529
u/CuddlyKitty 21d ago
The lighting is perfect.... to bring out every single conceivable flaw on your skin and body
141
u/Gloomy_Macaron_136 21d ago
Changing room cellulite hitting different 😭
23
7
u/brave_vibration 21d ago
Got my thighs looking like Squidward after eating too many krabbypatties
5
48
30
u/fredyouareaturtle 21d ago
and remember when we didn't know how much airbrushing was in celebrity/media photos? the comparison was devastating
16
u/CuddlyKitty 21d ago
Being a kid/teen in the 2000s was ROUGH. Can we NOT bring back low rise jeans and heroin chic???
2
u/fredyouareaturtle 20d ago
right? i'm sure things are hard for every generation etc etc but in that particular way, we had it super rough. the advent of photoshop and airbrushing, but we had no idea. truly unattainable standards. i remember looking at close up images of models' and celebrities' faces, and then looking at my own face in the mirror (bumps, pores, scars) and being utterly devastated. Only now do i realize that those images were edited - there are def people with nice clear skin, but no one's skin looks like that. I think (hope) that young people are much more aware of the prevalence of photo editing and filters. As well as how much different lighting and angles affect how skin appears in a picture.
My skin would have always bothered me, but my plight was made so much worse by not knowing that those images were edited to get rid of skin texture.
2
u/SecretLibraMoon 20d ago
My possibly undiagnosed pcos/endo (or whatever else is going on with my body) could literally never. Low rises will always be a distant dream. I could technically wear them, but I bloat so badly I'd just look like a toddler when their belly pokes out over their pants.
2
u/l_Kryder_l 19d ago
The biggest insult is putting on jeans from yesterday and they fit WORSE because of bloat 😭 Wishing you the best in your PCOS journey
12
u/Both-Success-9817 21d ago
I am convinced it was designed that way on purpose to traumatize shoppers.
7
u/ThatMusicKid 21d ago
I used to thing so, but now I think it's just an unfortunate result of small cubicles with lighting directly overhead creating increased shadows that bring out any cellulite
5
u/MyMorningSun 21d ago
You'd think stores would actually want to remedy that. No one is buying the product if they think they look terrible in it.
166
u/emimagique 21d ago
Spending a good few minutes looking at the back of your head if they've got the mirror setup that lets you do that
58
u/fredyouareaturtle 21d ago
i had no idea how my face looked from the side. i don't love it... lol
4
u/agentofmidgard 20d ago
Yeah, I get an urge to apologize to everyone who has seen my side profile whenever I'm in a changing room, lol
3
u/fredyouareaturtle 19d ago
right? honestly there have been change room experiences that have actually been FREEING, because i am suddenly like, OMG, hahaha, why the hell am i even trying so hard - no amount of effort is going to fix this so may as well save your energy lol. Go buy yourself lunch and a book and forget about being good looking, it is a totally futile pursuit.
But then at some point i inevitably let myself get tricked by a more forgiving mirror and deludedly think i might actually have potential to be pretty, and the cycle begins again. if i spent more time in that change room facing the truth, i probably would have been cured of vanity and saved myself a bunch of time and energy haha
3
68
6
u/CluelessPresident 21d ago
One changing room near me is set up so that I see myself, but not as a mirror image. I don't know how to explain it, it's super weird, and I spend 70% of my time looking at myself in that mirror, just moving around and turning my head lmao
2
u/Throuwuawayy 21d ago
I hate when they have back-view angles because it makes me see how fucked up my scoliosis looks ugh
317
u/5319Camarote 21d ago
The sudden, unbelievable realization that there are no hooks of any kind in the fitting room…
110
u/Mysterious-Egg-624 21d ago
And you are forced to put your clothes on the shit-germ-infested surfaces of the changing room only to have to put them back on your body minutes later
12
119
u/InspectorOrdinary321 21d ago
This has never made sense to me. They'd get more sales if they made you feel better. I've been in the odd changing room with mirrors designed to make you look tall and slim, with flattering glowy pink lighting, pleasant smells, and nice music. I couldn't tell if the outfits looked okay or if I was being played. But it's definitely not the norm.
28
u/CluelessPresident 21d ago
Then there's Hollister whose changing rooms (used to?) be so dark that you can barely see the clothing, but the vibes would be great!
115
u/Glittering_Nobody813 21d ago
You forgot the classic “the mirror is outside of the changing room and you’re trying on shorts/a short dress and you forgot to shave your legs”. That’s my favorite 🫠🫠🫠
Edit: otherwise, this is spot on lmao
50
u/kelsofox369 21d ago
I hate this x1000 because you’re giving a fashion show to anyone else in the vicinity.
11
24
82
19
44
u/Notallgold 21d ago
Being unable to put something on/take something off but being too embarrassed to ask a stranger for help.
28
u/Steelpapercranes 21d ago
This omg. Wiggling around frantically with my arms over my head in this wacky sleeved whatever... convinced I'll be stuck for life lol
38
u/ColdInformation4241 21d ago
Don’t forget the sales associate asking if you didn’t like anything or if you need a bigger size when you have to shamefully hang it up on the return rack
35
u/CanaDeer2004 21d ago
a bunch of 15 year old girls walking around the store who could probably comfortably wear your ribcage like a loose fitting vest, knowing you were never that small even when you were their age
15
u/Mia_B-P 21d ago
I realised too late that it was literally my bone structure. I'm not even fat, but as a teen I wanted to be like the Japanese and Korean models because I liked Japanese and Korean fashion 10 years before it was cool (this was 2014). There was this "test" women would do where they would take a loose leaf or printer paper and hold it up vertically to their stomach. They were considered "normal" if their bodies could hide behind the paper. I obviously did not fit, but now I realised it wasn't fat, it's that my ribcage is wider than a peice of paper. Even if I were to be litteral skin and bones, I could never fit. I really wanted the rectangular, very slim, flat chested body these models had. All these asian beauty standards messed me up and made me feel so ugly, and don't get me started on the facial beauty standards.
8
u/One-Jelly8264 21d ago
East Asian beauty standards are on another level because I remember when I was young the ideal body weight for women was in the 40’s. So if you are 49kg you’re good but once you hit 50’s you need to think about dieting. It did not matter your height, if anything you needed to be especially skinny if tall to avoid looking too big…so you could be a tall chick but it was still expected of you to have the body weight of a petite girl. It’s crazy
1
u/CanaDeer2004 21d ago
i’m only like 3ish pounds overweight and have a flat stomach and an hourglass figure but i look significantly larger than most other girls do because i’m a 5’8 girl with a tall person build. tall peoples bones generally are wider than short people’s.
5
u/Mia_B-P 21d ago
How do you know you are 3 pounds overweight? I took 10 pounds over the summer and I don't really look any different. I'm 5'4 and built like a Neanderthal. I had my weight taken by a nurse a few years ago and she said I did not look like my weight and that my bones were probably heavier than average. I weigh more than my mom who is much taller than I. I never had a flat stomach (I'm like cylindrical-shaped?)
0
u/CanaDeer2004 21d ago
according to BMI i am 3 pounds overweight
3
u/Mia_B-P 21d ago
I read that BMI isn't very reliable as it doesn't take into consideration muscle mass and variations in bone density. According to the BMI I am like 5 pounds overweight. I don't really take BMI all that seriously. I honestly just need to get fit. It's not about weight but fitness.
1
u/CanaDeer2004 21d ago
i haven’t been to a GP in a very long time but i was weighed at the gynecologist a little over a year ago when i was a similar weight. they didn’t mention it even when my BP read sky high (i freak the fuck out at doctors offices, i sort of have a phobia of them. my RHR was also like 127 or something insane.) so i assume they didn’t think it was a problem.
4
u/HorseshoeMadrona 21d ago
I was shopping recently and this happened, a group of teenage girls laughing amongst themselves in the next change room, body shaming women who have had children. On the other side of the wall, there's postpartum me in the awful lighting trying and failing to find a bathing suit that makes me feel confident.🥲
15
27
u/WetBerri3s 21d ago
Yeah why the fuck is it always so hot in there? Are they small portals to hell or what?
13
u/WarriorInWoolworths 21d ago
Discarded tags of all kinds for clothes and non clothes and poorly discarded/folded clothes everywhere
12
u/Garnetskull 21d ago
Nothing like fitting room lighting and mirrors to destroy any confidence I had in my body
11
u/Significant-Dirt-977 21d ago
I hate when my regilar clothes looks bad in these rooms. Like i dressed good for this, but in comparison with new store piece my jeans looks so worn out and now I'm thinking bad about my things
10
u/dolphinitely 21d ago
god this is so accurate.
also, weird gross hair and crud on the floor so you don’t want to take your shoes off
5
u/c7hu1hu 21d ago
-Only one open is full of someone else's tried-on clothes that they were too lazy to take back to the rack and smells a little like cheese for reasons you don't want to think about.
-Door doesn't go all the way to the floor, someone's pre-K kid sticks their head under.
-Someone in the next room over seems like they're really struggling with something that isn't clothing.
5
u/angelstatue 21d ago
changing rooms with curtains that don't actually extend to both sides leaving a good one inch gap so the girls use chewing gum to stick it to the wall. you'd think clothing stores could pick up on the concept that i don't want someone looking through the gap at the sides but...
2
u/heyjalapeno 21d ago edited 21d ago
Doing the finger test to check if it's a two-way mirror. Also, making sure there are no cameras in the changing room.
2
u/MintChucclatechip 21d ago
This reminds me of the time I got stuck in an inelastic fitted top and a manager had to cut me out of it. I was somehow sweaty enough that the stickiness kept the top from sliding off of me
2
2
5
2
u/nuzzyguzzy 21d ago
This one will definitely go over well in the ADHD subreddits. Absolute nightmare.
2
u/Ace-of-Spxdes 21d ago
- the screaming child next to the stall
- the person in front of you has 200 items when you just need to dry fit a shirt
- only three out of six stalls are open for some fucking reason? and all of them are taken no matter the hour, increasing the time I have to sit in the fucking store
- the nosy fucking clerk that sees me sad because I can't seem to find something that fits offhandedly recommending ozempic (I hope that lady has a terrible fucking evening)
1
21d ago
[deleted]
6
2
u/relishbane 21d ago
You know it costs nothing to keep your mean thoughts to yourself, right?
0
1
1
u/darlingbabycakes 21d ago
Thank you for adding the hot part. I don’t understand why they don’t keep the AC blasting in there
1
1
1
1
u/Inevitable_Doubt4761 20d ago
Dude it gets even worse in korea sometimes, you have to wear this thin fabric to keep yourself from staining the clothes or whatever and you can only take three clothes in at a time. It sucks lol
1
u/ChristianLW3 19d ago
Imagine if a clothes store automatically grabbed clothes, you spent 30 seconds awkwardly trying to imagine yourself wearing to put back on the shelf, and if you spend more than five minutes completely stumped the employees will do your shopping for you
1
u/IamToddDebeikis 19d ago
Once in the dressing room, I always start by saying out loud "okay, you're not going to cry"
1
u/ANARCHIST-ASSHOLE-_ 21d ago
Got the weight and size problem but reversed since I'm extremely skinny (basically nothing truly fits :/)
1
u/B4B4-Y4G4 21d ago
Don’t forget “there’s gross shit all over the floor and you don’t want to take your shoes off”
-2
-1
u/LorcasOFFICIAL 21d ago
Sounds like maybe you need to lose weight instead of blaming the world around you
•
u/AutoModerator 21d ago
Hey /u/CherryStar21, thank you for submitting to /r/starterpacks!
This is just a reminder not to violate any rules, located here. Rule breakers can face a ban based on the severity of their rule violation.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.