Conclusion
in my
opinion short, square faces produces the most beautiful faces.
Which
requires a child to live a more natural lifestyle. I have found that people
that grew up on farms when they were younger a lot of time grow up as pretty
attractive individuals, like Victoria Secret model Rosie Huntington and this
other girl I met the other day that had nice wide mandible, great face, and
told me she grew up on a farm… I was thinking, dang that makes a lot of sense…
Also I can
think of several football players I met in college that grew up on farms, all
had broad faces.
On the farm you
are gonna do a lot more outdoor activities and chores, what does that do to the
child.
Give them
hell of an appetite.
And farming
household most likely live on more wholesome foods perhaps foods they get off
the land, and won’t need to go to the supermarket as often.
So less
likely to have high, calorie soft foods in the house like sugary treats that
ruin appetite.
Therefore
the farmer child will be actually eating larger volumes of food compared to
modern kids playing gameboy, also chewing through more real foods with more
fiber, volume + fiber = a lot more masticatory effort.
Over the
course of few years this difference in lifestyle could make significant
difference in jaw development, direction of maxilla growth, muscle tone, and
facial shape.
