As humans, we will unfortunately never know exactly how we look.
We must rely on a camera or mirror to give us an idea of what we look like, although the representation in both will be a little skewed from our actual appearance.
But why is this?
When looking in a mirror we will see a reflection of ourselves that is reversed.
Our brains process this image and we then think it is the correct representation of what we look like.
On the other hand a photo of ourselves is a 2D representation that is not reversed.
It likely looks different from what we see in the mirror as we are not used to seeing ourselves in reverse.
Since our faces are not perfectly symmetrical, our appearance will seem unfamiliar to us.
This is because of something called the mere exposure effect.
This effect is a phenomenon in which people develop a preference for something familiar to them.
In this case we are more familiar with our reflection in a mirror and tend to prefer how we look in one over a camera.
This can also happen with clothing or hairstyles that we see more frequently.
So which is more accurate?
Unfortunately, the answer is that neither a mirror nor a camera can give an accurate representations of what we look like.
Both of these distort our appearance depending on lighting, angles, distance, etc.
Mirrors provide a reversed image and can distort your proportions depending on the angle and distance between you and the mirror.
Cameras show a 2D representation which flattens our features and distorts proportions depending on lighting, angles, and distance to the camera.
In fact, the closer a camera is to you the more distorted the image can get.
For now only others can see our true appearance, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
What do you think gives a better representation of you look? Let us know!
