I wish I knew this earlier. My whole life I’ve been walking around with what is called resting b*tch face. The thing is when you walk around looking like you are bored, tired, angry, you are just plain unapproachable, you give off a “bad vibe”. Practice in the mirror, it’s such a tiny difference it should be barely noticeable. Just a very slight lift of the cheeks and smile with your eyes. I’ve also found this lifts my mood by a tonne. My theory is, when you walk around with a slight smile on your face, not only does it make you look more relaxed, friendly, approachable, confident etc. It also makes it a hell of a lot easier to crack a genuine, friendly smile when it comes to it. And it makes it a hell of a lot harder to resort back to 😒. Give it a shot guys ❤️ Hopefully this can help someone else as much as it did for me.
Edit – spelling.
4 comments
I totally agree. I’ve been doing the light smile and it’s been great. I’m almost to the point I do it by default, and all of the things you observed are true.
yeah i’ve been dealing with a rbf ever since i came out of my mothers womb. but over time i just practice a slight smile and to seem approachable in social settings. but then i learned not to give a flying f about what pre judgements people make about me based on my facial expression. i have fuller afrocentric lips so it may seem like i’m “frowning” but i’m reality i’m not. i’ve heard all my life “why do you look so mean?” “you need to smile more” “she’s rude just look at her” and that feeds the whole “angry black girl” stereotype when i’m the complete opposite of that.
I wonder if I have this problem
Easy tip that I use for this, try to think of the person you would love to hug the most for 10-20 seconds, this automatically keeps me smiling.