This Is What Photoshopping Real Women Looks Like

We've all seen the Photoshopped celebrities on magazine covers that look nothing like themselves. And while it's become a rather normal practice in the fashion industry, it's a pretty weird thing to do in real life. To prove this point, BuzzFeed Photoshopped their writers to look like cover models. And the results were pretty shocking.

BuzzFeed asked Francesca Ling, a photo retoucher based in L.A. who is the founder of True You Photo Retouching, to use her Photoshop techniques to make the BuzzFeed women look more like how society perceives "true" beauty to look. Some of the drastic changes made to the photos included reshaping thighs, whitening teeth, fixing chipped teeth, adjusting noses and waists, removing body hair, and smoothing out their skin.

The women's reactions are hilarious, but they are real — a few of them don't even recognize themselves! So, why do some celebrities think it's okay for images of themselves to be published when they truly show what they actually look like?

The false portrayal of what "true" beauty looks like is practically becoming an epidemic. We expect that we have to look like the retouched celebrities that we are constantly consumed by. We see retouched Instagram photos, magazine covers, advertisements, and even TV commercials.

We love how BuzzFeed thought of this concept because you may not realize the false perception of true beauty until the Photoshopping happens to you.

Here's the before and after photos of BuzzFeed's retouching experiment:

Before:

After:

Sheridan's reaction:

"Man, my skin hasn’t looked this good since I was eight years old. It’s weird, I look at this picture and I know it’s supposed to be me, but something’s not connecting. It’s like I’m looking at someone who I’m supposed to be."

Before:

After:

Lara's Reaction:

"A huge part of me wants to say that it makes me appreciate my body more — but I’m going to be honest: It’s hard to look at this retouched photo and not yearn for some of the aspects of it. I just want to get to the place where I can look in the mirror and love every damn inch of my body."

Before:

After:

Allison's reaction:

"It’s like someone else made a decision for me about what plastic surgery I should get, and it’s way more intense than I could’ve ever imagined. I enjoy my chipped teeth and weird dimples. Without that stuff, I look less human and my smile definitely doesn’t look as genuine."

Images: unedited images, Macey J. Foronda/BuzzFeed; retouched images, Macey J. Foronda/BuzzFeed and True You Retouching