Why there is such a thing as a chocolate side – and how a cosmetic surgeon defines beauty.
A mole on the right cheek, the nose tilted slightly to the left, the cheekbone slightly higher on one side than the other: no face is perfectly symmetrical. When it comes to which is our chocolate side, not only such characteristics play a role. The brain has a say, says plastic and aesthetic surgeon Joachim Graf von Finckenstein in an interview with Christina Bachmann.
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++ Rediscover sights photographically ++ Used guide for cameras and objects ++ Photographing in parks and gardens ++ Test stand: cheap photo books up to 30 euros ++ In the test: the new mirrorless APS-C cameras and four new telephoto fixed focal lengths for mirrorless + + Special tripods in practical tests ++ Color and contrast development workshops ++ Work faster with the graphics tablet
Question: Why is the left side of the face usually the best side?
Joachim Graf von Finckenstein: Everyone has a dominant hemisphere that works more than the other. This is the left side for about ninety percent of people. This also means that a smile or small facial movements are expressed more strongly there.
Many painted works of art such as the Mona Lisa, Botticelli’s Venus or the portrait of the Queen on the stamp show the left side of the face, as do most selfies today, probably unconsciously.
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Question: What does it have to do with the fact that many people don’t like themselves in photos?
Finckenstein: As a rule, you see your own reflection in the mirror – I don’t see my real image in the mirror, so to speak. Since faces are never symmetrical, I see a different image of myself than someone standing opposite me. When I then see my real image in a photo, I say: That doesn’t correspond to what I know!
That’s why we often think of ourselves as unphotogenic. But there is an adjustment process. Anyone who has seen many photos of themselves will get used to this image. Celebrities who constantly see pictures of themselves probably don’t have the problem anymore.
Question: What would you describe as a beautiful face?
Finckenstein: That’s incredibly difficult to answer because beauty is far too complex to be explained in one sentence. What is beautiful is generally colourful, young and symmetrical.
The colorful has less relevance for the face because its colors are limited. Young faces are mostly freshly beautiful, old faces would be described as distinctive. There should be a certain symmetry. What is too asymmetrical does not turn on.
But the most important thing about a face is its aura, its charisma. I’ve found that people who don’t actually look that pretty can become beautiful if they do something specific. I knew a student who you would probably call a gray mouse. When she sat down at the piano, she became a beautiful woman.
Edith Piaf was not a very attractive woman either. But when she sang, she was so beautiful that everyone fell at her feet. This is a beauty that cannot be measured.
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