Fear No Face

Thinking of featuring a scar in your Halloween costume? We’ve collaborated with Face Equality International to encourage our beauty community to create looks that don't include scars. There’s a time and a place for great special FX makeup, but let’s break the link between facial difference and villainy.

Something to actually be scared of this Halloween, and it’s not scars…

People often associate facial differences with negative personality traits. Photos of people with facial differences were rated as less honest, less employable, less trustworthy, less optimistic, less effective, less capable, less intelligent, less popular and less attractive than photos of the same people with the facial difference digitally removed. Negative neural responses to facial difference have also been shown in a study employing MRI scanning technology.

If you have a facial difference, it may be harder to find a job. CV’s which disclosed this were much less likely to be shortlisted for interview, particularly where the advertised job involved customer contact.

The way we look may affect our pay. In 2011, the US economist Daniel Hamermesh calculated a ‘pretty premium’ of around USD 230,000 over the course of someone’s career.

People with facial differences have had negative experiences while out and about. In one survey of people with psoriasis, 19% had been asked to leave a public place (e.g. restaurant, swimming pool) because of their condition.

And in 2017, 81.3% of respondents to a survey by the charity Changing Faces had experienced staring, comments, or unpleasantness from a stranger.

Studies have also suggested that people stand further away from someone with a facial difference on the street, are less likely to sit next to them on a train, and are less likely to donate to charity if the collector has a visible difference.

Having a facial difference can also affect your chance of receiving a criminal conviction, resulting in longer sentences and less chance of parole in mock jury trials.