My sophomore year of college, I lived with another Heather.
There are two things I will always remember about Heather Jones. One, she was the first Monica Geller I’d ever met in real life. Damn, that girl loved clean. She loved it so much that before she would allow her brothers to move any of her belongings in, she and her mother bleached the kitchen floor. Scrubbed it with tiny little brushes, on their hands and knees. And then they tackled the bathroom. When I moved in two days later, the apartment smelled of Clorox and apple cinnamon potpourri. It smelled that way for an entire year.
Heather was also the first person I ever met with a Mirror Face.
Every morning, she would go about the routine of taming her long curly hair, applying her make-up just so, and when she was all done, she’d stand back, look into the mirror and make the most unnatural expression I’d ever seen.
It was her Mirror Face. And it looked a little something like Blue Steel – only with her head tilted about forty-five degrees to the right. Now, Heather was (and I’m sure still is) a very pretty girl. But this face, the one she made every single time she wanted to assess her visage, was… well, a little bit not. It was facial contortionism and it didn’t look a thing like her.
It was downright odd. But, as it turns out, not totally uncommon.
My old boss had a Mirror Face. Anson’s mother has a Mirror Face. And they, just like my old roommate, are totally oblivious to it. Heather looked at us like we were delirious when her fiancé and I told her that no, she didn’t actually look like that in real life. Ever. Except when she checked herself out.
I started to get afraid that I might have Mirror Face and be completely unaware. And so the other day, when I was attempting a self portrait in my bathroom, I decided to find out for sure. With the camera poised at my chest, I leaned in to the mirror, made like I’d applied some mascara, stepped back and click!
Contortion free!
I was only partially satisfied, though. It wasn’t exactly a perfect sampling. So, please. I’m begging you. The next time we’re getting ready to go out (I’m looking at you) or touching up our lip gloss after karaoke (ahem), take a really good look. If you see any Le Tigre going on, put a stop to it right there. You owe it to me as a friend.
Mirror Face. It’s like, Visible Panty Line above the neck. *Shudder*
Ha! My sister makes mirror face. She sucks in her cheeks and raises one eyebrow. She looks like she sucked on a lemon. It drives me crazy.
I mean, we all have picture faces, but we all know that’s not what we look like. Mirror face is just absurd.
So true! My friend has mirror face, and considering she takes forever to get ready and goes into the bathroom once an hour for five minutes to “touch up,” I’ve gotten to see it a lot. I don’t think I could even replicate the expression if I tried–it’s a combination of leaning into the mirror, puckering her lips, sucking in her cheeks, and raising her eyebrows a bit, all at the same time!
I am so digging this new posting schedule!
I fret that this will cause you mild consternation but Heather darling… you are never not you. You’re one of the rare people that I can recall hanging out with where I’ve never thought;
what? why’d she say/dress/drink/laugh… etc, that way – that’s so not her.
You’re always you and of course that would extend to the mirror. Which makes me wonder, do you even have a parent phone voice? You remember, that voice that would suddenly emerge from your throat when you were in high school, calling a friend on the phone – only to have their mom or dad answer? The parent-phone voice might be one of the oddest rites of growing up.
Anyhoo… you and your face are pleasingly normal.
OMG… you were trying to tell me that I have a mirror face – weren’t you?!?!
I don’t know about a mirror face, but I know I have a picture face. That one makes me look like a retarded hyena–for some reason I always tilt my head to one side and open my mouth very wide. It’s truly terrible, and I always look much better than that in the mirror (and I hope in real life…).
More distrubing, methinks, is having a fiance when you’re a sophmore in college. God, being engage in college is like going to Vegas without your wallet or spare liver.
I agree with you Mike, that’s what I tell my little 19 year old sister. All of her freinds she graduated with are now married at 19 and 20!!!
Anyway, back to topic….I think we all have a distorted view of ourselves and perhaps making a funny face is either a way of avoiding self criticism or just unconcious all together. (:0)
To be fair, she was a senior in college. Twenty-two isn’t SO young… especially in light of the fact that this was Mormon country.
That’s so funny. When you said fiancee I really thought you meant NOW. Like, you still see her now and you and her fiance have tried to tell her about the mirror face. Didn’t even occur to me to think that you meant she had a fiance THEN. Back in college.
Anyway, now I’m gonna be all conscious of this mirror face thing. Never noticed it before…
Love the blog!
I’m laughing at the fact that no commenter has written “I have a mirror face!” I’ll be the first to admit that I totally have a mirror face.
Everyone has a mirror face and everyone thinks they don’t. Some are just more pronounced than others. My best friend in college and I had this fight 4 years ago. My mirror face consists of pouting my lips out and tilting my head slightly to the right; hers consists of sucking all the air out of her cheeks to give herself cheekbones.
One day I caught myself doing my mirror face while I was running on a treadmill in front of a mirror in the gym. That’s when I had to finally admit I had a problem!
I’ve been known to do it. I thinks it more an anti-vanity thing with me. Like, “let me at least make a face at myself.”
Thanks for the complex there Fish!
(its true- I definitely just whipped out my mirror here in my cube)
Holy crap. This is probably the most enlightening post I’ve read in a long time! Hoop’s mirror face is a cross between looking like he’s smelled something bad and being shocked. LOL. My Mom used to say that people have “sitting faces.” It’s the expression you take on when you’re relaxed. Some people have grumpy sitting faces, or dumb, or quizzical. No matter how they’re really feeling.
I make an Olsen face, but it’s hott, of course;)
It was only recently (in the last 7 years) that I can look myself in the mirror with someone who was a Mirror Face.
I’m brave enough to admit it…….I have a mirror face. It involves a tilted head and pouty lips. Oh, yes, and a slightly raised eyebrow. I’m not sure why. It just seems to happen.
what an interesting post!
Now I’m going to watch everyone in mirrors.
My first college roommate informed me I made a mirror face. I had no idea what she was talking about until she took a picture. Man oh man.
first of all – hi, i’m engaged and 19. sorry folks?
secondly – my mom has a mirror face and i think that my little sister and i have inherited a small bit of it.. we both make this tiny pout when doing our makeup which either comes from extreme concentration or sheer vanity.
My wife – total mirror face. I call her on it, but as you said, its subconsiously done.
I know that I have a mirror face when others are watching me in the mirror. If I am alone, I look at myself normally. If someone is also looking at me in the mirror, I can’t help but to frown. It’s as if I’m scrutinizing myself and trying to see what it is they see.
LOL I’m guilty of mirror face and I know it! When I apply makeup I look so incredibly funny! I make the wierdest faces when I fix my hair too, and when I’m concentrating really hard. But atleast I know that I’m doing it and I know that I don’t really look like that. It’s just something I’ve always done like a reflex. Luckily I don’t do it in public, just in the safe confines of my own bathroom. Great blog by the way!
Oh. My. God.
That TOTALLY describes what a former roomie of mine used to do. I didn’t know there was a term for it! Bril!
I just have to say that mirror face does not solely afflict the female kind! My boyfriend TOTALLY has mirror face and I crack up every time he’s checking to make sure his close aren’t wrinkled for work. His is a very serious look but he also lifts one eyebrow. SO funny!!!
The only time I get mirror face is when I’m trying to get that last little morsel of blow. Scrunches my nose.
ha, this is awesome. my best friend and i have used the term “mirror face” since high school, when our magnetic reflections shared a locker, and i’ve never heard anyone else use it. hers is, i think (hope?), more extreme than mine. she pulls up her eyebrows, drops her chin, sucks in her cheeks, and pouts severely. i just look sort of blank-eyed and pouty, like katie holmes. actually… maybe mine is worse.