Doechii says openly using face tape helps her ‘embrace imperfection’, but does it?

Are we becoming more transparent about beauty?

Dr Lauren Gurrieri is an associate professor at RMIT’s School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, who specialises in gendered representations on social media. She says fewer celebrities are attributing their appearance simply to diet, skincare or good lighting. Instead, more are admitting to invasive or non-invasive beauty practices, from face tape to rhinoplasties.

“A growing backlash to the body image crisis fuelled through social media, and increasing demands for authenticity in people’s online self-presentation, have resulted in a notable shift towards beauty transparency,” she says. “Social media has also given everyday people a platform to call out perceived beauty-related insecurities and hold those in a position of influence to account.”

When celebrities are honest about the “unnatural” (and often costly) aspects of their appearance, Gurrieri says it can be reassuring to everyday people wondering why they don’t look the same.

“Insincere rhetoric [can] make people feel negative about their appearance and mystified why simply drinking water or using sunscreen doesn’t yield the same results for them, fuelling cycles of self-loathing and poor self-esteem,” she says.

Perfectly imperfect

Gurrieri says there can be downsides to full transparency, though. For their followers, frequent exposure can normalise certain beauty work that is costly and even potentially dangerous.

“This is particularly concerning in the case of less invasive but increasingly accessible procedures like Botox and fillers. It heightens pressures for girls and women to consume risky and expensive treatments as part of their beauty routines, to conform to prevailing beauty ideals.”

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Doechii has said her use of face tape stems from her “love for imperfection”. However, senior psychology lecturer at the University of Sydney Dr Jasmine Fardouly argues it’s actually the opposite of embracing imperfection.

“Embracing imperfection would be showing yourself without face tape. It’s still saying this is how you need to look to be attractive,” she says.

Gurrieri agrees, adding that, instead of championing individuality in beauty, it demonstrates a “status-based effort to stand out from the crowd and claim the appearance of authenticity”.

Disclaiming a beauty hack doesn’t mean it won’t still be harmful for viewers, Fardouly adds. “Knowing that something isn’t natural isn’t going to stop people from comparing and internalising the ideals promoted in the image.”

If celebrities really want to embrace imperfection, Fardouly says they need to actively expose the discrepancy between natural and artificial beauty. In other words, they need to share images of themselves both in full glam and totally natural.

“We’ve done research that shows that seeing a mix of content can be really helpful for improving body image. But the natural photos really need to be completely unenhanced,” she says.

“If you want to embrace imperfection then actually be imperfect.”

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