The Tiktok-plastic surgery pipeline
The algorithm killed the golden ratio, rapidly rewiring what we find "beautiful"
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For centuries, the golden ratio ruled our ideas of beauty. This eternal proportion was seen in nature, in ancient Egyptian and Roman art, in the symmetric ideals espoused by plastic surgeons in beauty magazines.
This 1:1.6 ratio was the “pouty” lip, where the bottom lip would be 0.6 larger than the top lip.
Note: There’s even a little research on the preferences of Asian and Latin populations for augmentation and for African Americans, but they aren’t highly conclusive.
Well, the Tiktok filters and injection business is rapidly changing that. A 1:1 lip ratio is taking over, where the top and bottom lip are the same pillowy size.
The New Ideal: Filtered Me
Once people went to plastic surgeons clutching magazines with their fave celeb.
Now they increasingly use Face-tuned or beauty filtered images of themselves. Another fave: plastic surgery before/after accounts,
But here’s the thing: just because AI can make your face look that way, injections or even surgery may not.
“They were using Snapchat, phase two, Lightroom, Snapseed. It becomes much harder to give someone a realistic expectation when they're bringing in a glorified, beautified image of themselves. Sometimes what they're chasing, it's just not possible. And I'll say ‘I can't do this with a clear conscience, because I don't think you will be happy with the outcome.’ I mean, you can never go back once you do something - Dr. Neelam Vashi
The once inescapable Bold Glamour filter is a prime example.
But there are newer versions, getting even more Anime sparkle elf:
The Old Me
And yet, here’s another complication.
One of the most brutal beauty standards as we age is our younger self. Studies show—especially when it comes to body image—what we “were” is the huge pressure. To “get our body back” is an intense mind-bender that never really goes away.
So while a filter or photo edit can haunt us with an impossibly featured, typically younger (if you’re 30+) version of you, there’s also the ghost of our own younger self to benchmark ourselves against.
The Real “Average”
You know the saying of you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with?
We “average” what we are exposed to in terms of beauty expectations. That “average” standard becomes the benchmark to emulate, to measure against, to beat. If you are in a room of 100, it’s the 100. If you are on a social media feed, it’s the FYP + your feed.
In other words “Keeping up with the Joneses” is an ingrained thing in our own beauty standards, not just the cars we drive.
In terms of Representation Matters, this broader exposure has done a lot of good.
People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” in 1990:
12% people of color
average age: 33
People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful People” in 2017:
30% people of color
average age: 39
If only we had mass media to benchmark these days. So trackable, so easy to understand and interrogate.
But everyone’s feed + FYP is much more slippery and ever-changing than the days of the average internet.
It’s much harder to gauge how you (and your customers and your kids) are being micro-led and how or how frequently that changes. It’s something even the best AI-driven marketing dashboard can’t keep up on or meaningfully drill into.
We Distort FAST
What’s even more mind-blowing is how quickly that “average ideal” can change.
The MD/professor/laser specialist/ethnic skin expert interviewed mentioned a fascinating study.
A study had children around age 8 rate pictures for facial beauty. The kids were then shown a series of storybooks with distorted faces—more elongated, squished or with other exaggerated features.
The researchers then gave the kids another beauty survey. Immediately what the children found “beautiful” shifted towards the distortion.
Forget Lip (color) trends, it’s now Lip Filler Trends
A quick search for trends shows the that 1.6/1 ration may be coming back, but it may be headed for the top lip going bigger than the bottom.
My Hair Salon, My Injectables
When the person doing your injections is a 25 year old in a hair salon or spa, will they give you different advice? I think so—but that doesn’t mean people of all ages won’t be taking it.
My salon started doing injections about a year ago and increasingly, I noticed most everyone who works there now has the same lips. And so do many clients.
They don’t look comfortable. But admittedly I did find myself scanning the crowd the last time I sat in my foils, looking to see how many un-needled lips still lived in the crowd. Happily, there was a still an “average” that was ok being average.
Much of this came from an interesting Apple News podcast.
What happens when you go too hard on influencers and private equity?
Ask Sézane.
This widely shared Sézane critique is a worthwhile deep dive on modern retail/brand building by
The early strategy seemed genius: $600+/month clothing allowances to influencers vs prescribing specific items made the brand seem “everywhere.” NYC boutiques. Drops hitting on Parisian time, with limited edition clothes worth waking up early for, as they all created an online frenzy.
But quality has dropped faster than an eyelet blouse.
Beautifully boxed ships spritzed with eau de toilette and handwritten notes gave way to clearly worn or damaged product, even this one with someone else’s cough drops and (I think) menstrual pad inside.
Why? Follow the money, honey:
And who is this mysterious investor, General Atlantic? A private equity firm with significant stakes in SHEIN, one of the worst fast fashion companies in the world, set to go public soon. Sézane's investor also owns stake in ByteDance, better known as TikTok—where Sézane’s influencers are highly active with those honest reviews.1
In 2022, Sézane also added Tethys as an investor. Tethys is an investment fund owned by Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter and heiress of the founder of global beauty giant L'Oréal… the richest woman billionaire in the world.
Sézane is clearly under a lot of pressure from investors to quickly generate profits and possibly go public, and it’s working pretty well for them. On paper, this might look like a success story for those who prioritize growth and profit above all else.
Yes, it is hard to survive as a brand in today's insane market and economy.
Personally, the second blouse I bought years ago had two buttons pop off and that was it for me.
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Haley Nahman, well-known substacker and ex-Man Repeller writer announces she’s reducing her insane publishing schedule bcause it’s impossible to work 24-7 after having a baby.
An intense read about a woman finding out she’s autistic in in her 40s.
Marketing Takeaways:
The beauty standard is increasingly niche-ifying and while age is a factor, it’s not the only one.
Every marketer needs to be on Tiktok personally - which for some of us, is a turnoff to be marketers.
Give your influencers a budget AND a brief.
Private equity: don’t destroy brand value and quality, the very online are watching.
Tiktok, again
Great article. I had no idea about the TikTok filter plastic surgery. So wild and sad. Why do so many want to look the same??? And are big brands still falling into the influencer trap??? Even worse, are we?? Adults need to keep their feet rooted in reality on social as to protect our youth. If we can’t stay grounded in reality, how will they?? And aren’t we done with bigger is better yet in business?? So many brands have fallen in their greatness as a result of “scaling” 😫