Why We Love the #NoFacetune Hashtag

We know that images in magazines and on billboards are Photoshopped. We’ve seen the viral Photoshop fail stories, heard tales of women’s faces conjured out of nothing. Published images of models and actresses, we’re told over and over, are not “real.” But as editing apps and filters have cropped up alongside social media apps over the past few years, the lines between what’s “real” and what’s not have begun to blur.

On Instagram, pictures are so edited and posed that it’s turning people off from the app. They turn to Snapchat instead, where interactions seem more authentic. At first. But then you start swiping through the geo filters, the overdone makeup filters, and find one that makes you look like you … but a little better. Chances are, all your friends are using it.

Related: Tyra Banks Goes Makeup-Free: ‘You Deserve to See the REAL Me’

We spend so much time staring at filtered images that we seem to be losing a sense of what people actually look like. Which is why the #NoFacetune hashtag that’s started taking off on Instagram is so inspiring. Similar to #NoFilter pictures, users are tagging their pictures with #NoFacetune if they haven’t used the the editing app.

Facetune, which lets you retouch your selfies before posting them to Instagram and Facebook, seems fairly harmless at first glance — isn’t it easier to erase a breakout with a swipe of your finger, rather than a piling on a pricey concealer?

But, when all the pictures in your Instagram feed are blemish-free and cleared of imperfections, it’s hard not to see everyone else as just a little prettier. Just a little more perfect. It’s hard to look in the mirror and not start feeling a little disappointed by what you see.

Hashtag trends come and go (remember #breadfacing? #tbt #carbsforever), but this is one that can actually leave an impact: Even if you don’t use the tag on your own pictures, it’s a reminder that most images we see aren’t just filtered — they’re edited and retouched into something else entirely. And that’s not real, and the face you were born with is beautiful.

Tell us below: Do you go Facetune-free?

(Photos, from top: Instagram.com/annacay; Instagram.com/blujaysmile; Instagram.com/natascha_lauritzen)

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