Teach me how to smile so I don't look like a cyclops pirate, please

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open your eyes! Smile with your eyes. Smiling with just your mouth makes anyone look insane. Or, I suppose like a cyclops pirate.

Practice in mirror; Raise your eyebrows slightly. Think of something that makes you happy, like seeing puppies playing or a baby laughing. Work on having your eyes convey a natural "warm" happy expression. I seem to recall learning to touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth to relax my smile. I'm doing this now and it does seem like this action makes your smile appear more relaxed.

Whiten your teeth. Are you female? Find a flattering but natural lipstick. Wear it all the time!

Congratulations to you, OP. Keep up with your dental hygiene and show off your smile. Just practice and you'll find your natural smile.

OMG, I totally disagree. My sister, very pretty, use to smile like a normal person and then someone taught her about "smiling with her eyes." Now every single Facebook picture she looks like a wide eyed lunatic. A creepy, staring, wild wide eyed lunatic. So fake and unattractive. And she does it constantly.

I have tried to find the words to explain it to her, but am afraid I'll hurt her feelings. DH offered to just tell her she looked crazy, but she thinks she looks so good she'll never believe him, just get mad.

OP, just relax and be yourself. It's life, not Instagram.

PP quoted and clearly, your sister is not following my advice! Open your eyes a little! We're talking a minuscule amount. Also most people who smile with just their mouth (just the lips and teeth) end up looking wan or constipated or fake.

And, to your crazy, wide-eyed sister, I'd say give her a selfie lesson, or find a far younger female relative (20s) to kindly show her how it's done.

DP. When you smile naturally, your eyes do not become wider. You may believe you look warm but you don't look natural.

[Anonymous]

OP, I suffer from the same issue - I even had my one drooping kid corrected, but the muscles around it seem to remember. Depending on how I feel, I either have two small darkish slits or one very small slit and one slightly larger slit. My mother, who has known this face for nearly 40 years says to open my eyes.

So if I want to look a little more standard, a little less me, I try to open my eyes a little bit, but it’s difficult to open them just a bit and I end up doing some weird big eyes smile grimace. Just practice opening up that one eye more. And then smile away! Honestly, the force of a good personality shines through.

[Anonymous]

OP, your cyclops pirate smile sounds fun. Don't change.

[Anonymous]

I have this - I assume it's a droopy eyelid. I just live with it mostly.

[Anonymous]

I'm a visual person...please clarify which cyclops pirate you most resemble.

[Anonymous]

It could be ptosis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open your eyes! Smile with your eyes. Smiling with just your mouth makes anyone look insane. Or, I suppose like a cyclops pirate.

Practice in mirror; Raise your eyebrows slightly. Think of something that makes you happy, like seeing puppies playing or a baby laughing. Work on having your eyes convey a natural "warm" happy expression. I seem to recall learning to touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth to relax my smile. I'm doing this now and it does seem like this action makes your smile appear more relaxed.

Whiten your teeth. Are you female? Find a flattering but natural lipstick. Wear it all the time!

Congratulations to you, OP. Keep up with your dental hygiene and show off your smile. Just practice and you'll find your natural smile.

OMG, I totally disagree. My sister, very pretty, use to smile like a normal person and then someone taught her about "smiling with her eyes." Now every single Facebook picture she looks like a wide eyed lunatic. A creepy, staring, wild wide eyed lunatic. So fake and unattractive. And she does it constantly.

I have tried to find the words to explain it to her, but am afraid I'll hurt her feelings. DH offered to just tell her she looked crazy, but she thinks she looks so good she'll never believe him, just get mad.

OP, just relax and be yourself. It's life, not Instagram.

I just pictured AOC with your description of the crazy wide eyes, lol

[Anonymous]

Practice in the mirror and take selfies until you find an expression you like. Think about how big to smile, etc. Then practice reproducing the smile you like on demand until develop muscle memory. Think about how your face feels making that expression.

If one eye is bigger than the other, you can tilt face so your bigger one is slightly further away. Also you can close the bigger one slightly, again concentrate on muscle memory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open your eyes! Smile with your eyes. Smiling with just your mouth makes anyone look insane. Or, I suppose like a cyclops pirate.

Practice in mirror; Raise your eyebrows slightly. Think of something that makes you happy, like seeing puppies playing or a baby laughing. Work on having your eyes convey a natural "warm" happy expression. I seem to recall learning to touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth to relax my smile. I'm doing this now and it does seem like this action makes your smile appear more relaxed.

Whiten your teeth. Are you female? Find a flattering but natural lipstick. Wear it all the time!

Congratulations to you, OP. Keep up with your dental hygiene and show off your smile. Just practice and you'll find your natural smile.

OMG, I totally disagree. My sister, very pretty, use to smile like a normal person and then someone taught her about "smiling with her eyes." Now every single Facebook picture she looks like a wide eyed lunatic. A creepy, staring, wild wide eyed lunatic. So fake and unattractive. And she does it constantly.

I have tried to find the words to explain it to her, but am afraid I'll hurt her feelings. DH offered to just tell her she looked crazy, but she thinks she looks so good she'll never believe him, just get mad.

OP, just relax and be yourself. It's life, not Instagram.

I just pictured AOC with your description of the crazy wide eyes, lol

I know that face. Ha ha sitting alone here I just made the AOC eyes.. I felt crazy. Something about the bottom half of my eyes felt really open and weird.

[Anonymous]

Different approach - get Botox for crows feet. It will calm down your stroke eyes lol I had over expressive eye muscles and this did the trick. Still motion but nothing too crazy.

[Anonymous]

OP! #same #same #same

I practiced in the mirror

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open your eyes! Smile with your eyes. Smiling with just your mouth makes anyone look insane. Or, I suppose like a cyclops pirate.

Practice in mirror; Raise your eyebrows slightly. Think of something that makes you happy, like seeing puppies playing or a baby laughing. Work on having your eyes convey a natural "warm" happy expression. I seem to recall learning to touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth to relax my smile. I'm doing this now and it does seem like this action makes your smile appear more relaxed.

Whiten your teeth. Are you female? Find a flattering but natural lipstick. Wear it all the time!

Congratulations to you, OP. Keep up with your dental hygiene and show off your smile. Just practice and you'll find your natural smile.

OMG, I totally disagree. My sister, very pretty, use to smile like a normal person and then someone taught her about "smiling with her eyes." Now every single Facebook picture she looks like a wide eyed lunatic. A creepy, staring, wild wide eyed lunatic. So fake and unattractive. And she does it constantly.

I have tried to find the words to explain it to her, but am afraid I'll hurt her feelings. DH offered to just tell her she looked crazy, but she thinks she looks so good she'll never believe him, just get mad.

OP, just relax and be yourself. It's life, not Instagram.

omg that's hilarious. i am 46 and for the life of me cannot figure out how to look normal in photos - when i think about it too much, i also get that "HELLO I AM CRAZY" expression

op - you'll get it! give yourself a little time to get used to your gorgeous new teeth. and rest assured the people who loved you with your pirate eye don't feel like you need to change - they probably love that weirdo expression because it reminds them what an awesome person you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It could be ptosis

This is me. I had imy ptosis fixed when I was in my 30s, but my eyes still look different. I don’t give a f$ck, to be honest. I feel like this a troll post.

[Anonymous]

When you smile relax your mouth and touch your tongue to the top of your mouth. It makes your smile appear more natural and avoids the "overly smiley" face.

- former model who received a lot of smile coaching!

[Anonymous]

OP here with an update:

I haven't actually practiced much because I just feel so awkward! But according to recent photos, I'm still smiling like a cyclops pirate. I look great with sunglasses, though! :-\

I might ask my teenage niece and Instagram/vsco queen for tips, though. I taught her how to braid hair way back when so I think she owes me