Pageant queens put in a lot of effort to look effortlessly beautiful. They spend hours and hours walking in heels, perfecting their walk. These sessions even involve doing leg exercises in 7-inch heels to practice balance, stability, and endurance. They also practice applying makeup and styling their hair to be independent when the stylists aren’t around on shoots and events. How they stand and pose on stage is also under a magnifying glass by their trainers because pageant queens need to look as slender as they can be in their gowns.
Additionally, a pageant is not a pageant without the million-dollar smiles of the pageant queens. From the moment they enter the stage to their last appearance, their smiles never falter. There is no doubt that a perfect smile is one of the requirements for a beauty queen. It’s the one thing that wins over the audience and the judges. However, like all things in pageantry, these smiles come from a lot of practice and effort.
Their teeth need to be pristine. The queens practice their perfect, symmetrical smiles. Most of all, they need to look confident and comfortable even after a long time of smiling on stage, under all the lights in the stadium.
What’s in a Perfect Smile?
An aspiring pageant queen pays attention to the doctor’s orders because everything needs to be perfect. This is where people often regret not taking visits to their pediatric dentist seriously because, now, their teeth need to be aligned, the perfect size, and gleaming white. While teeth problems can be corrected in their adulthood, it’s an expensive process.
For example, for the perfect size and appearance of the teeth, they get veneers for their front teeth. The average cost for traditional veneers is $925 to $2,500 per tooth and can last for up to 15 years. Veneers that can only last for up to 7 years cost less, ranging from $800 to $2,000 per tooth.
What’s in a perfect smile? Sometimes, it’s thousands of dollars—and hours of practice. Hence, while it’s early and dental problems are still not present, it’s best to have regular check-ups and do the entire teeth-cleaning routine of brushing, flossing, and mouth washing. Plus, avoiding sugar makes a lot of difference even when you’re an adult. Not only does it prevent tooth damage, but it can also benefit the pageant queen diet.
Practice Makes Perfect—and Builds Endurance
In regular life, smiling would only last for a few seconds. On the other hand, when people are with those they want to impress or are genuinely having fun, smiles can last for minutes, but this often has intervals where they can rest their facial muscles since smiling can be straining. After a few minutes, the face can shake while smiling.
Strutting onstage is easy because it doesn’t take long. The grueling part is when all the contestants are called onstage for announcements and certain portions of the competition. These portions could be the presentation of minor awards and choosing the top 10 queens. The entire time a contestant is on stage, she needs to smile without fail.
Remember that the face also has muscles, and they are in action when people exhibit emotions. Out of the 43 muscles in the face, 17 of them active when people smile. Therefore, training these muscles to smile for long periods is essential to pageantry. Doing facial exercises is a huge help to warm up and stretch those smiling muscles.
Smile in the Mirror
Pageantry demands perfection, and for some, a perfect way of smiling doesn’t come naturally. When you look at pageant queens, it seems like they all have the same smile. Their smiles are wide but not too wide. They bring out the cheeks but not too high up that they squint their eyes. It’s also the upper teeth that are exposed and strictly no gums.
To achieve this, practicing in front of the mirror shows them what they look like when they smile. This way, they can correct it and get used to it by the time their headshots need to be taken. While doing so, they can already practice their angles so that they can look their best on photos and onstage.
Confidence and Well-being
The best thing about a smile is the amount of confidence it gives to a person. Smiling can stimulate the brain just as much as eating 2,000 bars of chocolate. It also triggers dopamine, endorphin, and serotonin productions in the brain, boosting a person’s mood. Lastly, as it does in pageants, a smile makes people look presentable, likable, and competent.
In pageants, a smile means so much. Along with confidence and a stunning walk, there is no doubt that these queens look ethereal standing on stage.
Meta title:What Makes the Perfect Smile in Pageantry?
Meta description: Pageant queens smile all the time when they are on stage. These smiles are perfect and symmetrical, as if effortless, but it takes so much time, effort, and money to achieve that perfection.