Transcription
[Music] Beauty is on the inside, they say. But let's be real. Most of the world makes their impression of you based on what's on the outside. Who you are often gets reduced to the shape of your face, your size, the color of your skin, the hair that you're constantly worried about losing. These annoying little things that you feel insecure about. I guess I have a baby face, this this mole on my face, insecurities, my arms. I used to have like a double chin and then there was all these viewing videos and going around how to have like a jawline and I was like, do I am I this is bad? Publicly you joke about these things, but deep down they gnaw at you. I can't. I'm very conscious when somebody asks me to smile.
An economist said that the lifetime earnings gap between a good-looking and unattractive person could be around $230,000 in favor of the attractive person. The way you look can be what opens the door to your favorite job, your ideal partner, and the life you always dreamt of. So, I dug deeper into the psychology, biology, history, and economics of it all in this quest to understand what it objectively means to look good and how it impacts your daily opportunities. So, let's get into it.
[Music] So in 1878, Francis Golton, a very controversial professor of eugenics, had this belief that if he combined the portraits of various criminals, he might come across the face of evil. Except the composite he produced was surprisingly beautiful, and it made him question, what is beauty really? As I also tried to find this answer, I realized math says one thing, your social psychology says something else, and even Shadi.com has its own priorities. So, let me break down some very interesting theories I learned from some research papers. You know, according to mathematics, people find faces attractive when the distance between the eyes is about 46% of the face's width and distance between the eyes and mouth is 36% of the face's height. And wait, check this. Tiny shifts like the placement of your eyes can completely alter perceived attractiveness. There's also a golden ratio for human lips, by the way. So, math says that the upper one needs to be 2/3 of the lower lips. Now, these numbers were intriguing, but let's be real, beauty isn't a strict math problem. Faces aren't just equations. So, if math can't fully explain it, what does?
I moved on to biology. So evolutionary biologists say that beauty is basically nature's advertisement for "I've got good genes, come closer." Our brains are biologically wired to reward you for spotting certain patterns which are proxy for good genes. Let me tell you what are these patterns. Uh, I think one of my my left eye or my right eye is slightly smaller than the other one. Those are a very common thing. It makes you feel better. No, it doesn't. So brains interpret symmetry as genetic health, unconsciously associating balanced faces with better survival chances. Weirdly enough, a blend of many different faces creates an average face which we universally find attractive. Basically, a face that's smooth, balanced, and genetically diverse. You remember the Francis Gatton experiment that we just spoke about? This is essentially what happened. You know, even model studies have confirmed this with computer morphing. If you blend, let's say, 20 faces together, the resulting face is typically rated more attractive. Uh, I think one would be my ear. You must see that it's chipped away like this. Features that highlight masculinity or femininity like strong jaws in men or high cheekbones in women. They hint at fertility and hormone balance, subconsciously appealing to us as potential mates. You know, this explains why a strong jawline or high cheekbones might catch your eye without you even realizing it. Yeah. So, growing up, I was always the shortest. Like, I was the runt of the litter. I only hit puberty at like 16 or 15 years old. Otherwise, I was like 4'3" and that was it. But again, I have a question to ask all of you here. If beauty were only mathematics and biology, we'd all agree on who and what is beautiful. And we clearly don't. This is where we move on to the most interesting bits.
But before I break this down, there's something I want to get to. We already covered "real beauty's on the inside" and how that's a reductive phase in today's practical world. However, when biologists say the exact same thing, it's actually profoundly true because their context is a little different. If you were to look inside your stomach, your guts, you would actually find trillions of microorganisms that help with digesting your food and aid with overall well-being. What scientists have recently discovered is that your gut health is directly linked to your skin's radiance, and that your metabolism plays a big role in how you feel on a day-to-day basis. Clearly, good looks and attraction aren't just about what you see in the mirror. They're also about how your body functions at its core. Enter Oziva. As India's number one clean plant-based nutrition brand, Oziva can be a guiding hand to you feeling better. Their products set themselves apart from the crowd as they're backed by rigorously tested modern science. And since Oziva is 100% clean with potent plant extracts and free from artificial additives, you're getting only what your body truly needs. Basically, no nasties. Take Metabolic Gut Food, for example. It's not just a supplement. It's a game-changer for your digestion and your metabolism. You know, when your body absorbs nutrients efficiently, you feel better, you feel more energized, and you feel more radiant. That's where we also have Bioactive Glutathione. It's not about just looking good. It's also about feeling good, too. It fights oxidative stress and enhances your skin's glow. Lacks of consumers have transformed their skin using Oziva's Bioactive Glutathione. So, if you've been waiting for a sign to invest in yourself, this is it. Go to www.oziva.in or click on the link in description to know more about their products.
[Music] Take a trip through different eras around the world and you'll quickly realize that if we put humans from different eras together, all the definitions of their perfect mate, of what looks good, will be wildly different. In 15th century Renaissance, the ideal beauty was a voluptuous pale woman with a high forehead. In 1920s America, it was a boyish flapper with bobbed hair. In 2023 Korea, it might be a man with flawless skin with gentle features. You know, beauty standards can flip with the era or diverge by culture, proving that they are not absolute truth. They are just social stories we collectively tell. I'm very conscious. I feel people are watching me all the time. Many of times I'm told like I'm too thin. You just started when I was like super young. I think somebody told me that I look weird when I smile with my teeth. You would not see me wear sleeveless, for instance. Would wear anything until here or here. I think a part of it was social media. Like, you do not feel comfortable with yourself after a point, and that is not a good feeling.
Crucially, these standards often have no real link to health or biology or the mathematics we just learned about. They're arbitrary and change with economic or social tides. You know, in times of scarcity, societies have idolized heavier body types, a sign of wealth and plenty. In times of abundance, suddenly thin is in. And let's not forget trends like neck elongation with rings, foot binding in old China, or modern cosmetic surgery crazes prove that nearly anything can be labeled beautiful if a culture story will set. In short, it's all sort of just made up. And in 2025 today, we are living in the peak era of arbitrary beauty trends. Open your phone and instantly you're scrolling through curated perfection. Hypersculpted bodies, chiseled jawlines, surgically enhanced faces, standards manufactured by algorithms designed to hack your brain. You know, at least earlier, beauty standards used to shift slowly generation by generation. But now, they're literally shifting post by post, TikTok trend by TikTok trend. You can literally wake up tomorrow and find out that your face shape or your eyebrows have gone out of style. We now pick and choose the absolute best features of various idols and fawn over it. We try to replicate this person's eyebrows and that person's lip shape and that other person's nose and what not, without realizing the true nature of this unfair comparison. You know, each of these traits that you fawn over may not be what your face even needs.
Here are some numbers on how bad things have gotten because of social media. You know, 60% of men report body dissatisfaction directly tied to social media. Indian men especially are increasingly chasing that impossible hyper-masculine Instagram look with steroid use and body dysmorphia rising like crazy. One-third of eating disorder cases are male, many delaying treatment due to stigma. For women, it's even worse. One in three teenage girls admit that Instagram makes their body image worse. In India, nearly a third of young women face significant body dissatisfaction. Kids, by the way, aren't safe either. We've literally got five-year-olds posting skincare routines and kids feeling insecure about their bodies by age seven. Then, to make things worse, there's Snapchat dysmorphia. It is essentially a new form of body dysmorphic disorder fueled by social media where people become obsessed with perceived flaws because they compare their real selves to their perfected digital selves. I see it, you know, very perfect hair, getting nails done and everything. If I had a better frame, you set some unrealistic expectations, and if you're not according to it, you have that inferiority complex. You know, every time you put on a filter, each of these filters, they subtly teach us to dislike our natural faces, embedding insecurities deeper and deeper until the filtered version feels more real than our true self. Think about the vicious cycle, okay? You compare yourself, feel inadequate, your self-esteem plummets, so you dive deeper into social media looking desperately for validation, but instead you're bombarded with even more filtered perfection, leaving you feeling worse. It's a relentless loop, one that profits from your insecurities. Even though a lot of you may not accept it, but this phenomenon is changing the way you perceive yourself and the world around you. A lot of these Instagram reels which just portray people in a way that it shouldn't. It doesn't go away. I don't feel these things 100% go away. It always stays with you. But I've learned that it's their metric. It's their expectation. Beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder. And my eyes, I think, are the most important.
[Music] I I feel like I'm self-aware. I have a fat nose, but I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think I'll get a rhinoplasty or whatever. In fact, I hit my head and it even became crooked, but I like it the way it is. I learned it hard, wicki. This is who I am, and it is better to get comfortable as soon as possible. I think I'm not as insecure about my smile anymore. I don't know why. At some point, I just realized that it's really tiring to not smile. So, if I'm just if I'm going to be ugly, I might as well just like it, just be ugly. So, I recently came across this very fascinating Stanford study that proved something kind of wild. You know, people who simply thought they were attractive behave differently. The researchers found that believing you're attractive literally changes how you move through the world. You know, when people see themselves as attractive, they don't just walk taller or smile more, they act like they deserve better. They negotiate harder, speak with authority, and naturally slide into leadership roles. It's almost like attractiveness becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But hold up, this is not about arrogance or entitlement. Nobody likes a joke. It's about understanding that, you know, how you see yourself profoundly shapes your interactions with the world. And those interactions create this powerful feedback loop. If you feel attractive or confident, your posture straightens, your eyes meet others comfortably, and your smile comes easily. People subconsciously pick up on these signals and respond positively. Suddenly, you get external validation that reinforces your initial confidence, creating and amplifying your self-worth.
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And there's also something that psychologists call the halo effect where if people see one good quality in you, like attractiveness, they automatically assume other positive qualities like intelligence, competence, and trustworthiness. Ever notice that people who look put together or attractive often get treated like they're smarter or more capable even without proof? That is the halo effect in action. But here's where things get exciting. You know, you can leverage this understanding right now. So Columbia University researchers discovered something called enclothed cognition, proving that the clothes you wear actually shapes how you think and perform. So participants wearing formal attire didn't just feel more powerful, they objectively performed better on cognitive tests. Your clothes aren't just fabric. They are literally psychological armor. So how do you practically apply all of this? First, fix your posture. Seriously, stand straight. Roll back your shoulders. Lift your chin slightly. Instantly, your brain chemistry responds with increased confidence. It's basic biology. Next, you can dress more intentionally. Understand that how you present yourself influences how people perceive you and how you perceive yourself. So, dressing better doesn't just change how you look. Like we just showed you, it shifts how people treat you, triggering the halo effect. More than your beauty, it's like how you communicate, how confident you are. Once I found the gym, I took care a lot of took care of a lot of that insecurity. I probably have I'm probably a lot harsher on myself than other people are of me. But to compare things which are like almost unchangeable, that's stupid. I feel uh, so if somebody does that, I think they get affected more. Finally, the last thing, engage positively, smile genuinely, and make intentional eye contact and speak clearly. You know, even if you don't feel confident yet, act it out. Your brain catches up quickly, reinforcing your confidence through positive social feedback. Attractiveness, like we said, isn't about symmetry or genetics. It's about these subtle, actionable choices you make every single day. And that, by the way, is the key takeaway here. Your worth isn't about mathematical ratio, genetics, or filtered images. It's fundamentally about how you perceive yourself. So start seeing yourself confidently and watch the world start to see you that way too.