When I was growing up, my family always told me I have my mother’s nose. It was meant to be a compliment – hers, like mine, is long, perfectly pointed, sharply edged. But that praise was at odds with what a boy in my Grade 5 class once said to me with a prepubescent cackle I’ll never forget: “You have a witch’s nose! Ha!”
Naturally, it was the second observation that’s stuck with me. For years, it was the one part of my body I wished I could change. I wanted it to be smaller, more curved at the bridge and overall just less noticeable. But I knew simply saying that aloud would be like rejecting not only my family but my Pakistani heritage. In South Asia, a larger nose is commonplace – and in some cultures, it’s even considered a sign of beauty and wealth. At 13, living in Toronto, that didn’t register much.
The urge to believe an “ethnic nose” is unattractive is ever-present. Just this month, Pakistani-Canadian actor Amrit Kaur went viral after sharing on CBC’s Q that “a very well-known Canadian agent” once took a single glance at her headshot and told her she’d never be a lead on a TV show because her nose was too big, and she’d best get a nose job.
Pakistani-Canadian actor Amrit Kaur, who stars in The Sex Lives of College Girls, said recently that ‘a very well-known Canadian agent’ told her she’d never be a lead on a TV show because her nose was too big, and she’d best get a nose job.Tina Thorpe/HBO
While the pressure for celebrities to have work done is nothing new, cosmetic surgery is also going more mainstream – especially among Gen Z, who have been booking nose-job procedures at increasing rates, according to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
It’s hard to ignore the role social media plays among the most online generation ever. Recent research has shown the more time you spend on social media, particularly those platforms that are more visual, the more likely you are to want a cosmetic procedure.
In the past few years, “ethnic rhinoplasties” have become a regular discussion on social media, where brown and Black folks share the before-and-afters of their cosmetic surgery. This particular procedure is meant to retain ethnic features, such as bone density and nostril size, while still reshaping. But yeah, it still often involves reducing the size.
While some people have heralded these ethnic nose jobs as a sign of the cosmetic-surgery industry becoming more inclusive, Rachel Rodgers, a psychology professor at Boston’s Northeastern University who studies socio-cultural influences on body image, is skeptical. She says the profit-driven industry could be simply expanding into a new market and “tailoring their product to encourage consumption.”
Imani Reid, a 27-year-old marketing assistant in Toronto, went to South Korea to have ethnic rhinoplasty in October 2024.Imani Reid/Supplied
Imani Reid, a 27-year-old marketing assistant in Toronto, had wanted a rhinoplasty since she was 17. She did her research, and found the results from some surgeons in Canada and the U.S. were often more uniform – featuring a defined bridge, upturned tip and smooth profile. In other words, they looked like the average white nose, no bumps in sight.
“I wanted to preserve the integrity of my natural features while refining my nose,” she said in an interview with The Globe and Mail. So last October, she went to a clinic in South Korea to have the ethnic rhinoplasty, and shared with her surgeon photos of “beautiful Black women” as her models.
Three months post-op, Reid says the rhinoplasty has “allowed me to feel more confident in my own skin.” While Reid’s friends were supportive (in fact, several of them have also gotten the same procedure), her mother, a first-generation immigrant from Jamaica, struggled to accept her choice.
“Unfortunately, she interpreted my decision as me rejecting my heritage or trying to conform to a Western beauty standard, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” says Reid. “For me, it was about enhancing what I already loved about myself, not changing who I am. My identity and my connection to my culture aren’t defined by the shape of my nose.”
Divisiveness around this subject isn’t new. More than 50 years ago, some of the earliest academic writing on the motivations for cosmetic procedures focused on people from certain ethnic and religious groups reducing the size of their noses to facilitate cultural assimilation in the post-Second World War world.
“Family members often expressed concern about the loss of ethnic identity or a distinct family trait,” says Dr. David Sarwer, a dean at Temple University’s College of Public Health who studies the psychological aspects of plastic surgery. “These issues still resonate for some patients today.”
Niyati Sriram, a New York-based software engineer, has made several TikTok videos sharing how she’s come to accept her Indian nose.Niyati Sriram/Supplied
In support of preserving these traits today, some people are celebrating natural ethnic noses online, such as Pakistani-American photographer Simrah Farrukh, who shared her collection of nose portraits of various South Asian women. And Niyati Sriram, a New York-based software engineer, has made several TikTok videos sharing how she’s come to accept her Indian nose. She says she did this publicly to hold herself accountable, and to give voice to a feeling that is shared by many girls out there who, like her, have been bullied for their nose.
“This is something I have always struggled with and possibly will always struggle with,” she said in an interview with The Globe. “I can’t say I will be able to resist ever changing it. How I feel about my nose constantly fluctuates, but I am proud of it because it is a product of generations of my ancestors.”
It’s a mantra I’ve said to myself many times, as have many of the other young people of colour I spoke to about their noses. Almost all of them, too, shared a lack of judgment for each other’s choices and a deep empathy toward feeling insecure in the Western world.
Cosmetic surgery is a deeply personal choice, often one that takes years of thought and reflection. And that choice doesn’t always have to be about maintaining cultural morale. How we feel about how we look comes from a number of other factors, including where we grew up, the media we consumed, or simply because we don’t see who we feel we really are when we look in the mirror.
In that case, perhaps an ethnic rhinoplasty is better than one that doesn’t take cultural factors into consideration at all. Surveys and research have found that most people who undergo cosmetic procedures experience “high satisfaction” with their results, and report feeling less anxiety and depression thanks to a rise in confidence. When it comes to feeling a lasting psychological shift, results vary, but significant research remains to be done.
For me, all these years later, listening to these different perspectives have helped me realize my nose isn’t even one you could call all that “big.” There are better ways to describe it; it is different, it is unique. But it is also my mother’s nose – and despite what that kid said back in Grade 5, that alone makes me proud.