The beauty and personal care industry is absolutely massive. According to Statista, it amounted to $571.1 billion in 2023, globally, and the market is expected to grow by a whopping 3.8% every single year.

The United States generates by far the largest amount of revenue. In 2023, the US alone was responsible for $914.41 billion in revenue, or $74.23 per person. In short, looking beautiful and youthful is a huge business. It’s something that most people care about, but it’s especially pronounced in the US.

But then there’s the r/PrettyGirlsUglyFaces subreddit, sporting the caption “You are so beaut-OHGOD!”, essentially telling everyone that it’s perfectly all right to show off your goofy, less-than-stellar side of you. The community encourages its members to have fun and avoid trying to “maintain your dignity.” The sub is meant for having fun, and not judging others on their looks, which is a breath of fresh air in a world where social media is full of picture-perfect influencer reels and snaps.

The subreddit was founded all the way back in mid-July 2012 and will be celebrating its 11th birthday in just a couple of weeks’ time. Throughout the years, the group has grown to house nearly 100k members who love the overall silliness and great sense of humor to be found here.

The moderator team running the show asks redditors to post at least two photos of themselves. “Submit photos in an Imgur or Reddit album with at least one ‘pretty’ (aka normal) face and as many horrifying faces as you'd like to contribute. Have fun. Be ugly. Go nuts,” they explain.

They also add that this is a safe-for-work community and nobody should be posting anything explicit or suggestive. What’s more, everyone’s encouraged to be polite and respectful of one another. “Remember: these are real people posting silly selfies for fun. Don't be a jerk,” the mods stress.

Meanwhile, if anyone writes a comment asking, “Which one’s the pretty face?”, they’ll get an immediate ban. Redditors also shouldn’t “complain a poster is not pretty enough to post here.” This all seems like common sense stuff, but clearly, if the rules are made this explicit, someone hasn’t been following them.

Despite the name of the subreddit, r/PrettyGirlsUglyFaces, absolutely everyone is welcome to post here. “We want everyone to show us their most recklessly hideous faces. Do not worry about the subreddit name, friends! We are an all-inclusive community hare,” the mods write, inviting the entire web to join in on the fun.

Previously, Bored Panda spoke to the founder of the sub, redditor u/Sinkingfast, who shared some background information on the community.

"The community itself has stayed consistent and loyal. We get a lot of users who see positive reception to their posts and come back as repeat posters. Creating a safe and fun environment to post weird pics in judgment-free was always the goal and I'd like to think we've maintained it, especially with the help of our loyal user base,” they told us.

“Our community is great. I want people to be comfortable enough to share and have fun. The subreddit really belongs to the users and wouldn't exist without them,” the mod said. They added that there’s a limit to the number of people we can know, so we tend to judge them by their appearance, clothing, and behavior.

"My opinion loosely follows something like Dunbar’s number, the theory that we can only know so many people. We used to live in hunter/gatherer tribes as a species and as cities grew, well, people don't know people anymore. You can't know everyone, especially not within a massive city. Even in the age of social media, you can only peek into so many lives,” they told Bored Panda during an interview.

“As an example, I might wear a specific band t-shirt and in that instance, I would be doing it to advertise to others I am a fan. Someone could judge me on the shirt and I may get a friend out of it. Someone could also judge me negatively. I chose to present myself that way, though. I don't choose my face,” they said.

According to u/Sinkingfast, people tend to assume that someone behaves exactly as they look, even if this is related to things they can’t control, like what their facial features are like.

"You see it all the time in films where someone like Steve Buscemi, who may be the nicest dude in the world, is hired to play a certain role or type because of his physical appearance. What if he wasn't an actor who was typecast all the way to the bank? If he was just a unique-looking dude on the street? Might someone have harsher opinions of him because he's not the typical standard for beauty? Over attributes he cannot fully control," the mod shared their thoughts.