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57 Things Women Did To Their Bodies As Teens Because Beauty Standards Said They Should
We’ve all tried some beauty hacks or tips thinking they’d make us prettier or give us glowing skin, and most times they backfired in ways we never expected. As women, it is sort of normalized that we will try to keep up with the latest beauty trends and if we fail, we’re usually our own toughest critics.
Whether it’s because of the media, the society, or boys, it’s way too easy for teenage girls to get sucked into a wormhole trying to fit beauty standards.
Recently, some women took to TikTok to share those moments when they realized, way too late, that all the things they were doing to their bodies to feel “prettier” — the stuff that felt normal at the time — were actually hurting them. Some of the hacks they tried are totally wild and we hope no one ever tries them again.
Woman’s teen beauty 'hack' sparks a wave of confessions
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#2
I sucked in my belly so much I developed hourglass syndrome and still can’t fully relax my stomach muscles when standing 😩 also always feels like I can never take in a full breath.
#3
I stabbed myself over and over again with a sewing needle and put brown ink from a pen in the open wounds as an attempt to get freckles and I will say 14 years later they are still very much there:/
Unrealistic beauty standards have always existed.
Take 13th‑century China, for example, where tiny feet were considered beautiful and women went through the painful practice of foot-binding to get them. Or the Victorian era, when the “tuberculosis look” was all the rage — pale skin, red lips, and super tiny waists were considered the height of beauty.
Today, with screens right in our pockets, being able to see what other women from around the world look like just makes it worse. Constantly comparing ourselves to celebrities and influencers can make us feel like we’re not measuring up.
The recent “Slavic” trend online is a glaring example of this. Women are being pressured to look ultra-feminine and soft, yet strong and distant or mysterious — basically fitting all the impossible beauty standards.
The internet has been full of videos like ‘How to Be a Slavic Doll’ or ‘How to Date a Slavic Woman’ — the trend which quickly went viral openly promotes unhealthy beauty ideals, stereotypes and fetishization of Eastern European women.
But then again, why do we feel like we have to meet certain beauty ideals? And who decides what’s “beautiful”?
#4
I scrubbed my front teeth so hard and overly brushed them for hours bc I thought it would make them white now I have an enamel of an old person.
#5
When I was younger I used the edge of my toy house to push my front teeth together bcs my gap was actually tragic (and It worked LMAO).
Norfolk and good 1 day ago (edited)
I think a gap in between your front teeth looks cool. It's trendy now, thanks to people like Aimee Lou Wood, Madonna, Anna Paquin, Laurence Fishburne and Alex Horne (British writer/comedian and creator of the TV show Taskmaster) etc.
#6
I put ice packs on my stomach thinking I could 'freeze the fat off'. It went numb after 45 minutes and I forgot, my stomach got hard and waxy so I poured boiling water on it to thaw it out and now I have a huge ice burn scar from 5 years ago.
#7
I faked every eye exam because I wanted to look like the cute quirky book nerd. And get prescribed glasses. My eyes adjusted, and now I actually need the glasses.
Emma London 1 day ago
What is it with people wanting glasses in this post? I got glasses when I was only four and it was NOT fun.
Being considered good-looking can open doors in ways most people don’t even realize. While this has been true throughout history — Edward Thorndike even described it in the 1920s with his Halo Effect — the idea of “pretty privilege” became popular more recently, especially in online feminist conversations and social media platforms.
Research shows that looking a certain way often feels linked to being accepted, confident, or successful — so it’s easy to feel like you have to meet those beauty standards just to feel valued.
Experts say these standards are learned from culture, family, and social norms, not naturally hard‑wired.
Compliments on how you look or comments about body shape during childhood can deeply affect how you look at yourself later in life.
#8
I put rubber bands around my two front teeth to try and get rid of my tooth gap 😭
Emma London 1 day ago
That doesn't differ much from the official way of attaching small rubber bands between your teeth and your night braces.
#9
I would press my fingers into the sides of my face hard to try and get dimples. I now have small varicose veins there 🤣 and no dimples.
#10
Anyone else chemical burn their skin trying to remove their freckles only for it to be trendy when we got older?
Trying to keep up with a trend or comparing yourself to unrealistic body images can leave a long-lasting impact. It can even lead to serious physical or mental health issues, such as anxiety and eating disorders.
It’s easy to feel conscious or unhappy with your own body when you believe you need to look a certain way to be seen as attractive or even accepted in the society.
Such beauty standards can affect people’s overall well‑being — lowering self-esteem, and even keeping them from hanging out with friends or getting into relationships.
#11
The way I slept in saran wrap every night at 11 was criminal.
#12
I liked Gerard way a lot so I practiced the way he spoke out of the side of his mouth for hours and now I look like a 50 yr old chain smoker without the cigarette hanging out of my mouth every time I talk.
#13
When I wipe my makeup off and see the beauty mark I tattooed with eyeliner and a needle at 16.
#14
I was constantly trying to slouch and stand leaning on one leg to appear shorter. I’ve always been tall and wanted to be short and cute like my friends. Now I’m shaped like a question mark permanently.
UnclePanda 1 day ago
In massage, this is called the tall man's stoop and was generally seen in the first boys to get their height as they literally tried to not stand out. The woman's version was common among the first girl to develop breasts, in that they learned to roll their shoulders forward to hide them. Both could result in lifetime skeletal discomfort.
#15
When I was little I was sooo insecure abt my arm hair so I poured clear nail polish all over my arms to convince my family I had a skin disease so they would have to shave my arms ?? the doctor came in w nail polish remover so fast😭
Big Chungus 1 day ago
I also have hairy arms and I hated it...I grew up and realized basically everyone does lol
Knowing the difference between what is real and what isn’t, especially when it comes from an online source, can make a huge difference when it comes to self-confidence and body image.
Following more body-positive celebrities and influencers is one of the ways to stop yourself from feeling insecure.
At the same time, it’s also important to surround yourself with people who value you for who you are, instead of how you look — people who don’t constantly comment on your appearance, or give unsolicited advice on diet and exercise.
Some experts also give pointers on how not to fall prey to unrealistic beauty standards.
“Talk to older people and ask them what trends were popular when they were younger. You’ll realise that aspirations were very different even 10 years ago, and will therefore likely change in the future,” professor of psychology Phillippa Diedrichs told The Guardian.
But if you find yourself going deeper and deeper into the wormhole, it is important to reach out to a therapist to understand the thoughts and emotions that can stem from the pressure to meet impossible beauty standards.
#16
Had a skin tag and cut it off now I have a hole in my skin.
Con O Cuinn 1 day ago (edited)
I think the hole is better. Skin tags catching on clothing are a nightmare
#17
In elementary school I wanted chin like Demi Lovato so I scratched a line on my chin for a few months until my mom saw the scab and made me stop. I still have a scar 😭
#18
I had a mole on my face and cut it off.
BookFanatic 1 day ago
I had one on my eyelid, right by the lashes. I finally worried/pinched it off with my thumb and index fingernails.
#19
I always sucked in my stomach when I was little and now i have horrible flared ribs.
#21
i used to spend about an hour per day dragging my face across carpet flooring cause I liked how red faces looked.
#22
I used to shave my entireee face and one day my mom said “did you shave ur face??” In front of all my friends I was so embarrassed.
#23
I used to wake up at 3am every morning because I read it was the highest your metabolism was so I could do 150sit ups.. which did nothing because I refused to eat, so I just sucked in my tummy all the time and now I have tummy pains and my body can't tell me when I'm hungry until I shake.
Fire Singer 11 hours ago
Both my sister and brother had eating disorders in high school. Scared my mom so badly it actually made her over reactive whenever I wasn't hungry. Not blaming mom, she did her best by all us kids!
#25
I used to stare at the sun for like a couple seconds till my eyes hurt cause I was jealous of people wearing glasses as a kid.
Emma London 1 day ago
Didn't we all do this sometimes, because seeing spots when you closed your eyes was fun?
#26
This is me wondering why my heart beats so fast all the time and remembering I used to eat so many little packets of salt as a snack.
RomanceRadish 1 day ago
Still have that checked out by a doctor. There could be other reasons.
#27
I blame the YouTube videos that told me to put loom bands and earring backs on my teeth for fake braces.
Lara Verne 1 day ago
I wonder why people like braces so much? I had braces and while they straighten my teeth, I hated them.They were uncomfortable and I thought they looked super ugly.
#28
Me when I used to put rhinestones on my teeth with NAIL glue.
#29
When I look at my wrist and see the heart shaped scar because a friend in high school said she could give me a pencil “tattoo.”
Tempest 1 day ago
Went through the list thinking phew I didn’t do anything crazy but this reminded me of something crazy I DID do. In grade 6 or 7 someone started a trend of using the sharp pin head of a compass (the mathematical instrument) to write/draw stuff on your skin. Like dermatographia but done intentionally and with a sharp. It would leave thin red scars of whatever you etched. No idea what the point of it was. My parents were so annoyed and they had relatives asking them if I was okay lol. It took my mom to just look me in the face one day and straight up ask if I’m stupid for me to finally come to my senses.
#30
Had me up all night doing “Ab workouts” and drinking lemon water by 8am at 12.
#31
I wanted braces so bad that I’d wrap rubber bands around my teeth that my friend, who actually had braces, gave me. Now my two front teeth tilt towards each other bc the bands pushed them together :/ tragic
#32
I pierced my own lip twice it was very graphic, painful and unsanitary.
#33
Me with my horrible posture and scoliosis because I thought having bad surfer girl posture looked cool as a kid.
#34
Used a nail file on my nose because it’s too big, scratched my eyes to try get glasses and repeatedly banged my face on my bunkbed to make my teeth fall out because people younger than me were getting adult teeth before me.
#35
I once cut my eyelashes with nail clippers bc everyone at gymnastics told me they were really long so I interpreted that as a bad thing lmao.
#36
Would wear a side bang over one eye so I could get glasses. now i have a lazy eye and permanent side bang.
#37
when I was younger I used to violently squeeze and press my nose together with my fingers to make it smaller (im talking the bridge bone as well) and now I have a deviated septum on one side 😇
#38
I “pierced” my own bellybutton when I was 15. I used an earring use for ear piercings.
#39
I literally would put straight raw honey in my eyes because the internet told me that could lighten them in color...anyway so I appreciate dark brown eyes now.
#40
I used to put salt in my eyes so that I can wear glasses and look cool😭now I have eyesight problems.
Luke || Kira (he/she) 1 day ago
I'm SURE there are better ways to achieve this, like, idk... buying fake glasses
#41
I used to purposefully put bruises on my legs when I was younger so that I looked cool. I would push corners into myself so hard, that now I'm stuck with dents, marks, and easily bruise-able legs.
Emma London 1 day ago
When I was a teen it was cool to have suction marks (from making out) so girls gave them to themselves, sucking their arms and legs after a hot bath or a sauna.
#42
I’m flat footed so I would purposely stand on the outside of my foot but now I permanently walk bowed legged & my spine is crooked.
WalterWhiteSavannah 1 day ago
I work with someone in their early 30s who always walked on tip toe as a kid to look taller. She now has permanently shrunken ligaments and literally can't walk normally. She's always on tip toes and bounces when she walks. It looks exhausting.
#43
I faked needing glasses when I was 9 to cover a mole on the side of my nose and now I cannot see anything beyond my hand.
#44
Oh and I painted my hair red with edding because I wasn‘t allowed to dye it yet. Needless to say it didn‘t work and my neck, my clothes etc. Got red from it :)
Upstaged75 1 day ago
We used to use a product called Sun-In. It's meant for blonde people, but a few of my brunette friends and I tried it. Not only does it make your hair look orange, if you swim a lot in chlorinated pools, it will eventually start to get a greenish tint. We looked like circus clowns for a while there. 🤡
#45
When I was younger I hated my blonde hair and so I took my black mascara and spread it all over my eyebrows and I used coffee grounds and eyeshadow to dye my hair 😭 my eyebrows stayed dark the rest of my teen years.
#46
When I was 9 i was so sick of sweating because i got made fun of my sweat patches in pe and thought spraying deodorant all over my body would make me never sweat again. To this day I am covered in burn scars.
#47
After a while i stopped losing baby teeth. So one day I just started pulling and got the last 3 out in like an hour.
#48
Where are all the girls that got dimples using a pen on their cheeks???
#49
I used to wake up at 4am everyday in freshman yr to do my makeup cause i was so insecure and felt like i needed to put on a mask.
#50
Used to be obsessed with smirking and smirked every time I was asked to smile when I was younger. now whenever I smile my smile is lopsided and whenever I talk I talk lopsided.
#51
one of my eyebrows is permanently lifted in photos and in general bcuz I rly liked how Bella Swan did it so I forced myself to do it automatically.
BookFanatic 1 day ago
Same. I mean, not the Bella Swan bit, but I raised my eyebrow so often that now they're crooked.
#52
I used to not be able to raise one eyebrow, but I really wanted to. So I would practice all the time in the mirror, holding one down with my finger while I tried to raise the other. It worked, but now one of my eyebrows is pointy and the other isn’t.
#53
I would scream in a pillow so my voice would be raspy.
WalterWhiteSavannah 1 day ago
Drinking a boatload of rum or whiskey will do that temporarily. But you'll also have a brutal hangover.
#54
I used to purposely stay up late and not sleep so i could have "cool" under eye bags now i just constantly look slightly sick.
#55
Me laughing at the comment section till I remembered how I created my back dimples in middle school😂🤦🏽♀️welp guess we all had no dollar and a dream.
#56
I thought it’d be cute and quirky to have a high pitched “adorable” sneeze and now I can’t stop I literally reprogrammed my freaking sneeze.
Blue Bunny of Happiness 1 day ago
I used to have a really loud sneeze. Foghorn like loudness, whereas my sister sneezes like a cat. Read in my 40s something about sneeze noises being learn/created and not a direct physical response, or something like that. Long story short, I trained myself to sneeze more quietly. I still don’t sound like a cat though.
#57
In 5th grade I was obsesses with Quinn Fabray from Glee and I copied the way she purses her lips when she talks and the way her voice is very airy and I realized literally like a week ago that I STILL talk like that. I was sick.
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Multa Nocte 1 day ago
This article is a nightmare. It appears it has gotten significantly worse since I was a girl. 😣
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
It makes me sad :( Maybe there's something to be said for being the weirdo of the class (like I was.) The other girls didn't want to be my friend, but I never felt the need to do anything to myself to "fit in" with them or conform myself to some movie/TV show standard of beauty. Of course, now I'm just a social misfit XD
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Apatheist 1 day ago
Since when did people WANT to wear glasses? I'd have loved not to have had to, I could have been much better at sports if I'd been able to see what I was doing. That's weird.
WubiDubi 1 day ago
I have a friend who wears zero correction glasses. I saw someone on the train with glasses with no lenses in. Fashion...
Load More Replies...
Lady Eowyn 1 day ago
This is sick. I don't remember stuff like this going on when I was young.
Multa Nocte 1 day ago
This article is a nightmare. It appears it has gotten significantly worse since I was a girl. 😣
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 day ago
It makes me sad :( Maybe there's something to be said for being the weirdo of the class (like I was.) The other girls didn't want to be my friend, but I never felt the need to do anything to myself to "fit in" with them or conform myself to some movie/TV show standard of beauty. Of course, now I'm just a social misfit XD
Load More Replies... Apatheist 1 day ago
Since when did people WANT to wear glasses? I'd have loved not to have had to, I could have been much better at sports if I'd been able to see what I was doing. That's weird.
WubiDubi 1 day ago
I have a friend who wears zero correction glasses. I saw someone on the train with glasses with no lenses in. Fashion...
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 1 day ago
This is sick. I don't remember stuff like this going on when I was young.
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