Does anybody else check their face expressions in the mirror after conversations?

I think I got more expressive as an adult due to masking or at least this is what I think. I can’t see myself from outside and mirror reflection is not enough. I’m fact i often get asked why I’m sad when I’m not. Probably it’s people misinterpreting my flat expression as sadness. I also hear that I have robotic moves and that generally I’m weird 

I think I got more expressive as an adult due to masking or at least this is what I think. I can’t see myself from outside and mirror reflection is not enough. I’m fact i often get asked why I’m sad when I’m not. Probably it’s people misinterpreting my flat expression as sadness. I also hear that I have robotic moves and that generally I’m weird 

I think I got more expressive as an adult due to masking or at least this is what I think. I can’t see myself from outside and mirror reflection is not enough. I’m fact i often get asked why I’m sad when I’m not. Probably it’s people misinterpreting my flat expression as sadness. I also hear that I have robotic moves and that generally I’m weird 

Wooden heart - Elvis Presely . Flat affect. is a symptom of many disorders, schizophrenia, strokes, autisms, depression. I m not sure sometimes if i'm just a schizophrenic in a bad mood. (people drive me crazy after a while) I'm not sure if i always had a flat expression, but i think so. I might have been more expressive as child though. But life wears that down. That childlike enthusiasm.

I'm bet you have a lovely smile! Everyone's smile is different. A true smile is beautiful regardless of how it looks because it shows that you are truly happy :) I hear my friends say that sort of thing, too, but I think they have a beautiful smile because I love them!

I dont really have a good idea of what my expression look like when i'm in a convo. I might be like a statue most of the time, (THATS WHEN YOU CAN THE BAD REP) or i might contort alot if excited and animated gesticalating about something of interest or im passionate about (RARELY), or i might doing some basic bare minimum maintenance movements, likes nods, eyebrow raises, small movements, maybe a smirk, but its just muscle twitches. I look in the mirror all the time and try out expressions but its so...meh. I wish I had Jim Carreys control. He's just so charismatic. He mastered the art of bodily and facial expression.

Same here! I hate my smile, the corners of my mouth always go down 

I do it all the time! I always imagine a certain facial expression in my head, but when I check the mirror, it looks completely different. For example, when I try and do a smile, sometimes I check in the mirror and it looks more like a grimace 

Yes me too! I notice in photos of me I think I'm smiling then when I see the photo the smile hasn't actually come out from the inside. 

Yes, I agree. Afterwards it’s different. I saw myself on a video (it was in late 90’s, I was around 10) I couldn’t watch myself there. Awful! I stood up and frustrated left the room. Other kids were so expressive and I had some sort of “wooden expression” and I hated that. I had feelings that I was watching a slightly disabled child - myself. I didn’t see it from inside or in the mirror. Now I know my subconscious impression of seeing a slightly disabled child was right. First I thought I was just ugly but then I understood, it wasn’t me ugly, it was something wrong with me. 

I did. it for years! After and also before - training of the expression before planned / possible interaction with people. After realising I’m autistic I decided to stop masking so hard and I don’t do it anymore. 

The only time I tend to look in a mirror these days is when I brush my teeth, or feel a need to pluck an unwanted hair from my face.

I cannot say that I have ever felt the need to look in a mirror to check if my facial expressions are 'normal'. It's just not something that I have ever worried about.

There have been occasions during conversations when I have felt ok, but other people have interpreted my facial expression as me being anxious, displeased, fearful, etc. I now tend to laugh it off and tell them that it must be my resting b*tch face.

I do check that a smile is actually visible to others, it seems I try to smile but it doesn’t always come out on the outside of me. 

I don't think that this is unusual. It is more common with women than men. I rarely look at myself in the mirror at all.

Matcha said:

to see if my face looked 'normal' during said convo. Does anyone else do this? 

If the conversation has finished then you are probably going to be in a different "mode" of masking so checking your face won't tell you how you looked back then.

You need a hand mirror to hold up and check during the conversation to make sure you look totally normal and not strange in the slightest

Sorry, I only jest as when you rationalise it then it is not telling you what you want to know.

In answer to your question, no I don't.

I’d never really properly thought about this, but now you’ve asked this I realise that I do often check my facial expression in the mirror before, rather than after, meetings or other social gatherings that are causing me nerves. It’s almost like I need to get my face right to be able to contribute (which I then don’t always manage to do very well), but that’s what I do

No but I have been accused of making faces when someone was talking in a meeting. Also been told to take that look of your face!