People Are Sharing Their Glow Up Pics After Moving Out Of The Conservative Households That They Grew Up In Interview
There’s nothing like seeing a person gain the self-confidence and courage to be who they really are. Sometimes, it takes a big change like leaving your family home or your hometown to feel free enough to express who we always were deep inside. TikTokers are sharing their impressive personal transformations after they left their conservative households or towns, and the jaw-dropping results are inspiring others to reveal their own stories of change.
The person who popularized this latest trend is a 19-year-old TikTok user from Utah, Cherryemojigirl, whose ‘glow-up’ is very radical: the difference is like night and day. Scroll down to see some of the very best TikToker ‘glow-ups’ and let us know which ones left the biggest impression on you and why.
Bored Panda reached out to 24-year-old teacher and writer Jay Burleigh (aka jaybaebae96) who shared her glow-up video after coming out to her family and friends as queer. According to her, this was a huge turning point in embracing her identity. “I was terrified for so long of the judgment I’d face and the relationships I’d do but I finally decided that I needed to prioritize myself and accept who I am,” she said. Read on for the rest of our interview with Jay.
TikTok user Cherryemojigirl started a viral trend
She shared how she felt pressured to dress and look a certain way while living at home
However, when she moved out, she completely transformed herself
Image credits: cherryemojigirl
Her video got over 10.1 million views. You can watch it right here
@cherryemojigirlif you knew me in middle and high school, no you didn’t ❤️ feel free to use this audio ##gloup ##transformation♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Cherryemojigirl’s viral TikTok video got a massive amount of attention on the video-sharing platform: it got over 10.1 million views, 2.7 million likes, and 10.6k comments.
And, of course, the video got others sharing their similar stories about completely overhauling their appearance after moving out.
According to Cherryemojigirl, she wasn’t allowed to express herself through her appearance because she grew up in a conservative household. Her main issue was that how she looked in middle and high school didn’t represent the ‘real’ her; she felt pressured by her family, peers, and society to look a certain way.
After graduating, the TikToker felt that she was finally free to dress and look how she wanted to. She changed her hair, got piercings and tattoos, and got new vibrant clothes to fit her new sense of style. She barely resembles who she was just a few short years ago.
What do you think about Cherryemojigirl’s new look, dear Pandas? Which particular change stood out the most for you? Do you have any stories about your own personal transformations? Share your thoughts and opinions with all the other Pandas in the comments.
One of the people who shared their glow-up videos, Jay Burleigh, told Bored Panda about coming out as queer to her loved ones
Image credits: jaybaebae96
@jaybaebae96If you’re from hs and seeing this, yes I know I wasn’t cool but I’m on ~top~ now. ##iykyk ##gaytiktok ##lesbian ##lesbiantiktok ##lgbt ##lgbtq ##fyp ##glowup♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Since coming out, Jay embraced and explored her gender fluidity. “I’d been so used to such strict expectations of what made a person a woman and what made them a man so anything in between wasn’t seen as ‘girly’ or ‘manly.’ I had to release those ideas and restructure my ideas of what made me feel more feminine and what made me feel more masculine and what just let me float in between. With this, I really learned to love myself for every piece of me.”
Jay shared some advice for anyone who’s feeling pressured by their family and friends to look and act a certain way. “It doesn’t matter how hard you try, you’ll never please everyone, but by embracing yourself the self-love you feel will overcome the judgment around you,” she said.
“Be okay with the idea that people will leave your life, learn from the lesson they left, and be bravely and beautifully you despite the hate that lives around us. It’s a long and hard journey but it’s well worth the climb,” Jay gave some motivational advice for anyone and everyone who might be struggling right now.
Inspired by the trend, other TikTok users shared their own glow-up stories and showed how much they changed
Image credits: masondenverr
@masondenverrI’ve never felt so seen by an audio before.♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: ashertattoos
@ashertattoosSorry Mahm 🥳♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: captainofthecows
@captainofthecowsi had to google how to use tik tok to make this but this has me DYING. how do i find ##trans tik tok 👁👄👁♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: cybr.grl
@cybr.grlexposing my past 😳 my parents chose my clothes so I didn’t have much freedom wearing what I wanted to…but now that I’m grown I can 🤪 ##rainbowlady♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: leonardoxdeasis
@leonardoxdeasisThis sound read me for filth so I knew I had to do it. 😂🤣 I got a mullet now but I HAD to bring back my old hair for this haha! ##fyp ##guam ##gloup♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: moodie.maggie
@moodie.maggiehad to hop on this trend 👀 ##fyp ##alt♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: myakatee
@myakateeoops 🤭♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: nikidemar
@nikidemarthis is called graduating catholic school glow up ##greenscreen ##fyp♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: quiet.cos
@quiet.cosIt’s the Snapchat filters for me ##greenscreen ##fyp ##glowup ##goth ##trend ##stepintolove ##SongOfTheSummer ##moodflip♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: scary_styles
@scary_stylesaye yo. alabama check ##BeautyEssentials ##moodflip ##transformation ##glowupchallenge ##fyp♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: thiccydyke
@thiccydykemy friends arent “PrEpPy” but i had to hop on this audio ##greenscreen ##fyp♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
Image credits: thiiiisfoolia5150
@thiiiisfoolia5150Graduated 9 years ago and am finally finding out who I am ##fyp ##glowup♬ growing up conservative glo up – cherryemojigirl 🍒
I raised my daughter to understand that how she behaved, how she treated others, and how hard she tried were the things that mattered. Appearance was just a matter of personal preference. She started high school with a mohawk in our very conservative small town. Nobody said a word, I'm glad to report.
Thats good parenting
Bravo for allowing her to be herself. I feel like too many parents, mine included, saw their children as representations of them so they had to be mini models. I hated it and felt jailed within my own body.
Jo Choto.... would you adopt me? :D Seriously though....you're a very very cool parent (for allowing your kid to have a mohawk AND teaching them that their behaviour is more important than just their appearance)
But it's not just about appearance but the reasons for choosing that style. I don't care if somebody is a goth for example as long as that's what they are happy with but if they are choosing that style to fit in with friends it's not a good idea. You can tell the genuine apart from those who are wearing certain clothes to fit in or to rebel.
This is cool and all, but f*ck tiktok.
why?
Alessandra... No, it doesn't. Even if it did, Facebook, Instagram, and literally most of the other social medias you probably use, steal your stuff in the first place. Your GPS is active on Google, too. And Instagram. And Facebook. Guess what other social medias and search engines ALSO have algorithms that use AIs to study what your interests are, and what your personality is like. None of that is evil, it's a benign thing. It's not used for "evil" things, they just want you to keep scrolling longer and see stuff that you may want to buy, so that you buy something from an ad, and they pay the search engine/social media money because they showed their ad on their website to get more traffic for the ad they were sponsering.
why did yall downvote my comment for asking a question🕴️
It's made to steal ur data; it has a collection of all your apps installed and removed, reminds of all your locations if your gps is active, it saves how much of photos or videos you have on your phone, how much numbers you have saved and more. Plus it has a weird algorithm that changes very often in order to not get investigated. Plus some parts of his program composition change too for the same reason.
Because it’s China owned and they steal your data.
Why?
Why not?
Dear parents, allow your kids to express themselves while young so once they reach adulthood they don’t do a 180 on you. Quit caring so much about what Karen next door will say. They’re your kids. Let them be happy. Sincerely, one of those adults who grew up with strict parents
Well said!
You had me here with everything, except for the Karen thing. It needs to stop. My name is Karen and this is nothing more than bullying. And for those of you out there that want to say, that I'm just behaving like a "Karen". You can't think of anything better to say, so that's your go to. I'm a nice person. I'm a good person. I'm a kind person. I'm not a racist and I'm tired of having to tell people this. If you think it's funny. It's not. You're all using my name as a slur and it's hurtful.
I agree completely CatWoman312. As someone who also had strict parents, and then never had a chance to express myself, because I was working from age 12.... I will 100% be actively encouraging my kids to experiment with their looks. It's the one time in life when there are so few repercussions for it (ie you won't get fired for having blue hair etc). Seriously - let them frikken play!!! <3
Maybe they were expressing themselves in the before photos as well as the after photos. They reflected who they were, who they were hanging out with and the fashions at the time. Anybody who can read facial expressions can tell the after photo for cherryemojigirl shows an angry smile. If anybody looked at me with that expression I would give them a wide berth. Besides many of them in ten year's time will look back at the after photos and wonder what they were thinking at the time and how they looked better in the before photos. Nikidimar looks unhappy and quite aggressive and scary_styles looks peeved. It's like most of them have got in with a bad crowd after leaving home and had to adapt their appearance to appease them.
Moodie.maggie looks surly in the after photos. Most of the appearance changes go along with a change of attitude towards being surly and unapproachable.
I agree with you except for one thing. Sorry to nitpick but I hope people stop using 'karen' as an insult. It's harmful because its used often as a catch-all insult towards women, with the goal to shut them up and stereotype them as whiny and entitled. Usually by white dudes who dont like hearing what someone has to say or who want to paint any angry woman as a 'karen'. There's no real male equivalent, and moreover, it's not very clever nor original as an insult. If you want interesting articles about why it's bad to use the term, look up 'is karen sexist' or the guardian has a good article about it too. The fact me just saying this gets me labelled with 'ok karen' or whatever is exactly what I mean.
Yes that is true, but some women actually do act like this, as someone who's worked in retail, middle aged white women are far more likely to act rude
Beans easy
all I have to say is I'm almost 15 and my parents still won't let me do anything with my body, I have been asking simply only for dyed hair since I was about 6 or 7, I understand a little more about not letting me get my hair dyed at so young but now I see all my friends and people everywhere who look so amazing and are themselves because their parents let them express themselves and I see it all the time and it just keeps making me more and more self conscious because I can't express who I want to be but they want me to maintain their image. I know they don't like it but its me and I want to be able to express who I am not be 'normal' like they expect me to be.
I raised my daughter to understand that how she behaved, how she treated others, and how hard she tried were the things that mattered. Appearance was just a matter of personal preference. She started high school with a mohawk in our very conservative small town. Nobody said a word, I'm glad to report.
Thats good parenting
Bravo for allowing her to be herself. I feel like too many parents, mine included, saw their children as representations of them so they had to be mini models. I hated it and felt jailed within my own body.
Jo Choto.... would you adopt me? :D Seriously though....you're a very very cool parent (for allowing your kid to have a mohawk AND teaching them that their behaviour is more important than just their appearance)
But it's not just about appearance but the reasons for choosing that style. I don't care if somebody is a goth for example as long as that's what they are happy with but if they are choosing that style to fit in with friends it's not a good idea. You can tell the genuine apart from those who are wearing certain clothes to fit in or to rebel.
This is cool and all, but f*ck tiktok.
why?
Alessandra... No, it doesn't. Even if it did, Facebook, Instagram, and literally most of the other social medias you probably use, steal your stuff in the first place. Your GPS is active on Google, too. And Instagram. And Facebook. Guess what other social medias and search engines ALSO have algorithms that use AIs to study what your interests are, and what your personality is like. None of that is evil, it's a benign thing. It's not used for "evil" things, they just want you to keep scrolling longer and see stuff that you may want to buy, so that you buy something from an ad, and they pay the search engine/social media money because they showed their ad on their website to get more traffic for the ad they were sponsering.
why did yall downvote my comment for asking a question🕴️
It's made to steal ur data; it has a collection of all your apps installed and removed, reminds of all your locations if your gps is active, it saves how much of photos or videos you have on your phone, how much numbers you have saved and more. Plus it has a weird algorithm that changes very often in order to not get investigated. Plus some parts of his program composition change too for the same reason.
Because it’s China owned and they steal your data.
Why?
Why not?
Dear parents, allow your kids to express themselves while young so once they reach adulthood they don’t do a 180 on you. Quit caring so much about what Karen next door will say. They’re your kids. Let them be happy. Sincerely, one of those adults who grew up with strict parents
Well said!
You had me here with everything, except for the Karen thing. It needs to stop. My name is Karen and this is nothing more than bullying. And for those of you out there that want to say, that I'm just behaving like a "Karen". You can't think of anything better to say, so that's your go to. I'm a nice person. I'm a good person. I'm a kind person. I'm not a racist and I'm tired of having to tell people this. If you think it's funny. It's not. You're all using my name as a slur and it's hurtful.
I agree completely CatWoman312. As someone who also had strict parents, and then never had a chance to express myself, because I was working from age 12.... I will 100% be actively encouraging my kids to experiment with their looks. It's the one time in life when there are so few repercussions for it (ie you won't get fired for having blue hair etc). Seriously - let them frikken play!!! <3
Maybe they were expressing themselves in the before photos as well as the after photos. They reflected who they were, who they were hanging out with and the fashions at the time. Anybody who can read facial expressions can tell the after photo for cherryemojigirl shows an angry smile. If anybody looked at me with that expression I would give them a wide berth. Besides many of them in ten year's time will look back at the after photos and wonder what they were thinking at the time and how they looked better in the before photos. Nikidimar looks unhappy and quite aggressive and scary_styles looks peeved. It's like most of them have got in with a bad crowd after leaving home and had to adapt their appearance to appease them.
Moodie.maggie looks surly in the after photos. Most of the appearance changes go along with a change of attitude towards being surly and unapproachable.
I agree with you except for one thing. Sorry to nitpick but I hope people stop using 'karen' as an insult. It's harmful because its used often as a catch-all insult towards women, with the goal to shut them up and stereotype them as whiny and entitled. Usually by white dudes who dont like hearing what someone has to say or who want to paint any angry woman as a 'karen'. There's no real male equivalent, and moreover, it's not very clever nor original as an insult. If you want interesting articles about why it's bad to use the term, look up 'is karen sexist' or the guardian has a good article about it too. The fact me just saying this gets me labelled with 'ok karen' or whatever is exactly what I mean.
Yes that is true, but some women actually do act like this, as someone who's worked in retail, middle aged white women are far more likely to act rude
Beans easy
all I have to say is I'm almost 15 and my parents still won't let me do anything with my body, I have been asking simply only for dyed hair since I was about 6 or 7, I understand a little more about not letting me get my hair dyed at so young but now I see all my friends and people everywhere who look so amazing and are themselves because their parents let them express themselves and I see it all the time and it just keeps making me more and more self conscious because I can't express who I want to be but they want me to maintain their image. I know they don't like it but its me and I want to be able to express who I am not be 'normal' like they expect me to be.