The world is filled with weird and wonderful things, but even more so it’s filled with weird and wonderful people, not always in the way that we think. Beauty to everyone around the world looks different. Some things that might seem weird in one country are actually what make people beautiful in other places. In certain countries, having a big belly doesn’t mean you’re overweight, it's a sign of beauty. And having bags under your eyes doesn’t always mean you’re tired. Let’s take a trip around the globe to see what features you might have that’d be deemed as beautiful somewhere else.
Shaving Head: Africa
When we think of stretched earlobes we think of heavy metal band lovers who have tattoos and aggressive personalities, where they start off with those small black stretching hoops, and before you know it the hoops are almost the same size as their ears. In Western Africa, stretched ears, without rings in, are a sign of beauty. Once puberty is hit, girls start with their ear stretching and piercing tradition.
Unlike other places we know, they use wood to stretch their ears in Africa. These stretches are also only accustomed to certain cultures, so you are able to tell who is from what tribe.
Unibrows: Tajikistan
Women spend tons of money everywhere getting their eyebrows waxed and shaped so that they look perfect and most importantly don’t grow together in the middle, creating a unibrow. But in Tajikstan having a unibrow makes them some of the most beautiful people to others in their country. If someone's brows don’t grow naturally together, they even use herbs to place in the gap to make it look like they do.
Unibrows are a big part of Tajikistan people as it shows signs of beauty and pureness in women and in men, it's good luck and shows they are more fruitful.
Stretched Earlobes: Africa
Many women spend time and money on having long luscious hair, but this is not the case in some parts of Africa. Women who have bald heads are seen to be more beautiful than the women in their cultures who have long hair. Who would have thought? Having your head shaved is not all about beauty in other parts of Africa, sometimes it has a deeper meaning behind like mourning.
Although there are many women who could easily pull off a bald head, we doubt the rest of the world would be able to see it as a sign of honor or pureness.
Māori Identity: New Zealand
You can not help but see the beauty and power behind a Māori tattoo on their native people and a way to show the most significant of the markings is to have them on your face. In New Zealand, Māori men have their Māori tattoos on their faces, bums, and legs and women have them on their chins and lips. This is a completely distinctive way of showing this rare beauty.
Because the Māori people believe their heads are the most sanctified part of their body, and that's the reason for these markings. It's not just for fun and games.
Armpit Fuzz: France
Feminism has shown the world the height of women not shaving body hairs, but the French were all about that long before feminism took it on. Although the meaning behind why women do this as feminists or just as French women is basically the same. In France, women have never really liked to conform to society and like to have the freedom to choose how they look and what they do.
Not shaving is not so much a beauty thing, but it gives women confidence which in turn makes women look more attractive. Although, we’re sure some men will disagree hairy women look attractive.
Double Eyelids: South Korea
Korean women make up a good percentage of some of the purest and most beautiful women in the world, but most of the time it does not come naturally. In South Korea, there is a competition going on among women to be beautiful and it all starts as early as high school. One major surgery they get is double eyelid surgery which helps their eyes look more open and evidently bigger.
Korean women like to keep up appearances and always look their best and a lot of the time, cosmetic surgery is what makes that happen for them. We don’t know if that counts though.
Body Paint: Africa
For many, body painting is a thing we do at Halloween or during some sexy time with chocolate. But, it doesn’t always look that beautiful. However, in Cora, Ethiopia, men, and women paint their bodies and faces as a somewhat mating tactic and once they get their lover, they paint their bodies while dating or marrying their partners. There are also other tribes who do the same but to indicate their ranking, age, or dignity.
Men also paint their bodies with chalk mixed together with animal fat to frighten their enemies. A much less beautiful sight, but then we guess it does the job in that aspect.
Jewel Eye: Netherlands
Some of these weird and wonderful beautiful aspects we could live with, but having a jewel implanted into your eye is not one of them. In the Netherlands, you are able to get a jewel put into your eyeball. Sounds painful and uncomfortable and not something that should be a sign of beauty. It's not something you can get anywhere, but in the Netherlands is legal enough so you can.
When they said the eyes are the window to the soul, that didn’t mean eyes with some bedazzling are the open doorway to the soul. Beautiful? We think it's crazier than anything.
Chiseled Teeth: Indonesia
When we think of teeth and beauty, we think the straighter and whiter the better. That’s not the same case in Indonesia. A certain tribe in Indonesia has women who have chiseled teeth, so they have really sharp points. When they are teenagers they go through the painful process of having their teeth chiseled. It's a sign of beauty and they also believe it keeps the positive close and the negative at bay.
This is one cultural beauty hack that would not go down very well in many other places. At least they can eat really well and at the same time have positive energy around them.
Cheek Piercing: Thailand
Another strange tradition that signifies being purified happens at the vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand. At the event, while in a trans-like state to prevent pain, people pierce their cheeks with metal rods, swords, and knives. This ritual shows others who are the stronger ones as they can withstand the pain and don’t necessarily hurt themselves. The event is a way for the people to remember the nine gods who healed the people from illness.
Perhaps it is the gods who are preventing them from being in pain and hurting themselves. Although this is meant to purify them, we would rather just take a clean bath than do this.
Nose Plugs: India
In India, you can find a tribe called the Apatani and as part of their culture, they had a very strange way of showing dignity and honor. Before it was banned in the 1970s, the women would wear wooden nose plugs on the sides of their nostrils called Yaping Hullo and have their faces tattooed as soon as they started puberty. It was supposed to make them unattractive, but it had the opposite effect.
The women who had this done were proud of their unique look and they even brought in modifications to make the symbols look more beautiful and desirable to the tribesmen.
Black Gums: Senegal Africa
When it comes to looking beautiful, usually one of the first things women do is take care of their teeth and gums, but in Senegal, Africa, the women have a different root that they feel makes them more desirable. They had an old custom where they would tattoo their gums black with shea butter and hot oil. And it was as painful as it sounds because they had to do it seven times over.
This custom was done so that women could find an acceptable male partner. The blacker the gums, the better the smile, and the more beautiful and upper class they were seen.
Foot Binding: China
There are always some risks with certain beauty treatments, but China’s foot binding would have to take the cake on risky beauty practices. Women would break and bind their feet so that they would look like lotuses, later on, the footbinding custom was known as lotus feet. The practice was banned in 1912 as it caused many lifelong disabilities, that's if the women survived the painful procedure in the first place.
This custom was done as women were seen as a higher status and it gave them the opportunity to marry into money. It sounds like a lot of painful effort just to marry rich.
Carefree Makeup: French
French women are almost always stunning, and there is another secret behind their way of showing this. French women believe less is more, so they follow a belief that wearing less makeup and showing off more of their natural features is what makes them look more beautiful. They also put very little effort into doing their hair, so it too looks as natural as possible, even if it's a little messy.
This belief seems to work well though and there are many other women in other countries who have started to follow this idea too. A little mascara and some concealer are more than enough.
Tan Skin Tone: USA
A typical American stereotype is that Americans can be quite lazy and try to find a short way around things. The same goes for women who are searching for that perfect sunkissed skin in the USA. Instead of just spending some time in nature and letting the sun do its natural thing, Americans rely heavily on fake tan products to look for the perfect skin tone to show off their beauty.
Having the tanned look can sometimes enhance a person's beauty, but when the tan fades and patches off, then it's not so beautiful anymore and your natural skin has to just do the trick.
Round Big Eyes: Asia
Asian women have unique facial features that are unlike any we see in other cultures. But just like in many other countries, people can’t seem to be happy with what they were born with and find other ways to look and feel prettier. Many Asian women go through different surgeries to make their eyes look bigger so that they do not have the thin almond-shaped eyes they were born with.
Although Asian women have their own type of beauty, they often feel they want to have more looks from the westernized cultures. If beauty for them means surgery, then let them do them.
Turmeric Ceremony: India
Funnily, a lot of westernized beauty ideas actually stem from other cultures. In India, they perform a turmeric ceremony for many different things, but the turmeric, or as they call it, the Haldi, has more behind it than just meaning. The mixture illuminates women's skin so that it has a natural and dewy glow. And not only that but it also removes dead skin cells which also makes a big difference to the face.
Before Indians get married, they apply the mixture in the hopes it will purify them and cleanse the body and then stay at home before the wedding to stop bad spirits from entering their lives.
Facial Piercing: USA
Self-expression is becoming a big thing in today's world and people are finding more and more ways of expressing who they are so their point is made. In the USA one of the biggest ways of self-expression is body and face piercings. Over 70% of the population in the USA has some kind of piercing on themselves, that is literally almost everyone who is old enough to have a piercing.
Some people have more meaning behind their piercings as the place they pierce on their bodies defines a deeper internal ideology. Just like tattoos have meanings, piercings sometimes do too.
Smile: USA
The Hollywood smile didn’t get its name for anything, because having the perfect smile is a big must for beauty standards in America. The perfect smile might be different in different countries, but in America, it means having straight and perfectly white teeth. For Americans, having a Hollywood smile shows others that you are healthy and they also feel the need to withhold the saying for other countries to see.
Because a lot of Americans get the perfect pearly whites, they also tend to smile more. But then again, who wouldn’t keep showing them off after spending thousands of dollars to have them?
Puffy Lips: USA
After getting apple bottoms and perfect teeth, Americans don’t stop there. Another standard they believe makes them more beautiful is to have full pouty lips. Not everyone is born with full lips, so many Americans have lip fillers done to make them look puffier. This trend has become so big in the USA that there is more than one way to get this done, either with surgery or even without.
Having full pump lips does add some beauty to already beautiful faces, but many women also don’t know when to stop, and their beautiful looks slowly start looking like something out of a cartoon.
Apple Bottoms: USA
Another American beauty standard is the bigger the booty the better. Apple bottoms is not just a 2007 hip-hop rap song, it is a beauty standard Americans follow where they have big bottoms and small tight waists. For women, they feel it is a high beauty standard that makes them look more attractive. And sometimes it does make women look more attractive and other times it just looks like a bit too much.
The Kardashians all seem to follow the same standard and as a lot of Americans look up to them, it's something they follow to also feel like they look as beautiful as them.
Guitar Body Shape: Brazil
We have heard about many body shapes, like pear, hourglass, or triangle, but in Brazil, they seem to have their own body shape that they see as a good beauty standard. The shape is known as the guitar-shaped body and its usual for women who are thicker in the waist, hips, and groin area and skinnier in the belly, chest, and arms. Which was similar to the shape of their Barbie called Susi.
Because women do unthinkable things to try and look like skinny Barbie, in Brazil the women wanted their bigger hips and waist to be the norm and have done so.
Teeth Blackening: China
On one side of the world, we have Americans wanting whiter teeth and on the other, we have an old tradition in China where women dye their teeth black as a sign of beauty. Usually, when women hit puberty, their teeth were dyed as a way to prevent decay and make sure the teeth last all the way into their older years. You can still find many old women who still have their black teeth.
Although the process is meant to prevent discoloration and decay, it basically leaves women with the same look as they would if they did have decay. Beauty can often be strange.
Pierced Cheeks and Chins: Brazil
In South America, there is a tribe that uses piercings to represent different things, however, it is not piercings as we might know them to be. They pierce their chins and cheeks usually around the mouth by using sticks that stay in there. Sometimes these piercings provide more beauty to some of the people and other times it is done so that evil spirits can not come into their lives.
These piercings are unique to this tribe. We are sure other cultures would not be able to see the beauty in this but they probably wouldn’t see the beauty in our standards either.
Korean Nose: South Korea
Koreans are known to have plastic surgery or cosmetic treatments done to give them the perfect face look, but one of their more popular treatments is having their noses done. In South Korea, they have what is called a nose string life which basically pulls their noses up slightly so that they have a more pointing tip and more pronounced nasal bridge. It's all part of what they feel makes them more beautiful.
Luckily the nose string lift is not a painful procedure and is also not a very risky one to have done either, but depending on where you go it is going to cost you.
The Teeth Sharpening: Africa
Similar to the tribe in Indonesia that has chiseled teeth there are also some African tribes that do something similar for protection and strength or beauty and honor or to look more animal-like. They perform rituals of teeth sharpening done by those who are only gifted and trained to do so. This happens to both men and women who are just entering adulthood, and it must be done no matter what.
Each tribe will have a different meaning behind doing it, so it isn’t all about beauty. Besides it adding a specific meaning, we’re sure it makes it easier for them to eat meat too.
Bags Under Eyes: South Korea
If there is a market to take something away from a person's face or body, somewhere in the world there will be a market to put that same thing on. Many people will buy eye creams or have botox done to remove the bags under their eyes, but in South Korea, women pay to have a procedure done that gives them puffy bags under their eyes, which they call puppy eyes.
Its usually done by taking fat cells from various parts of the body and injecting them underneath the eyes which gives them that puffy look. It's a way of showing beauty and youthfulness.
Waist Slimming: Asia
Women all knew what kind of lengths they would go to to have a slimmer waistline, and if they don’t opt for a more natural diet and exercise, they can turn to some very drastic options. In Asia, having a slim waistline is seen as being more attractive, so women there often go for rib resection surgery, where an extra rib and sometimes muscles too are removed from the lower section of the rib cage.
This means they can slim the waist even more regardless of how dangerous this surgery can be. It seems like very drastic measures to take just to feel more attractive.
Smile: South Korea
It is not often people don’t have nice smiles so it seems rather strange that in South Korea, Korean women have a procedure done to make their smiles look better. Smile lifting is quite simple as it is just botox that gets injected in the corner of your lips so that they do not turn down when you are not smiling and turn further up when you are, so it's an all-around good smile.
On top of this, they sometimes have their teeth done too, for an even better look. The smile lift only lasts three to six months, so it’s something that would have to be upheld.
Men’s Pot Belly: Ethiopia
When we think of beauty in men we think of good skin, a healthy-looking body, and a good haircut. In Ethiopia, it's quite the opposite. Men who have fuller and bigger stomachs are seen as more attractive and in turn, attract more women who they could potentially marry. So if all else fails for big-bellied men everywhere else in the world, just know you will be able to find love in Ethiopia.
African beauty standards are always quite strange and different, but they all usually make sense as well. There are no random standards without them having some sort of meaning behind them.
Face Scarification: Africa
Another interesting tradition in Africa is called facial scarification, similar to a tattoo except no ink and needle will be used here. Facial scarification is when their faces are burned, branded, scratched, cut, or engraved with different designs, symbols, or even wording. These markings all have different meanings for different things or situations or symbolize a healing process, all while showings a great sign of beauty in men and women.
It may be a painful practice, but once healed some of the markings are quite powerfully beautiful and when you hear the story behind them, they become even more special.
Lips Plates: Africa
The beauty practices in Africa just keep coming and the deeper we dive into them, the stranger they seem. In some areas of Africa, they have a tradition that entails adding clay or wood plates to their lip. It is only done to women when they reach puberty as a sign that they are at the right age to be married and have children. The bigger the plate inserted, the more beautiful she is.
The woman's mother is usually the one who inserts the plate which can be quite painful, but once they find the right size plate, the pain subsides. “Beauty is pain” is a real thing.
Chukchi People: The Arctic Circle
In one of the coldest places in the world, The Arctic Circle, you will find Chukchi people who have cute rosy cheeks which come naturally from their living conditions. Where other people across the globe add on some extra blush to get this look, they get it for free just because of where they live. It's a normal look for the Chukchi people now and it even enhances some of their already cute faces.
We just have to step into a little bit of cold weather to get the same, but it does not stick around on our faces as much as it does on theirs.
Colorful: South Africa
South Africa is known for its diversity and with a flag that has six different colors on it, it is no surprise that color is part of what makes their people look beautiful. In the African culture, the color symbolizes emotions, successors, traditions, and culture. African women often wear bright and colorful clothing or traditional outfits with matching headwraps and bright lipsticks as it makes them more attractive to men.
The colors they wear also spark emotions in people as each color has a meaning behind it. Color in South Africa would make anyone's head turn, not just the men.
Glowy Skin: Sweden
Some of the best skincare brands come from Sweden and it must be because skincare is so important to them and the way they look. Swedish women are seen as more attractive when they have taken good care of their skin, leaving it dewy and glowy, and smooth. They also don’t wear heaps of makeup either. Looking after their skin doesn’t stop at their faces though, as they do the same for their whole body. ey even use herbs to place in the gap to make it look like they do.
Swedish women are already born with a unique and natural beauty that all they really need to do is take care of it and it will take care of them.