Infants start to recognise themselves in the mirror at two-years-old. For many of us, that moment is the start of a relationship far more complicated than we could ever comprehend as toddlers. Every single body image crisis, every hair and skin gripe, every frantic effort to cover our self-perceived flaws with makeup and cloth: it all begins with that flat, shiny surface.
To which we're addicted, seemingly. A Simple Skincare survey found women looked in the mirror on average eight times a day. Vanity? Hardly - little else prompts constant appearance-monitoring than insecurity: that same survey found 75 per cent "hate" looking in the mirror altogether, and 39 per cent said doing so decreased their confidence. Similar research found more than 50 per cent of women may even see a distorted reflection of themselves, similar to the visual contortions experienced by sufferers of anorexia. For a huge number of us, mirrors go far beyond the means to preen. They signify self-loathing, distress, and an inability to see ourselves objectively.
That some women are therefore choosing to avoid their reflection altogether is perhaps a natural evolution. The trend, based mainly in the US and dubbed 'mirror fasting', aims to put the breaks on participants' compulsive mirror-checking. It kicked off when New York beauty blogger, Autumn Whitefield-Madrano, decided last year to completely avoid her reflection for a month. The writer noticed she had developed a 'mirror face', and it concerned her: "I'd open my eyes a little wider, suck in my cheeks a little and tip my chin down in an effort to make myself look more like I wanted to. It made me feel really vain."
By the end of her mirror-free month, Autumn concluded she felt "calmer and more serene". She also noticed she was much less consumed by thoughts of her appearance: "I didn't feel better or worse about my appearance; I rarely felt pretty or unpretty. I just didn't care as much." She's decided to repeat the exercise every year: "...to remind myself I don't need to know how I look every minute to be a fully functional, capable human being."
If the raft of female bloggers following suit are anything to go by, that's a highly desirable reminder. And understandably so. As Autumn points out, preoccupation with one's reflection is an uncomfortable and ineffective exercise in control: "Control over the image we present to the world, sure; control over fitting the beauty standard, to a degree. Mostly, though, surveillance is an effort to carefully control our ideas about ourselves."
