I have a big nose.
I’ve been embarrassed by my face since I was a child. Painfully shy, I always used humor to distract from my features. I’ve been told to get a nose job by friends trying to help and enemies trying to hurt. People often say I’m exotic-looking, but I think they mean I have a big nose. It’s easier if you’re the one with nice, refined features.
Debating about the fate of my nose feels vain and self-centered. Knowing people are starving to death all over the world, the idea of spending money to have a part of my body made smaller so that it isn’t the only thing I see when I look in the mirror feels trite. And who wants to look like the newest member of the Stepford Wife convention? Diversity is good.
Why should some people have to work so hard on their self-esteem? Are we terrible for wanting to be physically beautiful too? We go to all kinds of extremes to achieve our own versions of perfection. Frying our hair, tanning our skin, painting our faces, pushing that up, tucking this in, walking on heels…so why not surgery for big noses? I admire those who dazzle in their human, imperfect, and beautifully distinctive noses. Actress Sophia Loren was urged to lose weight and chop her nose but she refused. Isabella Rosselini was a glamorous model and actress and she definitely does not have a button nose.
On the other hand, actress Jennifer Gray went under the knife for her nose. I think she lost the character in her face. She is pretty by standard definitions, but boring. No dazzle. No allure.
What we see is never what others see. Our desire for perfection is reinforced by Hollywood and pop culture where plastic surgery is par for the course. Some look a little better after, but never a lot. Never enough to erase part of themselves. And yet there is always something else needed because we always want more. What we are drawn to in others is a sense of allure that comes from inside. The lack of it makes a beautiful person boring, and its presence makes an imperfect person dazzle.
I’m don’t want to be boring. Besides, I get exhausted caring about what other people think. Don’t you?
I’m grateful for my nose. I see my family and my history in my face. It is my burden and my blessing. I’d rather dazzle - just the way I am.
Juniper Martinez hopes to instill a love for our noses in each one of us. She is a writer, professor, feminist, and amateur chef. She blogs at Pish Posh. Find Juniper on and .
So maybe this photo does not indicate the true size of your nose, but I’m assuming it does since it is a profile photo. I honestly believe that it is well-proportioned to your face, and it looks straight as well. I think you are beautiful.
And, I LOVE your name. It is beautiful as well.
Thank you
This photo doesn’t do justice to my nose. I just couldn’t find one where I’d allowed a profile pic. Thank you for the compliments and for stopping by 
This page COULD NOT LOAD FAST ENOUGH! Yay! A name and a picture! You know what, my first boyfriend dumped me because he couldn’t get over my big nose. In fact, I found out that he referred to me as “The Nose” all through our relationship.
Oh well…
You look NOTHING like the picture I had in my mind. You cast yourself as a troll when in fact you are beautiful. I had a hunch….
Ok I’m not saying I pictured you as a troll. I didn’t. I pictured you with blond hair. That’s all.
A blonde troll huh? I prefer blue hair. I used to have little troll dolls and the blue hair was awesome.
I knew what you meant
Silly. I berate myself for humor on the blog. Probably not good to do that, but it is funny. I hope.
Pish, I love this post! Your beauty shines through your words and your picture matches perfectly. We all struggle with something we would change. I have always been disappointed with the small size of my breasts and now faced with the possibility that something could be wrong with one of them I think “why wasn’t I just happy.” thank you for the reminder that we need to love ourselves including our imperfections. ((hugs)))
We do and you know people who love us do love those quirks too. Really. Don’t you love the quirks about your other half? Thanks for sharing your story with me, I appreciate it. It’s always amazing to me how we all have something we fret about, even when we feel we are the only ones who feel this way about ourselves.
YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!!
Seriously, your name? I love it!
You are awesome in every way.
Thanks friend! You are too. Don’t ever forget that
This breaks my heart. I think you look beautiful, but I totally understand your feelings. I had not a big nose but a crooked one. My dad punched me (yes, true) when I was about 12. I spent years not really wanting a perfect nose but just wanting the one I was born with. I wanted my nose back. I finally had surgery in my 30s to fix it. I can still see a slight imperfection there, but it’s close enough to the original that I’ve learned to feel comfortable in my own skin again. I hope you can love your beautiful self just the way you are!
Thank you so much for this story. I really appreciate it. I’m so sorry that happened to you. But yes, these parts of our faces, our history, our “flaws”, they belong to us, and stay with us – because so much of what we fight against, overcome, is linked to them. I’m so grateful for your comment.
Good lord you’re gorgeous! This was a great post, Pish. Thank you for sharing your honesty – and your beautiful nose – with us.
Melisa thank you as always for the compliments and sweet thoughts
Wow! How cool to not only read this part of your ‘story’ but to see you! And my gosh! You are stunning!!!
I have always wrestled with these same ideas and dealt, for years, with body image issues but have been thankfully freed of that now. Life is so much better and it’s so much more than what’s on the outside.
Way cool! Again, you are BEAUTIFUL!
Oh my goodness thank you for the compliments. And yes, as I get older I accept myself more. But it never ends. There are those periods during stress when my self esteem gets lower too. When I have a daughter I want to make sure she feels better about herself than me.
This is me commenting.
I don’t know why I don’t care about what other people think. I know that it started in middle school, though. Maybe that’s the time it should start, the time when you have to choose to care or not to care and carries on through your whole life.
Someone should do a study on that.
People should care a little, but not so much that they tune out the positive and only hear the negative – or vice versa. Thanks for visiting!
I think that’s a fantastic photo.
I have a big nose. One with a huge bump in the middle. I don’t love it, but I can’t imagine myself looking any other way.
That’s pretty much how I feel. Isn’t it crazy how we have a love/hate relationship with it? And funny how we see ourselves.I remember my cousin who has a big nose, she had this boyfriend when we were younger and he always said her nose was his favorite thing. It made her her.
Juniper Martinez what a beautiful name. It is exhausting caring what others think of us. Like the commenter above I see a beautiful woman to match her name.
Thanks Steph! It’s hard not to care, but it is ultimately bad to care too much.
You have always made beauty out of words and now I see a beautiful, stunning photo of you. You were dead on with -what we see is never what others see.
If only it was – we’d all feel better about ourselves. Thanks for your kind words Robbie!
This profile pic highlights the fact you look like Anne Hathaway. You are a stunner. I know lots of people who’d give their right boob and left leg to look like you! Still I understand where you are coming from. People think I’m pretty but all I see is the acne scars from the severe acne I suffered as a kid.
Great article!
Omg please don’t ever give me their leg and boob
But I appreciate the idea. I have seen pics of you and you’re drop dead gorgeous silly. And yep, my bf said I look like Anne Hathaway
Oh thank you!
I see no big nose.
I do see a beautiful woman.