This dang mansmile!

[Lisa Pomeroy]

OK, here's one...

I sent some pics to a long-distance friend, and she noted that I looked serious in all of them, so I went back and looked at the shots I had passed over, and I realized that in the ones I was smiling in, I looked a lot more mannish. When I smile--a nice big natural smile--I show WAY too much chin for a woman, and my jaw line tightens, and my lips thin right out, and my cheeks bunch up and make my eyes look small...omigod, I have a MANSMILE! :D

Anyone else wrestling with this weighty issue? Do you smile differently en femme? Any advice on how to smile like a woman?

Next week...blinking! :battingeyelashes:

Pokerfaced Lisa

[Karren H]

Well a woman's smile is a tough one... Women smile all the time..... and it took me a long time to master... hmmm Misterss?? Well after I figured it out... I can't stop smiling... no matter how I'm dressed.. lol

[Alex!]

Oh yes indeed. I avoid smiling en femme because it betrays my masculinity. Smiling is nice, to be sure, but also overrated. Some people have nice smiles and others don't. I also like mystery. A hint of a smile is often much more compelling than a full-blown sunny smile. Da Vinci knew this well.

As a guy, however, I smile lots.

[JoAnne Wheeler]

Lisa - I look the same way - wish I did not look so serious - have tried and tried not to look that way - don't know how to get rid of it - would love to have suggestions
Your sister,
JoAnne Wheeler

[Sally2005]

It takes practice. Somewhere between having elastic bands on the corners of your mouth to your earlobes while only just slightly smiling to look happy but not to show wrinkles. To me I feel like I am smiling, but actually I look serious so it takes some extra effort to actually get a smile. Sorry, can't explain it better, study female photos.

[docrobbysherry]

Oh yes indeed. I avoid smiling en femme because it betrays my masculinity. Smiling is nice, to be sure, but also overrated. Some people have nice smiles and others don't. I also like mystery. A hint of a smile is often much more compelling than a full-blown sunny smile. Da Vinci knew this well.
As a guy, however, I smile lots.

Maybe that's also why Sherlyn never smiles. There's no question she looks completely fem anyway!:)

Men often look goofy smiling. I know I do! Maybe we don't care. But, women may be more sensitive about how they look?:brolleyes:

[SweetCaroline]

I can tell you one thing. Learning to smile like a woman not only takes practice, but it can make your cheeks and facial muscles hurt. Basically, you have to "teach" your face to use muscles that, as poker-faced men, we usually don't normally use. So my advice would be to just practice, and if it hurts, than you're doing something right.

[Andrea's Lynne]

I can't help but smile ... both in drab and en femme. Life's too good not to go through it happily.

And I find my interations with the world are always better when I let my smile start the interaction!

[Sara Jessica]

I think you need to experiment with different smiles and looks to figure out what works for you. I actually stumbled into the fact that for me, the bigger smile the better. Stumbled because I have had very few pictures taken of me in girl mode and I kind of lucked out to discover what worked best for me. A half-smile, a "guy smile" just didn't work in girl mode.

[Paula T]

Smiling is very hard for me to do when taking pictures for me its even harder than knowing what to do with my hands.:o I also don't have very good teeth and am somewhat consious of them when dressed.:sad:

[Jonianne]

Good thread Lisa. Having a pretty smile is something I have tried hard to do. Many times I would be thinking I was smiling when my wife would tell me to smile - "I am smiling!" Oh well. I also believe that a persons eyes are at least 50% of a smiling face.

[Angie G]

I never thought about it hun.:hugs:
Angie

[Lisa Catherine]

I've noticed that it's easier to walk around with a smile when I'm "dolled up". I'm gonna practice on my smiling and facial characteristics for my next CD'ing road trip!!:drink::hugs:

[Jacqui]

I've noticed that it's easier to walk around with a smile when I'm "dolled up".

Same here. I don't smile too much en mano...because real men don't smile:devil:....but real women do:battingeyelashes:!

[Anna_kissed]

Hello, I have been comparing smiles for a while. To my observation generaly women show more of their upper dentures both when speaking and smiling than do men. This seems to give more emphasis to the smile --I think because of the contrast between white teeth and lips.

This is my first post:o---love the forum. hugs Anna.

[jennifer41356]

You dont have to always smile, like Andrea said it can be over rated, but look at her avatar, she is not frowning and I think that is the key. I notice some pics where there is this frown or look of being mad at something, thats the key :2c:

[suit]

some where it siad it takes 30% more mucles to frown than to smile .
and being you have been programed to act look like and respond to the male look .. you'r going to have to figuer out how to use 40 % less control of your features to unfilterely express the joy the sole wants to shine forth .

[jessica19cd]

I'm pretty lucky because my lips are naturally plump so they work out well.

[linnea]

It takes practice. Somewhere between having elastic bands on the corners of your mouth to your earlobes while only just slightly smiling to look happy but not to show wrinkles. To me I feel like I am smiling, but actually I look serious so it takes some extra effort to actually get a smile. Sorry, can't explain it better, study female photos.

Yes, I think that it is one of the most difficult qualities to command. I work on it, but I never quite get there. Women tend to smile MUCH more than do men, so I think that smiling a lot is very important to my look and presentation. I wish that I knew the secret(s). Part of it is just getting used to doing it--almost all the time.
Keep smilin'.

[matrioshka]

I agree with Andrea. The enigmatic smile works much better for me. If I try a broad happy smile, it looks weird and forced.

Katrina

[JaytoJillian]

Certainly no expert on the "femme smile," but when posing for pics, my thoughts regarding my smile are "softer anf gummy." weird, I know, but it works for me.


Cheers,


Jill

[Alice Torn]

I can pull off a good smile in photos, about 20%, maybe. I also have the huge hands, and farmer tan, and that gives me away. I wonder where some of you buy your long lady gloves. That might help me with farmer tan, when in sleeveless dresses. I know that I will always have huge male hands, but extra extra large long ladies' dresssy gloves might help. My chin extends a lot too, when smiling, but, I am learning to accept myself, when dressed in drag, or drab. Roy Masters, said, "Smile, you'll soon be dead!" So true.