Beauty standards may vary around the world, but they are a powerful force. Especially on teen girls. Here’s YR Media’s Sarah Ng on putting down the eyelid tape.
Like many East Asians, I grew up feeling pretty insecure about my eyes. I’m not alone. Eyelid surgery is the third most popular cosmetic procedure in the world, according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons.
People have told me to my face that my eyes are small and almond-shaped, that my eyes have monolids, meaning my eyelids lack creases.
And since I'm growing up in the US, monolids are like a stamp that says “Asian.” In middle school, I remember staring at my predominantly white classmates’ eyes. I paid way too much attention to their shape and depth.
Years ago, my older sister decided to change her monolids. She obviously wasn’t going to pay for plastic surgery. Instead, she bought eyelid tape from an Asian beauty store. So every night for a year, she basically taped a crease into her eyelid. Over time, this crease became permanent. Now, she only uses the tape once in a while, to reinforce her double eyelids.