Your Reflection is a Perceived Lie


2 min read

Mona Lisa Reflection

Did you know, when you look in the mirror or a video call, who you see every day is a mirrored view of what everyone sees?

Like it’s crazy.

We live our whole lives comfortable with a reflected version of ourselves.

Whether it’s combing, gelling, or tying up our hair, we prepare ourselves daily to be the opposite of what people see?

For myself, I like to have my hair be wavily combed to the left of my face. That way, when I look in the mirror, I see my hair on the left side.

But when people see me, the hair is on the right. And that’s what they’re comfortable with.

And what’s crazy is, you can live your whole life comfortable the way you view yourself, but everyone else (except your barber/salonist) is comfortable with the flipped version of what you’re comfortable with.

I was so intrigued by this that did an experiment in high school where I flipped my hair the other way. One, so I could see the person everyone saw. And two, so others could see the person I saw in the mirror.

It was very uncomfortable, and unfamiliar, viewing myself, and having to comb my hair the opposite direction. The weight of my hair and the style didn’t feel right, and I know quite a few friends wondered why I changed my hair style.

But over time, with all things, I got comfortable with the new look that people would always see, and people got used to my mirrored self.

It’s a very interesting to try to imagine what similar aspects of this applies in real life – false identity, self-proclaimed pride, masked image.

But maybe another time.