I can make facial expressions again, and...

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So, I found something to treat my (mainly) facial pain disorder successfully, and after three years I can finally make facial expressions again. I've been trying out smiling (something I've rarely been able to do physiologically while ill) by smiling at strangers and watching their reactions. It seems to be a mixed bag.

I've been doing some research on what different expressions mean, and I found this article... and I tried out some of the expressions. The expressions made by the raising of the eyebrows feel totally unnatural to me. I also had no clue that a half-smile was meant to be "contempt/hate"... I've always just thought of it as another way of smiling at people. I guess that might start to explain why so many people's first impressions of me have been, "I thought you hated me" or "You seemed really judgmental." Of course, even with my new medication, I still have physiological problems with my muscles in my jaw -- it just no longer hurts to use them -- so it is still really hard to smile symmetrically... I really don't get why that means "contempt/hate," though... those people don't even look mean or hateful to me... I'm so confused...

facial expressions are weird indeed.

as for the half-smile; the point is that is half. it signals that you are trying to smile becouse it is expected, but you either don't manage or don't really want to; to NTs, this means that your smile isn't genuine, therefor it means hate/contempt (a large leap of 'logic', but that's common)

That so-called "half-smile" may be known as a smirk, and that does mean hate/evil intent. That's scary when you think about. Because if you try to fake a smile and don't put it on all the way. You could accidentally put on a smirk on your face and that would really send out the wrong message, landing you in a lot of trouble.