Skin Homogeneity Reflects Whole Body Health and Longevity

For the full version, read the April edition of C&T magazine

Research into facial attractiveness has been around for more than two decades. A youthful look is universally desired by both men and women. Evolutionarily, we have been wired to seek healthy-looking partners to ascertain good genes and longevity, as studies have demonstrated; following is an overview.

Facial Attractiveness and Skin Homogeneity

Facial attractiveness forms an important aspect of social life. The perception of “what is beautiful is good” deems attractive people as having positive personality traits and makes others more tolerant to their behavior. In essence, their beauty benefits them in marriage, education and their career, and increases their overall happiness.

It has been suggested that people can feel a link between attractiveness and health through facial skin.¹ Indeed, positive correlations between facial skin health and facial attractiveness have been made again and again.^2-4 Faces having radiant and smooth skin can enhance the perception of health and attractiveness and convey positive impressions. The opposite also rings true.^5-7

We admire smooth and even, baby-like skin. Indeed, skin homogeneity draws the eye and positively affects facial attractiveness consistently across age, gender and ethnicity. It has become understood that perfectly even texture and color are some of the most attractive traits in skin.⁸ Furthermore, a small area of skin provides information about the attractiveness of the entire face⁹ — even a small increase in skin homogeneity leads to a significant increase in perceived attractiveness.

For the full version, read the April edition of C&T magazine

References

1. Little, A.C., Jones, B.C. and DeBruine, L.M. (2011). Facial attractiveness: Evolutionary based research. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lon. B Biol. Sci. 366, 1638-1659; doi: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0404.
2. Jones, B.C., Little, A.C., Burt, D.M. and Perrett, D.I. (2004). When facial attractiveness is only skin deep. Perception. 33, 569-576; doi: 10.1068/p3463.
3. Whitehead, R.D., Re, D., Xiao, D., Ozakinci, G. and Perrett, D.I. (2012). You are what you eat: Within-subject increases in fruit and vegetable consumption confer beneficial skin-color changes. PLoS One. 7:e32988; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032988.
4. Luo, Q., Yu, M., Li, Y. and Mo, L. (2019). The neural correlates of integrated aesthetics between moral and facial beauty. Sci. Rep. 9 1980; doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-38553-3.
5. Jaeger, B., Wagemans, F.M.A., Evans, A.M. and van Beest, I. (2018). Effects of facial skin smoothness and blemishes on trait impressions. Perception. 47, 608-625; doi: 10.1177/0301006618767258.
6. Ikeda, H., Saheki, Y., Sakano, Y., Wada, A., Ando, H. and Tagai, K. (2021). Facial radiance influences facial attractiveness and affective impressions of faces. Int. J. Cosmet. Sci. 43 144-157; doi: 10.1111/ics.12673.
7. Sakano, Y., Wada, A., Ikeda, H., Saheki, Y., Tagai, K. and Ando, H. (2021). Human brain activity reflecting facial attractiveness from skin reflection. Sci. Rep. 11 3412; doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82601-w.
8. Fink, B., Grammer, K. and Thornhill, R. (2001). Human (Homo sapiens) facial attractiveness in relation to skin texture and color. J. Comp. Psychol. 115 92-99; doi: 10.1037//0735-7036.115.1.92.
9. Liu, C.H., Young, A.W., Li, J., Tian, X. and Chen, W. (2022). Predicting attractiveness from face parts reveals multiple covarying cues. Br. J. Psychol. 113 264-286; doi: 10.1111/bjop.12532.