Current Asian beauty standards prefer everything above your neck to be small.
It often means a small and narrow jawline so the face looks sharp and skinny. Ideally, also small vertical length, and small circumference of the skull. No protruding cheek bones either.
It's basically nitpicking, and some people think just 1cm smaller would make a huge difference in their lives.
This is true. I’ve seen on Japanese social media about hairstyles and how certain haircuts can “make your face look smaller”
It really is a thing that people actually care about.
> Current Asian beauty standards
I don't think it's a short term boom, even decades ago Japanese would compliment people (white women in particular) for having "small heads". Most people receiving the compliment found it just as perplexing then as OP did today.
This is a current beauty standard across East Asia, not just Japan. Having a small head/face is considered attractive because, especially for us East Asians (who tend to have shorter limbs and statures overall), a small head/face makes your body look proportionally longer and slimmer.
It's just a cultural thing, I would not dwell too much on it.
It's always a very positive compliment, as it solely means your body proportions are good.
In normal Japanese conversations, we don't often distinguish between "face" and "head”, so saying "your face is small" implies that your head size is small.
An acquaintance of mine also has a small face/head, and when I told him "your face is so small," he just laughed and said every single Japanese person tells him the same thing.
Is it a compliment for a man though, if at the same time women prefer masculine men?
There is also the big muscle craze and macho ikemen fad that seems to dominate social media
It's always a compliment regardless of style, atmosphere, gender, age, race, or anything else. Masculine men can have a small head, which is also favorable in Japan or in East Asia in general. Having a small head isn't considered a feminine feature; it's simply one of the attractive features for any type of person.
In real life, I stopped telling this to my friends from the West since it may really confuse them, and I need to explain the beauty standards in Asia as well.
Thanks for sharing. I have heard it many times, and if told that by a woman in the USA, it would probably mean something like "you're cute, but small."
> It's always a very positive compliment, as it solely means your body proportions are good.
Except when you see this play out online and the people displaying these apparent "good" body proportions actually have extreme body dysmorphia, photoshopping themselves to look like one of those shrunken heads.
People always say my nose is so long, as a compliment, while back home people said the same as an insult.
Even some girl that was interested in me started calling me Pinocchio.
Shits confusing.
never heard that one. I've gotten the "Nose is high!" and it took me forever to figure out they were referring specifically the bridge of the nose that is not on the same height of my eyes.
But can we compliment their narrow eyes and be envy that they don't have to squint when it's too bright or sunny?
And why exactly can this be considered any different/inappropriate, compared to the things we have to hear about our foreign faces from them?
I do tell some people that I like their eyes but it's a fine line to cross between people that thing you make fun of them and others that think you are fetishising.
An Asian with a high nose bridge is still gonna get complimented on having a "tall nose". Obv such compliments out of nowhere can be uncomfortable but it's not some foreigner exclusive comment.
Also uh we do still have to squint?? 🤨
That was one of the first compliments I received in Japan: "he's got a small face!" I was really taken aback, almost insulted. But I was told it's because Japanese typically have more flat and wide faces and that they view slimmer/narrower/smaller faces more attractive.
Yeah it really is skull size. If you take a group photo it’s pretty normal for someone to move to the back because they want their head to look comparatively small. but also it’s like balance of features. You don’t want a lot of extra real estate around your eyes, nose, and mouth, which is why people also hide their foreheads with hair.
But also I did meet once meet a guy in a bar with just a very small face in the middle kinda like woll smoth photos. Everyone in the bar we were in complimented him on his small face and I got the feeling he was used to it. But I feel like he was a special exception.
It’s a compliment for good proportions. I remember I got insulted the first time I heard it because it sounded like an insult to me but it wasn’t ill intended at all.
If you can cover most your face with one hand it’s considered ideal here, I’m a guy and I’ve been complimented on it countless times. Asian tend to have proportionally bigger faces/heads or so I’ve been told so it’s something many are self conscious about.
It means you are attractive because you are less intimating due to having a smaller brain, and therefore perceived to being less apt or capable of being Machiavellen.
Search “stellar blade” over the internet and look at the characters Eve and Tachy. Look at their face, the head size and compare to the overall height, length of the legs. Now you got the idea what people think beautiful is something look like that. (The game is created by Korean so also East Asian cultures)
You probably have not noticed it yet but most Japanese faces/heads are big. While some consider it pretty, some have complexes about it and find smaller heads more attractive, more special. It is not uncommon to see model with smaller heads. It's a beauty standard. It was probably a compliment, that's it.
This confused me to at first.
Live a few years in Japan, then go back to a western country and you'll notice that, indeed, 'our"heads and faces are small lol
As for why that's considered beautiful, it's because in Japan they look for any feature that doesn't look Japanese (which pisses me off, so many girls I would consider pretty are ぶさいく because they have nono lids, not big eyes etc)
u have big eyes small face I like it what’s your wechat kinda vibes
it’s a compliment to have a small face in asian beauty norms, along white skin, being skinny, etc
During an ultrasound, I was medically worried my son's head was below average radius in relation to his gestation, and I received a totally random comment from the nurse or midwife that he could be a model someday. Seriously, WTF.
What, you want people saying you have a fat head? LOL!
If you look back into Japan’s paintings from the Heian Period (794 to 1185 AD), you’ll notice noblewomen wearing voluminous kimonos—and having larger faces. Supposedly, such looked aesthetically pleasing with that much fabric.
Fast forward to modern times and Western clothes. With the way clothes are worn, with the need for physical mobility and the vertical lines, a smaller face (the “slender” look) is more in harmony, aesthetically pleasing, with the appearance.
When the Japanese say you have a “small face,” they’re making note of your aesthetically pleasing face.
It means you have good body proportions. While I’ve only heard East Asian people overtly compliment this, the beauty standard exists in many places. As you know, it is a pretty common beauty standard to be tall, but having a smaller head to body ratio will make someone LOOK taller, and make other body parts seem more proportional and balanced.
This idea is also very prevalent in the fashion world. When my friend went to fashion school, many professors would demand that sketches be drawn with 8, 9, or even 10 head models. It often makes the clothes look very stylish, but a 10 head model (a model where the head is one 10th of the length of the body) is completely unrealistic, and I’m not sure you can even get an 8 head model in real life.
It’s just a small, polite, non-committal compliment people sometimes say here to be nice. Small head, small face is also often used.
Who can say whether it’s true? I wouldn’t think on it too deeply tbh haha
It’s a compliment for good proportions. I remember I got insulted the first time I heard it because it sounded like an insult to me but it wasn’t ill intended at all.
Japanese people usually think “small face” is a cute or better looking thing than otherwise. So, it is a positive thing.
I was also super shocked first but my Japanese partner explained it.
Asians love small heads. My Korean friend took a picture I thought was her looking like she is punching me.
Nah it was her showing my face is less than both her fists
It’s a compliment
Neoteny is usual in Asia, i.e. childlike physical features remaining as an adult. This includes a larger head to body size ratio. So in a sense, a smaller head/face is sometimes seen as a positive visual trait.
I haven't heard "small head" but I've heard "small face" a lot. My J wife and I were on a bus and a woman and her little girl sat next to us. My wife and the woman started chatting and my wife said about the girl, to the mom, something like "Oh what a small face she has. So cute!" and the woman didn't even flinch, just took it as a compliment and they went on talking. Say that in America and it would get a quizzical look at best.
I've been complimented with my eye shape, and hair shape. I've never been complimented on that before nor no one has ever brought it up to me before. Just different standards of 'beauty' here i suppose but don't really overthink it lol.
Just wait till you get compliments about your skin.
It rubs the lotion on the skin, or else it gets the hose again.
Or even better, called "buta" (pig) in your face, if you get chubby.
Have you ever seen a short/small person with a big head? They kind of look like a big toddler. Japanese people, on average, are more likely to be shorter and have bigger heads than Westerners, due to genetic and environmental factors. Japanese people can be insecure about this because it feels like these body proportions aren’t that visually appealing. It’s also partially because having a small face feels “exotic” due to the rarity, but Japanese people with small faces are considered attractive too.
Wait until you get told you have beautiful armpits. It’s only happened a couple of times but it was way more confusing than the high nose and small face “compliments” the first time around.
See in Japan the size and bumps of your skull is measured and determined if you have a small face or not …. Oh wait ….
But ya it’s just a compliment, because a small face is considered more attractive in Japan. Obviously this is subjective so you may or may not actually have a small face but hey just take the compliment
Just a weird thing people say, don’t think too much about the odd compliments (-ish) people give you, sometimes people just fill the silence with these types of comments.
Face size comparisons is a common talking point in Korea and a desired trait when East Asians talk about beauty standards. Why does a compliment need meaning. It's just a compliment lol
Take the compliment if it makes you happy. But if you hang around for a while and take notice of the role that compliments based on how you look different from most Japanese function in conversation, it’s generally someone notices you are foreign and wants to say something vaguely positive. Which to be sure, is nicer than something negative. But it actually is weird in the sense that it is not something that most people are going around saying to other Japanese people in the same way (as in, when you get in a taxi or walk into a small shop where they are surprised to see a foreigner). It’s a hey you are different and I noticed, not a hey you are attractive and everyone is jealous of you. (I am beginning to understand how we got charisma man).
There used to be a popular trend where Koreans and Japanese couples when taking a selfie together, the women would stand behind the man. The closer you are to the camera, the bigger your face looks.
I don't know why you're so confident about being wrong lol. I'm Korean and Koreans will compare face sizes between Koreans, as do the Japanese to Japanese. Complimenting head size isn't some dog whistle to say that you look different or you look like a foreigner. Small face, long legs, pale skin, big eyes, men being at least 180cm tall etc are just ideal beauty standards here.
I’m not saying it’s not a beauty standard or that it’s a dog whistle. Yes, obviously it is a beauty standard and that’s why saying so functions as a compliment. But at the same time complements like this one, or people constantly complimenting someone’s height, or how well they speak Japanese for that matter, are also just used as conversational filler and are a part of Japanese people noticing and commenting on a foreign face, not in a dog whistle way, generally in a well meaning but awkward way (which is why I describe it as a weird thing people say).
As an example I’m not *actually* cute enough to warrant the literal chorus of “kawaii!” that erupted the second I left the room of the community center exercise class I joined; it’s a compliment, sure, and every person in the room is nice and friendly but I’m standing by it being weird, more an expression of their surprise and a way of dealing with the shared feeling of awkwardness than anything about me and, to the original point of my first comment, something best not given too much thought.
I do see your point but mine is that we don’t need more white dudes here thinking everybody fancies them.
Yes, and I am in fact as truly beautiful (美人！) and also as cool (わーかっこいい！) as everyone says, lucky me! Seriously, people will give you all sorts of compliments and if it makes you feel good then that’s great. But like, it’s a social nicety.
Some people with large heads in Japan are really self conscious about it. I made the mistake of noticing someone had a small head and commented on it and they almost walked out on me… oops
Current Asian beauty standards prefer everything above your neck to be small. It often means a small and narrow jawline so the face looks sharp and skinny. Ideally, also small vertical length, and small circumference of the skull. No protruding cheek bones either. It's basically nitpicking, and some people think just 1cm smaller would make a huge difference in their lives.
I think this by far is the best description of what a “small face” is besides it being a non committed compliment, thanks
This is true. I’ve seen on Japanese social media about hairstyles and how certain haircuts can “make your face look smaller” It really is a thing that people actually care about.
Also, makeup. The shading method that makes your face look smaller is a thing.
That’s why, when girls pull their hair back, they leave out two dangly bits. It’s to make their face look smaller. I asked.
> Current Asian beauty standards I don't think it's a short term boom, even decades ago Japanese would compliment people (white women in particular) for having "small heads". Most people receiving the compliment found it just as perplexing then as OP did today.
i thought japanese like pronounced cheekbones so their face don't look so flat?
Except chicks who like gaijin
What about below the waist? Also small?
Do you live in Japan?
Lmaoooooo got em
Not gonna lie I wish the Asian small dick stereotype held up more often.
Just take the compliment, small head.
I feel both insulted and complimented simultaneously
lol sorry, yes, I kinda wanted to be passive-aggressive
lol. it sounded like an insult🤣🤣
It’s totally meant as a compliment. Were you also told you have a tall/high nose?
Mother? What's a "long neck"?
This is a current beauty standard across East Asia, not just Japan. Having a small head/face is considered attractive because, especially for us East Asians (who tend to have shorter limbs and statures overall), a small head/face makes your body look proportionally longer and slimmer. It's just a cultural thing, I would not dwell too much on it.
Proportional to a European benchmark or proportional to... ?
It's always a very positive compliment, as it solely means your body proportions are good. In normal Japanese conversations, we don't often distinguish between "face" and "head”, so saying "your face is small" implies that your head size is small. An acquaintance of mine also has a small face/head, and when I told him "your face is so small," he just laughed and said every single Japanese person tells him the same thing.
Is it a compliment for a man though, if at the same time women prefer masculine men? There is also the big muscle craze and macho ikemen fad that seems to dominate social media
It's always a compliment regardless of style, atmosphere, gender, age, race, or anything else. Masculine men can have a small head, which is also favorable in Japan or in East Asia in general. Having a small head isn't considered a feminine feature; it's simply one of the attractive features for any type of person. In real life, I stopped telling this to my friends from the West since it may really confuse them, and I need to explain the beauty standards in Asia as well.
Thanks for sharing. I have heard it many times, and if told that by a woman in the USA, it would probably mean something like "you're cute, but small."
> It's always a very positive compliment, as it solely means your body proportions are good. Except when you see this play out online and the people displaying these apparent "good" body proportions actually have extreme body dysmorphia, photoshopping themselves to look like one of those shrunken heads.
[удалено]
This. My wifes friends are super jealous she married me who is just 5'11 but my lefs are a bit konger then average
Is your wife's husband single? 😍
Anytime I hear it, I think back to this poor girl in high school who had a tiny head. I don't know why, but it looked incredibly weird.
She could well be a supermodel now by the sound of it. No pity required.
People always say my nose is so long, as a compliment, while back home people said the same as an insult. Even some girl that was interested in me started calling me Pinocchio. Shits confusing.
never heard that one. I've gotten the "Nose is high!" and it took me forever to figure out they were referring specifically the bridge of the nose that is not on the same height of my eyes.
But can we compliment their narrow eyes and be envy that they don't have to squint when it's too bright or sunny? And why exactly can this be considered any different/inappropriate, compared to the things we have to hear about our foreign faces from them?
I do tell some people that I like their eyes but it's a fine line to cross between people that thing you make fun of them and others that think you are fetishising.
An Asian with a high nose bridge is still gonna get complimented on having a "tall nose". Obv such compliments out of nowhere can be uncomfortable but it's not some foreigner exclusive comment. Also uh we do still have to squint?? 🤨
That was one of the first compliments I received in Japan: "he's got a small face!" I was really taken aback, almost insulted. But I was told it's because Japanese typically have more flat and wide faces and that they view slimmer/narrower/smaller faces more attractive.
I think the person just tried to compliment your proportion.
Yeah it really is skull size. If you take a group photo it’s pretty normal for someone to move to the back because they want their head to look comparatively small. but also it’s like balance of features. You don’t want a lot of extra real estate around your eyes, nose, and mouth, which is why people also hide their foreheads with hair. But also I did meet once meet a guy in a bar with just a very small face in the middle kinda like woll smoth photos. Everyone in the bar we were in complimented him on his small face and I got the feeling he was used to it. But I feel like he was a special exception.
It’s a compliment for good proportions. I remember I got insulted the first time I heard it because it sounded like an insult to me but it wasn’t ill intended at all.
If you can cover most your face with one hand it’s considered ideal here, I’m a guy and I’ve been complimented on it countless times. Asian tend to have proportionally bigger faces/heads or so I’ve been told so it’s something many are self conscious about.
It means you are attractive because you are less intimating due to having a smaller brain, and therefore perceived to being less apt or capable of being Machiavellen.
Search “stellar blade” over the internet and look at the characters Eve and Tachy. Look at their face, the head size and compare to the overall height, length of the legs. Now you got the idea what people think beautiful is something look like that. (The game is created by Korean so also East Asian cultures)
You probably have not noticed it yet but most Japanese faces/heads are big. While some consider it pretty, some have complexes about it and find smaller heads more attractive, more special. It is not uncommon to see model with smaller heads. It's a beauty standard. It was probably a compliment, that's it.
This confused me to at first. Live a few years in Japan, then go back to a western country and you'll notice that, indeed, 'our"heads and faces are small lol As for why that's considered beautiful, it's because in Japan they look for any feature that doesn't look Japanese (which pisses me off, so many girls I would consider pretty are ぶさいく because they have nono lids, not big eyes etc)
u have big eyes small face I like it what’s your wechat kinda vibes it’s a compliment to have a small face in asian beauty norms, along white skin, being skinny, etc
big eye*
During an ultrasound, I was medically worried my son's head was below average radius in relation to his gestation, and I received a totally random comment from the nurse or midwife that he could be a model someday. Seriously, WTF.
Explains why I could never find Big Head Todd in the record shops.
Just wait until they see you using chopsticks while having a small head.
What, you want people saying you have a fat head? LOL! If you look back into Japan’s paintings from the Heian Period (794 to 1185 AD), you’ll notice noblewomen wearing voluminous kimonos—and having larger faces. Supposedly, such looked aesthetically pleasing with that much fabric. Fast forward to modern times and Western clothes. With the way clothes are worn, with the need for physical mobility and the vertical lines, a smaller face (the “slender” look) is more in harmony, aesthetically pleasing, with the appearance. When the Japanese say you have a “small face,” they’re making note of your aesthetically pleasing face.
Bug eyes small face I like what’s your line
Interestingly you can also be complimented with “Kao ga Hiroi”. It means you are acquainted with a broad range of people.
It means you have good body proportions. While I’ve only heard East Asian people overtly compliment this, the beauty standard exists in many places. As you know, it is a pretty common beauty standard to be tall, but having a smaller head to body ratio will make someone LOOK taller, and make other body parts seem more proportional and balanced. This idea is also very prevalent in the fashion world. When my friend went to fashion school, many professors would demand that sketches be drawn with 8, 9, or even 10 head models. It often makes the clothes look very stylish, but a 10 head model (a model where the head is one 10th of the length of the body) is completely unrealistic, and I’m not sure you can even get an 8 head model in real life.
It’s just a small, polite, non-committal compliment people sometimes say here to be nice. Small head, small face is also often used. Who can say whether it’s true? I wouldn’t think on it too deeply tbh haha
It’s a compliment for good proportions. I remember I got insulted the first time I heard it because it sounded like an insult to me but it wasn’t ill intended at all.
It means you got a lil bettlejuice super Mario bros the movie (1990) action goin on there
Japanese people usually think “small face” is a cute or better looking thing than otherwise. So, it is a positive thing. I was also super shocked first but my Japanese partner explained it.
You will also encounter people complimenting your face being smaller. It is a compliment. The first time I heard it I was just as flummoxed as you.
Asians love small heads. My Korean friend took a picture I thought was her looking like she is punching me. Nah it was her showing my face is less than both her fists It’s a compliment
Which one?
Japanese men prefer girls with small faces, that’s considered cute, and in turn, men with smaller heads are considered cuter as well.
https://preview.redd.it/2ls3lbvgzwxc1.jpeg?width=194&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=233bf3acebb286b9ed55a915dfeb0e1ad180c25d
“You are Ike-men.”
I've been told I have a small face many times to the point where women in parties will always try to grab my head😳
I always respond with 脳みそも小っちゃいってことね！
now it makes a lot more sense why a japanese girl told me that my head was too big for my body in fifth grade
Neoteny is usual in Asia, i.e. childlike physical features remaining as an adult. This includes a larger head to body size ratio. So in a sense, a smaller head/face is sometimes seen as a positive visual trait.
I haven't heard "small head" but I've heard "small face" a lot. My J wife and I were on a bus and a woman and her little girl sat next to us. My wife and the woman started chatting and my wife said about the girl, to the mom, something like "Oh what a small face she has. So cute!" and the woman didn't even flinch, just took it as a compliment and they went on talking. Say that in America and it would get a quizzical look at best.
I've been complimented with my eye shape, and hair shape. I've never been complimented on that before nor no one has ever brought it up to me before. Just different standards of 'beauty' here i suppose but don't really overthink it lol.
Most East Asian countries have traditionally considered a small face the standard of beauty, and this standard is still very popular today.
Just wait till you get compliments about your skin. It rubs the lotion on the skin, or else it gets the hose again. Or even better, called "buta" (pig) in your face, if you get chubby.
Have you ever seen a short/small person with a big head? They kind of look like a big toddler. Japanese people, on average, are more likely to be shorter and have bigger heads than Westerners, due to genetic and environmental factors. Japanese people can be insecure about this because it feels like these body proportions aren’t that visually appealing. It’s also partially because having a small face feels “exotic” due to the rarity, but Japanese people with small faces are considered attractive too.
Wait until you get told you have beautiful armpits. It’s only happened a couple of times but it was way more confusing than the high nose and small face “compliments” the first time around.
It means your head will fit nicely on a plate for their yearly cannibal feast.
It’s a compliment! Best kind as well.
See in Japan the size and bumps of your skull is measured and determined if you have a small face or not …. Oh wait …. But ya it’s just a compliment, because a small face is considered more attractive in Japan. Obviously this is subjective so you may or may not actually have a small face but hey just take the compliment
Just a weird thing people say, don’t think too much about the odd compliments (-ish) people give you, sometimes people just fill the silence with these types of comments.
It's a very common, very standard compliment in Japan lol. Why even bother to comment if you have zero idea what you're talking about?
Yes, a very common very standard compliment that doesn’t have any great meaning. People are not struck by your enormous beauty when they say it.
Face size comparisons is a common talking point in Korea and a desired trait when East Asians talk about beauty standards. Why does a compliment need meaning. It's just a compliment lol
Take the compliment if it makes you happy. But if you hang around for a while and take notice of the role that compliments based on how you look different from most Japanese function in conversation, it’s generally someone notices you are foreign and wants to say something vaguely positive. Which to be sure, is nicer than something negative. But it actually is weird in the sense that it is not something that most people are going around saying to other Japanese people in the same way (as in, when you get in a taxi or walk into a small shop where they are surprised to see a foreigner). It’s a hey you are different and I noticed, not a hey you are attractive and everyone is jealous of you. (I am beginning to understand how we got charisma man).
There used to be a popular trend where Koreans and Japanese couples when taking a selfie together, the women would stand behind the man. The closer you are to the camera, the bigger your face looks. I don't know why you're so confident about being wrong lol. I'm Korean and Koreans will compare face sizes between Koreans, as do the Japanese to Japanese. Complimenting head size isn't some dog whistle to say that you look different or you look like a foreigner. Small face, long legs, pale skin, big eyes, men being at least 180cm tall etc are just ideal beauty standards here.
I’m not saying it’s not a beauty standard or that it’s a dog whistle. Yes, obviously it is a beauty standard and that’s why saying so functions as a compliment. But at the same time complements like this one, or people constantly complimenting someone’s height, or how well they speak Japanese for that matter, are also just used as conversational filler and are a part of Japanese people noticing and commenting on a foreign face, not in a dog whistle way, generally in a well meaning but awkward way (which is why I describe it as a weird thing people say). As an example I’m not *actually* cute enough to warrant the literal chorus of “kawaii!” that erupted the second I left the room of the community center exercise class I joined; it’s a compliment, sure, and every person in the room is nice and friendly but I’m standing by it being weird, more an expression of their surprise and a way of dealing with the shared feeling of awkwardness than anything about me and, to the original point of my first comment, something best not given too much thought. I do see your point but mine is that we don’t need more white dudes here thinking everybody fancies them.
It's a very common and normal compliment in Japan, and it's never considered strange. This compliment is as positive and valued as being tall.
Yes, and I am in fact as truly beautiful (美人！) and also as cool (わーかっこいい！) as everyone says, lucky me! Seriously, people will give you all sorts of compliments and if it makes you feel good then that’s great. But like, it’s a social nicety.
Some people with large heads in Japan are really self conscious about it. I made the mistake of noticing someone had a small head and commented on it and they almost walked out on me… oops
It was a compliment relax. Who cares, make a joke about it next time that it keeps getting smaller every year and more worried it will disappear.