Weird Face Syndrome

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I read something interesting in a social skills book recently.

The author describes how a female engineer at one of her seminars did not seem to be paying attention to her. The female engineer was doodling on a piece of paper and not maintaining eye contact with the author. The author thought that the female engineer would a give a negative review of the seminar because she didn't look up for six hours. The author was surprised at the positive review the female engineer gave, given the engineer's lack of facial responsiveness.

It's strange.
I've been reading a lot in these social skills books about how engineers seem to have relationship and social communication issues.

I seem to alternate between 'flat' and strange expressions. I think my natural state is flat, but that I'm aware of it, try to compensate because people like you to make some kind of expression, and instead go over the top because it isn't coming naturally to me.

I sometimes find myself trying to copy expressions. I have expressions, movements, gestures that I know I picked up from watching other people.

i am sorry. the other picture made me worry but this picture you posted is how i remember you. i look at your youtube page often and i think you are interesting.

i should not have mentioned what i did and i was hasty. sorry again.

S'ok

hey, what do you know? I do this too! Well it depends I guess. Either I'll have the non-expressive face or I'll be thinking about certain things and can't help showing what's going through my mind on my face.

The Flaminated effect topic

I thought I was the only one who did this, and I did not think it was a very autistic thing. I only do this when I am with others, so I suppose I am trying to copy what NTs do, and it is somewhat artificial.

My wife says I look at women angrily, even when I don't even know them. I have to get her to understand that my facial expressions and what I feel are often entirely different things.

These both apply to me. I've always got a million thoughts running through my mind at the speed of sound, and apparently, my facial expression changes just as often. If I'm spacing out, or focusing on just thought, however, I tend to get this focused face, which my boyfriend has described as upset/angry/sad. He'll ask what is wrong, and I'll be like "huh?" and he describes my face, and I say "Oh, just thinking" and then smile. He then tells me something IS wrong, because it wasn't my genuine smile. Well, he's right: about the latter. lol.

A side note: I do smile...often. I actually love to smile and laugh (I sometimes laugh for an extended period of time...10+ minutes, about the same thing. I once laughed for close to an hour!). I just don't/can't smile all the darn time. Customers, particularly older men, have been known to stop at the desk and tell me to 'smile'. I assume my face is rather neutral when I'm not being particularly stimulated...I thought that was 'normal'. Oh, well.

This applies to me too, I have no trouble smiling when I feel like it. But people (mostly men) tell me I should smile when I´m just going about my business. Same thing, I think I just get a neutral face when I´m feeling "normal". It´s not positive OR negative; it´s just neutral. But people seem to be bothered by that. I don´t get it...

Marilyn Monroe made that love-the-camera thing work. Not everyone can do that. Most people got no business even trying.

In the olden days they never asked people to look at the camera. They always looked away. This in-your-face crap is relatively new. I think it's part of everything else that's degenerating in this competitive, narcissistic culture. Aggression, dishonesty, scheming, money grubbing = good;
truth and honesty and rational thinking = bad and punishable.

I've always hated cameras and avoided them like the plague. Now I need to take a serious look.

I know these posts are years old, but in case someone posts again or discovers it by an online search like I did... I'm wondering whether those of you who say you often make facial expressions you're not aware have always done this, unaware, or whether it is more of a young adult/adult problem. It may have been happening now and then when I was younger, but since about 40 or so it's much more frequent. I'm never aware of the expressions I'm making, although my face does not feel numb. Sometimes expressions that are basically typicall (smile, sad face) will temporarily freeze for five minutes or more, although if told I can change my expression. It does happen more when I'm tired. Lately, more of them tend to be strange expressions, which my husband has described as "about to throw up" or "face sliding off" (slack facial muscles). The worst one, I think, is that my upper lip will often curl under completely when I smile, like a shark. And I work with young children....

I also have this issue with weird facial expressions even if I'm not aware I'm doing it. There was one time at my sister's house, and we were sitting on her couch watching some television or movie, when I would glace at her. Apparently, I looked very angry and almost pouty, because my sister would ask me why I was mad.

I seem to have slacker muscles in the right side of my face, because whenever I'm smiling without having to think about it, it turns into a smirk with only the left corner turning up into a smile.
Maybe that's why a friend called me smug recently.

Ya....I have the weird facial expressions......exaggerated ones too...........especially when I'm trying to fake an expression (but also when they're genuine). I worked in a daycare and my smiles used to scare some of the children......my mom calls them "manic smiles". My ex also used to tell me I had weird expressions.

I've been told I make an "Elvis Sneer" and while eating, I look like I'm experiencing a "bad trip." This prompted me to look at old photos, which made me realize that I do indeed make odd faces.

Yep, weird face syndrome here for sure.

Are the weird faces something you've always experienced, or is it something that gets better/worse?

I've only become aware of my "stuck" and "face sliding off" expressions in the past several years, in my 40s. The exaggerated expressions have apparently come naturally all my life, but not these weird ones.