not too sure how i feel about this video but i hope you guys enjoy regardless! time stamps - 00:00 - intro 00:48 - what is a glow up? 03:25 - what goes into a glow up? 04:04 - there is no such thing as a natural glow up 05:17 - glowing up is seen as a necessary step in adolescence 05:38 - why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to have a glow up? 07:23 - growing up in the midst of glow up culture 08:00 - extreme transformations are not possible for the average person 09:08 - glow ups feed into toxic beauty standards 10:10 - my experience with having a glow up 11:16 - how i've gained confidence 11:52 - do we value physical glow ups too much? follow my twitter + instagram - @jordanatheresa stay safe everyone!
Exactly I hate when people say that like that doesn’t help at all people are so ignorant 😐I wash my face every single day and I still have acne it’s normal and I’m sorry you have to go through that no one deserves that
I had acne and I can say it is ugly it hid my natural beauty beneath it. But it didn't really bother me apart that physical pain in would cause me but people always had to bully me for that and than I hated them so much. If anyone here has acne focus on it for physical reasons. And try not to care what others say about you I know it's hard but try. I had acne now it's gone I still have a few pimples and acne scars but physically I have no pain no excess oil and it's great.
when i mentally “glowed up” as in getting help i actually wanted to take care of myself. i started eating healthy and doing yoga and working out and tho it changed me physically, i feel like my life is so much different. like in photos i notice my eyes don’t look dead and my smile feels genuine. i think that’s the glow up we should be kinda striving for
I feel like when I physically started “glowing up” it was because I was actually mentally glowing up. I started to pay attention to myself for the first time ever. I just overall became a better version of myself. The physical is only a small portion of a transformations.
Definitely. I started feeling more confident in my appearance in my early twenties largely just because I started taking more care of my self and learned what suits me. I think most people feel ugly as kids/teens and don't get positive attention based on their appearance. Plus, being around immature teenagers who emphasize one standard of cookie cutter "pretty" doesn't help your confidence as an ordinary person. Ultimately, I think it's a combination of your mental and physical maturity, plus the maturity of the people around you who impact how you view your attractiveness.
me too, when I lost weight and got into makeup/style, way more changed on the inside, I was happy and healthy nd that allowed to me to focus on my appearance and physical things, but the mental part happens first
I feel like both physically and mentally im at the lowest point. I havent bought new clothes and have not comfortable clothes in 3 years and mentally i have such a low esteem : /
@@astoldbynickgerr haha I'm a Virgo 2 but yeah I'm trying to spend this time to take care of myself and maybe create a routine I hope the best 4 you tho
I hate describing change as glowing up. When people see pictures of me from when I was younger and say that I had a glow up, I am offended. Because the girl in those pictures is ME! I think she is beautiful and I know she didn’t always feel beautiful. So comparing me to her isn’t going to make me feel good???
I agree. Sign a petition to change the term 'glow up' to just 'glow'. I don't want people to feel like they are 'upping' from what they were previously cause they were not 'down' in the first place. Idk if it makes sense ugh.
I love this mentality. Honestly I wish I could be as confident about my past self as you are with yours. I can't stand looking at pictures of myself from even a year back.
Fara Email II Self-confidence doesn’t happen overnight. The world is constantly teaching us to doubt ourselves and compare ourselves to impossible standards. We all move at our own pace and I’m still learning to love myself. You’re beautiful and you always have been. I try to treat myself like I would a best friend. So I tell myself that too!
The biggest issue with the glow ups on tv or film is that most of the “teens” are played by adults who are like 23 and those actresses already have their adult bodies and they’ve been going to the gym for ages, plus they have long finished with puberty and then these young teens and kids don’t necessarily realise that they aren’t actually 17 so they think that’s what they need to look like. Ik it rly confused me mentally when me and my friends looked way younger and less “perfect” at 16/17
Thank you!!!! 🙌🏻 finally someone that said it This is EXACTLY what annoys me the most about “teenage” movies and makes actual teenagers feel so insecure about themselves
I think also looking at all these people who “glowed up” on social media. When in reality they don’t look like that all the time. Most of the time these glow ups are purely surface level, which is just a new fashion style, better makeup, and different hair and sometimes weight loss/gain. If that’s something you want to do then go ahead, but do it for you not because you think you have to. And my last point I hate seeing glow ups and the before pictures are of them clearly as kids or pre pubescent, of course we all looked funny then, we were kids.
HOBO DUMPTY even if you have gone through puberty and didn’t “glow up” the way you think you should have. That’s perfectly fine, I don’t expect teens to look absolutely perfect because looking back at my younger self, I looked just fine even if my hair, makeup or clothes weren’t perfect.
Agreed! So many people call themselves ugly when they were literally just a child. My face changed as I got older and I grew into my features, which doesn't make a "glow up" I literally just got older
The braces one is so true! Here in America perfect teeth are seen as required. People will automatically think of you as poor if you have crooked teeth or teeth that aren’t white as paper. As someone with crooked teeth who just got braces in their late teens, this is a standard that is unreasonable and disregards financial standing! It’s okay to not have perfect teeth!
you're absolutely right! I got braces in my early teens and wore them for 3 years and I'm FAR from having the perfectly-aligned, pure white teeth some people seem to expect. it's expensive as hell to maintain teeth like that
Yes bitch!!! And also it was a really common theme for people to get their braces off and everyone would be like 😍😍😍wow they’re so hot now😍😍😍 but like it’s been the same person all along?
it would be so interesting your take on the obsession of young girls (tweens and teens) of looking older and not allowing them to have an 'awkaward phase' (in their 20's) like danielle cohn and the cash me outside girl
@@Mel-cx8qv But it's the girls who CHANGE for the standard to get the guys. So at the end, it's girls fault. Guys like something yes. But you don't have to change yourself to fit in that.
@tiny breadstick I don't recall any guy telling girls to look like pornstars when I was 14. Most girls that age are not trying to look like that. People like Danielle Cohn have parents who don't care what their children do. It has nothing to do with beauty standards.
Definetly agree, especially the trope of ALWAYS having their glasses removed to be 'beautiful' was stupid and made no sense, especially since sunglasses are often used to make people look 'hotter'. The irony.
This is why I don’t like celebrities like Bella Hadid or Kendall Jenner because they lie about having anything done and I think that’s so messed up like people are not blind and they still lie and lie
and kylie when she first got her lips done. also her butt too. she posted some bs cream on her insta saying thats how she got thicc but like...obviously not. now that I think about it all of those sisters lie lie lie
vitaminhoshi I remember how there were reports of teenagers hurting their lips badly when she denied getting fillers and said she made her lips bigger by sucking them into a cup + using a lip liner. There was some kind of Kylie Jenner lip challenge and several people got their lips severely bruised and injured by sucking their lips into a cup
I feel like this also ties into eurocentric beauty standards too. We've all heard it before but I always found it to be so strange that people will change things about themselves into things that are more eurocentric. For example nose jobs, I completely understand it because I use to really hate my nose, and I always wanted to get it fixed so the tip can have the swoop up, but those are eurocentric beauty standards that I am comparing to my natural (and I guess common in other cultures) noses. It's always comparison that kills your confidence and your self-love truly.
lessthanthreemeli I can relate, I’m Black and it does kinda trigger me when I see everyone with the Eurocentric standard because I know I can’t achieve that. I don’t hate my black features or anything because people get surgery just to have full lips, curvy body, big hips, braids, hoops etc. but it’s always the same skinny white girls getting pushed out and I kinda blame the whole RU-vid relatable white girl trend for that based on what I’ve seen, not that there’s anything wrong with them but it’s like pushed on us
lessthanthreemeli my nose is a mix of my moms and dads and I don’t like it sometimes. I feel like something went wrong with it and it hurt to hear from my friend that he didn’t like my nose because it’s “too round” (what is a nose suppose to look like??)I use to push my nose up to make it stay lifted. People like Ari Lennox make me appreciate my black nose though.
Essence Dion i totally agree, Iv learned to love my body that I was born in, but it does make me question why people want to get nose jobs other than Eurocentric beauty standards ya know? Like I’m not trying to bash people who do get their nose done, but it’s usually so they can have the swoop, so they can be smaller, and like that’s usually stemming from comparing it to the nose we see in the industry. I also agree, certain nose shapes for some reason are like put on a pedestal ? It’s so strange.
Talia Moreau i can totally see your point, I also understand the golden ratio and we want perfectly symmetrical faces, but the idea too of preferring youth signaling faces can also be problematic, especially with getting older and having my face show signs of age, am I suppose to spend money to get it fixed? Or should we change our perspective and agree that our own face is beautiful at any stage in life, with any features we are born with. I understand everyone’s circumstance is different, but it’s still something to take into consideration. Also I do agree that not all white people have perfect noses, and some Asian and black people do but they usually get those noses because of intermix genes? Those are my guesses I would have to do more research. But I totally understand your point, this is just my reaction to it, but your point is valid.
This is such strange timing, because since being quarantined all I can think about is making myself look better and all glowed up. And being on social media so much when Im isolated is making me compare myself to even more people and its stressing me out why cant I just be happy with who I am? Im quite healthy and have wonderful people in my life. Edit: To all the other peeps feeling the same way out there... you don't HAVE to glow up during this time. You don't HAVE to start a side hustle, but it will help you, good for you :) everyone is coping with this pandemic differently and you do what you gotta do! Prioritize YOU. Your health and happiness are so important. Spread love to those you love and don't beat yourself up bc you feel like you need to glow up or become a productivity monster. I know I am struggling with this too and it can be easy to fall into the trap of social media. @Joanna made a great point to limit social media intake to help mental health and I think this is a great suggestion. It can be hard not to compare ourselves especially when we are locked up inside with our phones which are often the only way we can connect with people. I feel like Im rambling but I just want yall to know that we dont have to put so much pressure on ourselves especially when we are already stressed out. That is all and I wish joy, love and comfort to everyone in this time
I don't think it is healthy that you spend a lot of time on social media. Start to do something more absorbing and try to find a new hobby. Maybe plant some flowers, read an interesting book, buy puzzle or adult coloring, educate yourself. I can tell you that after I stopped using instagram during this time, I feel so much better about myself, because I don't think about the way I look, but more about what I can do to improve myself inside. :)
@@Joanna.no3 I appreciate your concern haha I actually read, hula hoop, dance, do yoga, take online college courses, watch informational youtube videos, make art, rollerskate, sing and play ukulele (on and off of course) :) Although during quarantine I feel quite sad so it can be hard get up and do those things. I have been trying to limit myself on social media but Im sure the way I feel is a reality for many people who are quarantined and I thought some might relate to how I feel. There are so many posts about people having to be productive during this time or glow up, when in reality that's not feasible for everyone and you arent a failure if you don't glow up during these hard times. idk why I went on a rant haha but I agree with you
@Earthling Amélie Thank you! Although I know Instagram is just a highlight roll I have begun to think that humans cannot help but subconsciously compare themselves to others. Its strange because I know social media can have a debilitating effect on mental health but it is designed to be so insanely addicting that I keep returning. Time to limit my use of that ish lmao
As someone who has gone through a major glow up, the way people treat me is so different now. Strangers are usually nicer but also creepier, people will also automatically assume I’m dumb and superficial but the worst part was seeing the way my “friends” started treating me.
Blackisbetterthanpink Pink for example, one of my friends was always super pretty. She would get lots of attention from guys and I didn’t so once I started glowing up and getting attention, she felt like we had to compete with each other; she would also make negative and shady comments about my appearance instead of being happy for me. Before I glowed up I wasn’t very confident so I attracted people that used me to feel better about themselves, once I started gaining confidence they didn’t like it. It made me really sad to see them change their attitude towards me, but I’m glad I got rid of fake friends. I have other friends who have been really supportive of my “glow up” journey, both physical and mental so I’m really grateful for them. 💛
I feel the same, i'm ugly as heck but whenever i do a heavy makeup, put on contacts, straighten my hair, dress up, yadayadayada... people, friends, and even strangers treat me better and i'm like ??????
VIDEO IDEA: I would love to see your opinion/insight on the ‘trend’ of (usually) straight, cis teen girls that almost obsess over gay guys (that are also usually white, cis, etc.). This can be seen in TV shows, movies etc. where there will be a large female teen audience that ship two male characters together, even to the extent of ‘shipping’ real-life male celebrities, or these straight girls writing NSFW fanfictions including fetishising gay men. Would love to hear your research and take on this phenomenon. (Note: I commented this on her previous video, but I'm here early so I couldn't resist! Stay safe everyone!)
As a kpop fan I see that a lot in kpop fandoms. The shipping and fetishising of kpop members is out of control. I've literally seen fan art of kpop members having sex, and all these girls were going crazy over it in the comments. Like they are real people, its really gross and super disrespectful to them and gay/bi men. So yeah this is a sub-category of what you are saying and I agree she should make a video on fetishising of gay men. It's basically the same as what some straight men do to lesbians.
@@officialbarackobama8091 Yeah I see that too, but I'd like to see Jordan's take on the differences. As in, with straight men @ lesbians, it tends to be seeing lesbians as some form of sexual object for the straight guy's arousal, whereas with straight girls @ gay guys, the sexual aspect is still there, but less extreme, as there more of a: 'that's so adorable! omg qweeen!' - type thing. There also seems to be a greater desire to almost want to date the gay guy? Or at least have some involvement in the guy's romantic life. Just me thinking, and exceptions do apply, but it is interesting to see the differences, as I don't really think it's the same dynamic between them. Interesting to hear people's thoughts!
Could you perhaps make a video on the unhealthy obsession with productivity during quarantine?? Or just a video about corona culture on social media 🦠🦠🦠
Productivity is good and we should all strive for it during quarantine and beyond. Just because there is a global pandemic and you're stuck inside and "oOf Me StReSseD hAb AnXiEtY oWo" isnt a reason to give up your whole schedule, eating/working out habits, hobbies, basic house and self care for Netflix and chips 24/7 "because corona"
@@larissaleigh4488 as someone who does musical theatre constantly, being productive has been verrryyy difficult in the last 9 months, I haven’t done a show since right before the pandemic, I got cast in a web series but we don’t start shooting until at least feb-March 2021, so there’s really nothing I can do. It’s depressing, but I always remind myself that there are so many people going through worse things so I don’t deserve to cry about it not every day at least, and it’s an endless cycle of being sad but then telling myself I shouldn’t...
Foreal like every teen flick has a glow up lol its almost like it's the most positive thing that can happen for the protagonist yet there was nothing actually wrong with them in the first place lol i think it's that common feeling a glow up gives "When you look different you feel different " perhaps that's the motivation behind it too when I was a teen I use to dye my hair a different color all the time nothing wrong with that but I realized i was obsessed with wanting to feel different maybe it was boredom lol 😂🌸💜
Blanca Rosa same. I had to convince my parents to let me dip dye my hair. Then I died if a few more colors. Eventually, I wanted to shave my head. I get impulsive and bored easily.
All I can say is that you cant fix internal problems with external solutions. kylie jenner and bella hadid are the most popular girls who has glown up through surgery and filler ect. But they still edit their photos and deep down they're still not complete. If you feel ugly that's in internal solution so you need to learn to love yourself and glow up internally! You'll find that if you prioritise glowing up internally like i did, then you'll naturally glow on the outside too! ❤
such a good topic + video! quite a similar topic really but i'd love to see you talk about the pressures of childhood/teenage/young adult years being the "best years of your life", maybe the stresses of feeling your golden years are running out or you that you've failed because you've never climbed onto your best friend's rooftop at 3am lmao. i'd love to see your take on it and how society, tv shows/movies and young influencers create and construct what 'childhood/youth' should be like- i think you'd do it justice! hope you're keeping safe and sane
Jordan Theresa omg that’s literally what I was thinking growing up!!! I will be 19 in two weeks, and I think I almost got rid of this mindset. I was literally exposed to this era of influencers and youtubers having everything best - best clothes, best friends, crazy adventures, and everyone was making a point that your teenage years are your golden years and you should be this cool weirdo crackhead! It hurt me so much, that my life wasn’t like that, up until like a year ago! Especially being from a post soviet country, everything was so different to what I saw from mostly american/british youtubers, and I was literally like 12-13 when I started watching them and comparing of course. I wish that I would never been exposed to all these influencers to be honest, since now my mind is so fucked up with all these “aesthetics, glow ups” and other unnecessary things that it’s hard to get rid of it now. I’m trying to rethink everything that I soaked up as a young teen and only watch and follow channels like this, that really bring value and peace and not the opposite which everyone else on the internet does!
When I was a teenager, I often heard things like "girls are hottest at 22" "all girls can get laid whenever they want" and tbh now I know it was just pedophillic bs or stuff said by boys/men who only felt comfortable hitting on insecure girls/women. So they'd say stuff like that because the more insecure girls and women there are out there in the world, the better chance they felt they had of being able to "snag one". It's very difficult to have healthy happy relationships with people who play those kind of games, so it's kind of a blessing that they filter themselves out by claiming you're over the hill. Pretty mad that they pressure children and teens into dressing and acting like adults to get their attention though. Ignore that stuff. As long as you do some of: work out, wear sunblock, stay hydrated, eat your veggies, and have a healthy attitude - you'll look good up to 50. I don't know about above 50 because I'm not old enough to look at them that way 😂. I remember my granny checking out a man who was 70/80 once though so I suspect it might apply up until death (ew granny - tmi!)
the glow up in 24 hours videos are literally just the girls taking a bath, shaving, doing their hair and makeup, and putting on an outfit. it’s literally just getting ready 🧍🏽♀️
Interesting video. This topic reminds me the idea of “peaking” and some people reaching their ‘peak’ earlier or later than others. I think that’s a harmful social concept bc it implies that once you’ve peaked or had your glow-up, your social or desirability value depreciates especially physically.
I fr just don’t really understand glowing up. We shouldn’t be looking at pictures of ourselves as literal children and thinking we’re ugly or whatever. We didn’t glow up. We just grew up
It's really interesting thinking about this from a trans perspective- I definitely feel like there's a kind of pressure to have very dramatic post transition photos or post transition photos that fit into a particular aesthetic to sort of 'justify' the fact we have transitioned in the first place. Most of the time there's a lot of context missing from these pictures, and I've definitely run into people who have totally unrealistic expectations of what hormones alone can do for them because of this lack of context- e.g. unless you're very skinny to begin with and/or do a lot of particular kinds of exercise, going on testosterone HRT is not going to automatically give you abs. On top of giving people unrealistic expectations about what transition will do for them, I've also seen it give people the wrong metric to judge their transition from. Hell, for a while I was convinced I didn't have a 'successful' transition because I look like the men in my family rather than a model, and I had to take a step back and go to a therapist for disordered eating before I realised that was the case
I absolutely hate the obsession with ‘glowing up’. Mostly it’s young people that are obsessed with it, and when they post their ‘glow-ups’, it’s always just a picture of them in grade 7 and then a picture of them in grade 12. Like... that’s not a ‘glow up’. That’s just called going through puberty. I really think it’s sad that people truly think that just being a child is the same thing as being ugly. I think glow ups can happen mentally, and those are awesome. But you actually have to work for that to improve yourself positively as a person. Like of course through puberty as you mentioned, we change a lot of course, but I just don’t like how the glow up pictures position just being a child as ugly, awkward, and undesirable.
it was really nice to hear you say about how you were called ugly and never had any male attention - i'm 17 and i've never had any guys fancy me and i've been called pinocchio, a witch etc. because of my nose. but i'm slowly learning to value myself more and not listen to what other people say, even though it's so difficult, and its really affirming to see you say you felt the same but you love yourself now. thank you sm for posting this
Tik tok is also really feeding into this glow up culture, I've seen countless videos of cosmetic surgery, weightloss, other forms of glow ups. The comments literally say 'I want your nose' and 'I'm saving up for surgery'. I agree that I'm not really against cosmetic surgery for personal purposes, but the normalisation of this for women with, for example, big noses, makes this seem like a completely ordinary option for them, which is massively pressuring to anyone already feeling insecure about their appearance.
I think I had my ‘glow up’ after I hit 18 for sure, I think when I started working and earning my own money, dressing how I want, getting tattoos, changing my hair etc but I think above all I just felt more beautiful in myself. Even now, I realise I based how I looked on what men thought about me and comparing myself with other women
I think glowing up for me is just self loving myself, taking care of myself not fitting in but rather standing out. Beauty is from within. Do it for you not them.
Here's my story with "glowing up" Throughout middle school I was bullied a lot, and I was just an average looking kid and it was only because of bullying that I began to feel ugly. In grade 10-11 I began to be "prettier". Guys started paying attention to me all of a sudden and the popular girls were - literally - inviting me to be their friend. Because I was noticed more and got more opportunities to go to parties my mental health slipped like never before. I began drinking (which was VERY bad because alcoholism runs in my family) and experimented with different drugs. Usually this is normal for high schoolers but for me I went off the deep end. I started to skip school and hangout with guys and get stoned, and I eventually started dating a popular guy from another school and went through a lot of emotional abuse and was cheated on many times before being abruptly dumped for another girl. By that time I was just out of highschool and was so incredibly alone and more depressed than I'd ever been. Being in an abusive relationship caused me to "depend" on my ex because he didn't like me hanging out with other people. Even though I was at my "peak" and people told me I had glowed up appearance wise, my inner self was dying and I was jaded, bitter and depressed. Throughout the years I dealt with many men who took advantage of me (and because of my low self esteem I couldn't recognize the warning signs). Things changed for me when I woke up one day and just said enough is enough. I blocked the numbers of all the toxic people in my life, and spent a year alone with just my family. I turned to God and did a lot of introspection and worked on growing from the inside instead of being so preoccupied with my external beauty. It's now been over a year since I made that change and I'm now in university and am dating a guy who I never thought could exist. He's gentle hearted, understanding and loves me unconditionally. With him I feel completely comfortable being myself and no longer wear makeup (which years ago I wouldn't have ever dreamed of) and have gained a healthy amount of weight. In past relationships I was terrified to let them see me without makeup or my hair done. Anyways, the point is an external glow up is not what anyone needs. People might say I'm not as pretty as I used to be now but I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm happier and healthier (mentally and physically) and in a much better place. Before looking to change how you look focus on your inner world, nothing you change on the outside is going to make you feel happier in the long run. Also: being pretty introduces a whole new world of problems.
I love your story. I’m happy you’ve overcome your past and are healing properly. The only thing I want to correct is, doing drugs and drinking alcohol in high school are not normal for teens. And they’re not teen behaviors, I just don’t want someone to come along and think that’s normal or a teen activity. It’s an adult activity that you as a teen participated in. Again, I’m sorry if it’s coming off like I’m shaming you or anything. I’m not, it’s just I’ve noticed that the media has been associating these types of behaviors with teens lately and it’s not good for this to be seen as a teen thing/activity, when it’s not. Anyways, I hope you continue to heal and love yourself. God bless ❤️.
Such a good point to make, I feel like face value people don’t take in the effects of growing up and seeing filler/surgery normalized without anyone ever coming out and saying they had work done and how damaging that is!
god what a good topic!!! skimming through the the points before the video, and i’m very excited!! glad you’re covering something not too many people have talked about :) and of course you’re looking great!! loving the butterfly clips :)
I think there's something to be said about how glowing up can make you feel better because you're taking care of yourself. For me, I feel good when I have a day to shower, shave, do my makeup, cut my hair, etc. because those are things that I do to take care of myself. Kinda like cats, you know? They like to groom themselves all the time! But I do agree that focusing on your physical appearance as the one thing to make you feel good isn't healthy or realistic. It's easy to watch these girls glowing up and thinking that their life is now perfect after glowing up, especially since most of them live in families that are pretty well-off (I'm talking about the more 'average' youtube girl doing this trend here, not celebrities).
Lol I felt like i had "peaked" at 19 perhaps? Especially because the state of my skin worsened in my late teens and, at 22, it still doesnt look the way it did before. Now I work on loving myself as I am. I actually enjoy getting older because it means I have learned new things, gotten smarter and more experienced, thus more mature :)
Do you have a skincare regime? Retinol single handedly saved my skin. You are so right though! Natural aging should be celebrated as you gain wisdom instead of shallow superficial beauty.
I try to come up with some kind of skin care routine, but I find that very intimidating cuz there are so many products and ingredients and they have to be layered a specific way, and I'm just a simple gal lol
@@silviagrueva4361 Honestly for starters, all that's needed is a cleanser, moisturizer, sunscreen, and a retinol (The retinol is the real magic, it's actually the only skincare product, other than sunscreen, scientifically proven to be anti-aging). I'm not a dermatologist tho, so in the end just absolutely do whatever you wanna do. Beauty is literally skin deep, and if your profile pic is of you I'd say you look like a very beautiful person, so you don't have much to worry about in the first place :)
You know the “aesthetic” gen z girls on RU-vid who are just constantly putting out glow up videos because doing your nails and dying your hair only lasts for like a week
I feel like we put so much value on physical glow ups because everyone views appearance as an expression of identity. But you can change everything about your appearance and still not feel good about yourself. Glowing up physically is viewed as this sort of enlightenment, and while it can make you feel better, it is not a be-all, end-all, and it puts a lot of value also on just looking good, and we all know that looks are not everything
this video made me realize so many things about myself and it just made me what to lowkey cry. i struggle so much with my physical appearance and sometimes it effects me mentally. i know that this might sound so ignorant for some people but the main reason as to why i really want to “glow up” so much, is for people to like me. i know that physical appearance isn’t really everything but, i don’t know why but i always had this mindset that if you're pretty, you basically had an advantage. I’m 16 turning 17 in a few months and, i still constantly compare myself to other people and call myself ugly most of the time. I don’t know, but maybe i feel this way because i rarely hear people compliment me on my looks? (again, i sound so ignorant and really selfish) it sucks because i constantly need the validation of others (which i honestly wish would just go away.) i also feel really “ugly on the inside” because i really hate my personality and how i deal with things; which makes me want to also “glow up mentally” (ahhh i hope i stayed on topic...and made any sense!) ps: thank you so much for this video! ❤️
I felt this way too when I was 16, (I'm 19 now BTW) and I always felt that in comparison to EVERYONE else, whether it was just my friends, school mates, strangers, influencers or celebrities I was ALWAYS unattractive. All my life people never really complimented me on my looks, ever, and I felt that in order to BE beautiful someone else had to validate that, right? Well, no, wrong. Now that I'm a little bit older, and started focusing more on my internal issues and wounds, and worked on healing those, I realised that the image I had of myself actually changed. Things I perceived as "flaws" are now just other aspects to my existence not blemishes that need to be fixed. It also helped to learn that my physical self isn't my true self. I am beautiful because of who I am, not what I look like. Even if I do transform into a perfect hypothetical version of myself physically, that does not change, add or subtract my inner beauty. Because my value as a human stays the same. I really hope this helps you and I pray that you will get to a place in yourself in which you are at peace with who YOU are. God bless❤
my experience and two cents on this: I had my "glow up" last semester, I went to an exchange semester, lost a fair amount of weight, learnt how to do makeup, improved my style, made new friends, did a lot of fun stuff-when I returned, the change in how ppl were treating me (esp those who didn't know me that well before) was astounding-but the novelty of it faded and now I am kinda chasing that high. Ppl do treat you better and that is hella desirable, yes they are shallow but it still feels good
If someone asks me "what´s a glow up?`" my answer would be when you start to see the true beauty in you, no not the beauty you´ve created with money or pupberty but the beauty you´ve always had.People look at their past sleves in bad light too many times you should look at your past self in a good night (Inner child by BTS V is a really good example how youshould treat your past self)
What?!? You looked gorgeous in those older pictures! Those boys had to be just really mean or just to shy to admit it or something. I just dont get it!
For people who are trying to force a glow up, lemme tell you this. You could be the juiciest peach out there but there's always gonna be some people who doesn't like peaches. Never try to be the most "perfect" person out there, the best thing to do is be a better version of yourself.
me too, it's the lying that gets me, i had a nose job and i'm truely open about it but if you don't say anything young impressionable kids will believe it's the norm
I don’t really think that’s fair though because it’s clear that she was insecure so if you hate her simply for getting surgeries or altering her appearance you are a part of the problem she’s probably changing and altering her appearance because growing up she was told that she was ugly because she had really thin lips and pale skin
I truly agree with your point about wealth. We have to remember that most of these influencers and celebrities have to be good looking in order to fit the mould. They have entourages to do their hair, makeup, skin, teeth, nails, they can get personal chefs and have home gyms and swimming pools to make them fitter. These are unattainable things that will never be the same because they don't matter to us. Our day to day life or jobs doesn't rest on whether people think we look perfect or not. It just makes me so sad when people assume that they're ugly when they don't realise the work it takes to make people look the way they do.
I’ve been doing Chloe Ting’s 2 week shred challenge, you can go to RU-vid so you can choose whatever workout you want or to her website if you want a program to follow for like 2 weeks or a month. Highly recommend.
I feel some glow ups are genuinely just a way to disguise an "ugly to hot" transformation in a way to fit into the growing awareness of social expectations being messed up by saying it's wellness when unless there's a mental transformation it is still just surface level changing your appearance. I've started a glow up series about genuine stuff & would adore if any kind people saw it 💕
To add a perspective to the mix: mental glow ups do have an effect on your physical appearance too! It sounds obvious that your mental well-being/health has an effect on your physical health, but for me personally I look back on photos when I was at my lowest and I genuinely look ill in comparison to pictures now where I look generally happier and healthier. I think in part it’s due to having more motivation to actually care for my appearance (going outside more = more sunlight/vitamin D and less paleness, trying a new style, etc.) but also being surrounded by people who are encouraging and loving towards me, feeling better in myself, etc. Mental illnesses are illnesses of the mind and, by extension, the brain which has a factor in your overall health. I guess my point is don’t rely on having a physical/appearance based glow up to magically change your mindset, but instead build confidence and resolve and allow any level of change to happen gradually.
the problem is "I wake up like this" "I'm natural" because we know they have diet/trainer/stylist/mua/plastic cosmetic surgery/dermatologist/hairstylist so it gives fake expectation for young teen
My personal definition of glowing up is, from being oblivious to being aware of your own beauty. You’ve always been beautiful; when you glow up, that’s when you realize you actually are. It’s what worked for me.
I just love these kids of RU-vid really taking the time to make others feel better by doing research, showing us and then explaining “it’s okay to be you” one day I hope the word “influencers” is given to those who deserve to be called Influencers
I have literally no confidence because I was bullied from 10-12 and lost and gained weight back and didn't lose everything again yet. I'll turn 18 in like 2.5 months and I'm not ready because I feel like I wasted my youth being ugly.
Thank you for talking abt this...I was literally feeling down bc everyone I know has “glowed up” this quarantine, and felt sad bc I look the same. I was literally drinking more water, eating “healthier” and even thinking of doing something to my hair just to look different. Safe to say, I feel a bit more better realizing that’s it’s honestly just us growing up, and make up/ new style. Time to just be a teenager.
I don't know if we ever get over wanting to "glow up". I'm 30 and I think about making improvements/changes to my physical appearance all of the time. I would say that bettering myself in one way or the other is my main motivation behind 90% of what I do in life. What's different now is that I don't think that what I was working with before was bad or ugly. You do your best given your stage in life and the resources and knowledge you had at the time.
especially during the pandemic everyone feels like they need to glow up, it's the top comment on every workout video right now and I hate that I put the pressure on myself to do so too
One of my favourite quotes is "comparison is the thief of joy" and this video encapsulates that idea perfectly. Often times we see people in the media who have had work done or who look a certain way and feel pressure to change ourselves constantly. The world we live in capitalizes on our insecurities with promises of making us skinny or beautiful or perfect. When you stop comparing yourself to your friends or people you see on tv you can begin to love yourself more. Figure out why it is that you feel the need to "glow up". Work on yourself internally and you will become radiant on the outside as well.
I’m so glad to hear I’m not the only one who thought “why would I ever find the before one attractive? They’re literally a child.” Especially when it came to the 10 year challenges. So many of the pictures are of them from ages12-17 and I get a bit uncomfy comparing the physical attractiveness of a child to an adult. Hot take I know but you shouldn’t be thinking the kid looks better.
You discussed some really thought provoking topics! I've always felt that puberty did nothing for me because I didn't get curves, boobs, or a nice butt, and I'm naturally on the skinny/up and down side. I swear I've looked pretty much the same my whole life. Sometimes I wonder how much more confident I would be if I weren't feed all these beauty standards of drastically changing, being thick, having long hair, impossibly clear and hairless skin, and 'feminine' facial features such as a dainty nose. I'm still working on gaining confidence and loving myself, but the first step is being aware of these things and focussing on changing mentally first!
this video means so much to me. i’ve never thought that what i see isn’t normal, as crazy as that sounds. the media makes me feel awful about myself because i feel like i’ll never be what i’m “supposed” to be. i think i just needed to hear it. thank you so much jordan❤️
11:01 I needed this. I was always told I was fat and ugly from the time I was 8 to 16. I lost weight. I liked how I looked but I was devastated because men still did not notice me. I got braces. Men still did not notice me. I lost my acne. Men STILL ignored me. At that point I would've been HAPPY because I actually thought of myself as a solid 7 as long as I dressed up. Instead I WASTED 14 YEARS OF MY YOUTH being depressed because I was obsessed with male attention. Do NOT follow my example.
I’ve always felt the need to glo up bc I’ve seen it as a cure to my low self esteem and assumed that everyone with surgery was confident but I’ve realised that my face has become more attractive over the years but my self esteem is still the same. The truth is the only way you can build that self esteem is by finding ways to challenge that negative critical voice with positive thoughts and reminding yourself you have worth outside of your aesthetics.
Glow up obsession really negatively impacted my life. I always used it as an excuse to diet and exercise obsessively over my summer vacations and i think it partially contributed to my disordered eating habits. I was so desperate to be that girl who came back on the first day of school as a completely different person.
Honestly.. thanks so much for this video!! It’s such an important topic. Back when I was in my early teens, I got so obsessed with getting this kind of validation that I was pretty. I would legitimately starve myself the whole day and stay up working out until 6 am and sleep for the whole day and repeat. When I finally broke myself out of that cycle of “I need to be pretty” “I need someone to say that I’m something other than smart” (because I was basically that “smart” girl for my entire life) it’s been so incredibly difficult to start to exercise and eat healthy again because I’m so afraid that I’ll just start counting calories and starving all over again, that something will trigger that for me again. I still remember when I came back from that summer and everyone was like, “is that you?” “You’re so pretty” “you glowed up” when I literally felt like shit. This glow up culture has to stop. Thanks again for this video, everyone deserves to exercise and care about themselves, physically and mentally without there being this stigma or obsession about it.
Humans have a habit to rely too much on the future. “I’ll do it later” “one day I will look like that” but actually we made no effort to reach those goals. Girls crave to see beautiful people on their Instagram or anywhere because they like to look at what they lack. Probably when they see those photos they think I will look like that one day, this person could do it so could I. But those other ppl were either naturally born beautiful so they grew up beautiful, edit their pictures/makeup or got surgery. True beauty comes from within and if you take care of yourself then you won’t worry too much about your outer appearance/you will worry about it in less quantities.
O sheyt this comment hits real hard down to spine straight to my heart and slap of realization just hit each side of my face. Hahaha thanks for waking me up with this comment 😂 i felt ashamed afterwards.
After years of starving myself and trying to look "cool and edgy" (i did not lol) my glow up finally came when i turned 30. I embraced my natural hair, invested in a better style and cut that suits me, exercised and ate healthy food, practiced makeup to suit my features and colours that make me feel and look good. I think a glow up is more about embracing and promoting what you already have rather than changing your appearance.
We also need to talk about how older female bodies are presented in media - most specifically, in horror films. So often there's a moment (for example, in The Shining, or IT Chapter 2... ) where there's a naked older woman and it's coded as this HORRIFYING thing, I'm pretty sure that's contributing to panic about 'peaking' as you mentioned.
Man I was so obsessed w this makeover stuff when I was younger... Jordan pls don't overpush yourself, we're thankful for all this amazing content, take a break if u need to x
i can relate being called ugly when i was younger! at the time it effected me so much and i genuinely began to think i was ugly. but now that look back, i think i shouldn’t have let it effect me so literally
Same. I was so stupid to believe that I was ugly because an old crush of mine called me that. He is the reason I have low self esteem. As the years went by, I just forgot about him and kept moving on. I didn't want to hold any grudges against him, not worth my time and energy to hate on him. Also, during my middle school years, some guys who were the "popular kids", were daring each other to ask out the "ugly" girls. I was one of those girls who got asked out. Just great....
"big noses are not ugly" this one helps me sooo much, because they say the Eurocentric nose is perfect, but as a European girl I can say that by far not all girls in Europe have a small, thin nose. That's mostly in Scandinavia, in Belgium a lot girls have either a 'hawk' nose, or a bump on their nose, like me. Also due to mixed ethnicities, I have a slightly wider nose with a bump, and it has made me very insecure...
When I was a child I thought I was ugly so I placed all my value in my intelligence. Then, as I got to high school I began to place my value in how I looked because I thought if I wasn't pretty I would never date. Placing too much value in any one trait will make you feel bad when you don't live up to your own or others expectations in that area in my experience. I think it is good to value yourself for many different reasons including simply being alive.
A different way to look at it is that having a psychical glow up can help you mentally and make you happier, not to do it for others but because you want to. I am "forcing a glow up" in a month but not because i don't like how i look and not for anyone else but because it makes me feel cleaner and better in my own skin.
I really did like your video and yes the glow up culture can be toxic if you only focus on the outside appearance and have unrealistic standards. However glow ups can be amazing to watch and get us inspired to improve some aspects about ourselves ❤️
What i worry abt the most is the possibility that these young people wanting to glow up to sort of get revenge on people who insult their appearance or in hopes that their crush will like them, with shows like insatiable and 13 reasons why coming out. If you want to 'glow up' ie change your appearance, it should be because YOU want to.
Oh my goodness. I can't believe you were called ugly. Your old photos were stunning. I love that you talk about the topics you do. I love how you're setting a good example by being honest about how things actually are.
I love your videos, you always talk about things that are so specific but are such real daily thoughts for so many that I thought I was shallow and weird for thinking about movies like that and being affected even now I'm older. Especially the curly to straight hair representing getting hot or glowing up in time for a new job/ school year/ uni. Probably won't see this but your videos always leave me feeling a bit more confident and like an important topic we were all thinking has been talked about in every respect and detail xx
