I got a new request from clients in the last two months: “How to read faces with a mask?” Banks, airports, hospitals, and police are facing this issue every day. How to know what is going on behind the mask? To me, reading faces is easy, almost logical.
Physiognomy or Face Reading has been around for more than 3,000 years, it can be found in Chinese, Korean, as well as in European and Latin American history. Face Reading is the assessment of the 235 features on your face that are related to how you intake, process, and express information. It is used in jury selection, sales, management, and recruiting. A company in Israel has developed a software that reads patterns on your face. Universities have studied the measurement of the width of faces of soccer players and their capability to high performance. A study that lasted 83 years following 292 individuals tried to determine the 4 factors in your face that can show the life you had. My specialty on Face Reading is to determine personalities and patterns of behavior. I have applied these to sales and communication for the last 28 years of my life.
A recent article on the Washington Post mentioned “What physiognomy tells us about covering your face amid the coronavirus”
How can we assess a person when half of the face is covered?
For the trained eye, the part of the face that a mask reveals can tell us a lot about a person. Ears are related to how we intake information, some people listen with their ears while others listen with their eyes. Yes, it’s called being visual or auditory. If the ears are small that person needs to see or listen to a “visual word”. If the ears are big this person will spend almost 75% of the time not looking at you, but weighting on your words and tone. If the ears are high then they process information fast as in a “do it now” manner. If the ears are low they need time, don’t rush them as they are the “do it right” type.
Ears can reveal if a person is diplomatic, if they think outside the box, or if they look for alternatives to common problems. You can also tell if they comply with norms if they are followers or leaders, their appreciation for esthetic or pragmatism, and even their sexual desire.
With this information, I know how to talk and communicate information the way this person needs me to.
Forehead, eyebrows, and eyes can reveal almost 60% to 70% of a person’s personality.
Flat foreheads reveal a sequential thinker, a follower of patterns and rules, a person who likes structure and step by step processes. On the other hand, we have round foreheads that reveal a person who is creative and imaginative. They avoid mechanical processes and rigid systems by looking for alternative options to simple and complex problems.
We can read around seven features on the eyebrows alone. Round eyebrows mean the person is people-oriented, they like to listen to a good story. Square or straight eyebrows are people who need facts, data, and proven methodologies; they tend to dislike changes. A pointy eyebrow, like the ones Disney witches have, means they are right and will search for any detail about any topic to be right. They know about just any topic, sometimes even more than the sales rep or person they’re talking to. You’ll never meet a person with pointy eyebrows who is not ready for a meeting, NEVER.
If the eyebrows start and end with the same amount of hair, it’s a person who will finish everything they start, the bad news is they are not patient with anyone who doesn’t play by the same rules. If the eyebrows start thick and end thin then it’s a person who is good with new ideas, they don’t always finish what they start as they get new ideas all the time and prefer to try new ideas instead of finishing old ones. Now the opposite is eyebrows that start thin and finish thick, people who pick ideas others dropped or left incomplete.
Intimacy-personal and work
The amount of eyelid reveals intimacy levels. No eyelids show laser-precise focus, so don’t get in their way. Some eyelids showing means this person needs personal space but does not avoid being social. Now if the amount of eyelids is abundant, this person is a lover, has a social personality, and probably an extroverted person.
The distance between the eyelid and the eyebrows can show the proxemic of a person. It also shows the way they need to be approached and their reaction to first-time interactions. Too friendly too soon or too formal and distant.
Wrinkles, dimples, and lines are another story. Empathy and courage can be read, as well as how curious and well educated the person is and their determination.
In a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, Jerry Davich said: At one point in our video chat, Ibitz asked me to lean in a bit closer so she could better view my facial structure while I spoke. It revealed to her traits of mine that she decoded in a matter of seconds. “Don’t take this the wrong way but you can manipulate situations depending on your needs.” she told me.
Guilty, your honor.
She told me I’m highly pragmatic and impatient. My brain goes too fast, and I continually form new questions before listening to someone’s answers. Also, I’m a social chameleon who prefers being invisible in public so I can do my job of studying people.
“Daaaaamn,” I thought to myself. link
To summarize, our face can reveal as much as we want or can read. In a society that needs to hide behind a mask, learning how to communicate in a way others can understand our message easily, fast, and accurately can help avoid so many problems and biases, as every face is equal no matter race, age, and gender.
Communication, understanding, and boundaries on relationships, either personal or professional affect both parts. What if you can read a person like a book? Would you?
What if next week we start learning each of this features !!!
Be safe. XO Susan
