I recently watched a Reel describing the phenomenon of “Instagram Face” - how, thanks to social media, image filters, and injections, so many women are starting to look eerily similar. The algorithm rewards a particular look: big lips, wide eyes, high cheekbones, a small nose, and poreless skin. This aesthetic is skewing how people, especially teenage girls, see themselves and others.
Curious, I dug a little deeper and came across an article by Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker titled “The Age of Instagram Face.”* Though written in 2019, her insights feel even more relevant now. Two thoughts kept surfacing as I read.
The first: I’m raising an almost 16-year-old daughter who is growing up in the thick of this. Helping her hold onto her sense of self worth and her unique beauty feels like a never-ending parenting task - part soul care, part coaching and entirely exhausting! But it's also one of the most important and worthwhile things I get to do as a parent. (And honestly, that could be a whole blog of its own.)
The second: How this trend mirrors the metaphorical masks we all put on - to feel safe, accepted, and loved.
Carl Jung described the persona as the social mask we present to the world - a way to fit in, be accepted, and safeguard our inner world. It’s not inherently harmful, but the trouble begins when that mask hardens - when it stops being a gentle layer of protection and starts replacing who we truly are.
The Enneagram reflects this too. Each type has its own unconscious strategy, a kind of internal “Instagram Face” formed around core fears and desires. These patterns help us survive, but if left unexamined, they keep us from growing, limit our freedom, and dim our authenticity.
Something else that stood out in my reading: beauty experts are starting to predict a shift. The “Instagram Face” trend may have reached saturation point. Ironically, we’ve morphed so far into sameness that the next big aesthetic trend is predicted to be nuance. Uniqueness. The celebration of features that don’t fit the filtered mould.
I love this. Not just for our outer appearance, but for our inner lives too. Because the masks we wear whether to be seen as competent, fun, strong, spiritual, or successful - are exhausting. And the world doesn’t need more of the same.
So here’s the question I’ve been sitting with - and maybe it’s one worth asking yourself too:
What’s your version of Instagram Face? What mask do you wear - not just online, but in daily life - to feel valuable, seen, and loved?
And what might happen if you started to gently loosen that mask, even just a little?
We weren’t created to match someone else’s filtered ideal. Your real face - your true self is what the world needs.
Maybe the invitation isn’t to become more like the image, but to return slowly, courageously to the face you had before you needed one.
Because you were designed to reflect the Original.
