What are physical characteristics and how do we define them? Physical characteristics are defining traits or features about the body according to yourdictionary.com. They can be defined as the things that you first notice about a person when you look at them. Examples would be hair, eyes, skin, nose, and body, to name a few. In essence, how you would describe one person to another. Note that how a person can be described is not limited to the options in this article, the goal here is to show what physical characteristics are and how we can use them to paint a picture of someone in a book or story, during an investigation, or just to explain what someone else looks like.
HAIR
Let’s begin with hair. There are so many different ways that a person could describe hair. A person could describe the length, color, body, thickness, and style. We will begin with the length of the hair. Length can be described as short, medium, long, average, boy cut, shoulder length, mid-back, and to the bottom of the back. The color could be described as white, gray, brown, black, blond, and auburn as the natural colors; of course, there are always various other colors when a person starts naming all the shades of all the hair dye colors that there are. Our list would be very long in that case. The body of hair can be described as curly, wavy, puffy, matted, frizzy, permed, wavy, and straight. Thickness could be bald, thin, average or thick. The style of the hair is probably the most difficult to describe to someone and may be done on a case by case basis. A few examples might be a specific hairdo or style, down and straight, up and in a bun, business like, high and tight, low and loose, feathered, with bangs, etc.
EYES
The eyes of a person can be described in a couple different ways. Color is an obvious one, as well as position and the emotion behind the eyes. Natural colors of eyes include green, brown, blue, and hazel. A person can find contacts that make the color of the eyes appear to be either a different shade of the natural color or a completely different color. The position of the eyes may refer to the height of the eyes on the face or to the position of the eyes in regards to each other. Emotion behind the eyes can be dead (emotionless), heavy (tired), or rheumy (old or sick). There are many more descriptions to the eyes than these examples.
SKIN
There are literally hundreds of charts to define skin color and tone. A person’s skin could be defined using color, undertone, texture or complexion. Color generally refers to the most prominent shade of the flesh. It can be described as bronze, peanut, olive, ivory, and fair to name a few. Interesting to note that none of those sound like the terms used in society to describe someone’s skin color; black, white, brown, etc. The undertone is generally a hint of color under the skin color. Undertone may be described as olive, porcelain, or pink; as well as being described using terms such as warm, neutral, or cool. There are several descriptions of the texture of skin. The three basic ones are dry, normal, and oily. Others include smooth, rough, glowing or shiny. Describing a complexion could be blotchy, pasty, pimply, even toned or freckly.
NOSE
A person could describe a nose in terms of the size of the nose, the width of the bridge, the size of the nostrils, the shape of the philtrum and the ridge, the size of the base, and the tip of the nose. The size of the nose may be small, medium, average, big, wide, short, or long. The width of the bridge may be wide, close, and normal. The nostrils may be big, small, or normal. The nostrils may also be used to describe emotion or attitude like flaring or "stuck up". The philtrum is the groove that reaches from the top center of the nostrils down to the lips. This may be described as flat, curved, long, normal, or short. The ridge of the nose could be long, short, curved, flat, normal, crooked, straight, hooked, droopy, and Grecian to name a few. The size of the base may be wide, skinny, or normal. The tip of the nose could be said to be broad, buttoned, round, big, small, normal, pointy, or droopy.
BODY
The general shape of a person, their stature, and their body type can all be used to describe a person’s body. The general shape might be round, pear-shaped, square, triangle, hourglass, or rectangle. Their stature could be short, tall, medium, petite, average, gigantic, or towering. Body type is broken down into three categories: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. A few of the characteristics of the ectomorph are small frame, thin, and lean muscles. Mesomorph characteristics include athletic, strong, and muscly. Characteristics for endomorph body types include round physique and stocky.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE NOT NECESSARILY PERMANENT
It is important to note that most of the characteristics within this article can be changed or altered with the exceptions of height and certain traits of skin color like the amount of melanin in the skin. Hair can be changed with hair dyes, perms, and hair-cuts. The color of the eyes may be changed with contact lenses. A dermatologist may be seen about skin care and complexion, or someone can go tanning to darken their skin. A rhinoplasty is a procedure that can alter the nose in numerous ways. A person can change what they consume in terms of food, drinks, and snacks to limit the amount of sugars that turn into fat. Choose to prepare food at home, drink more water, and eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts for snacks. Finally, exercise can be added to a daily routine to transform their size and/or shape. This doesn’t mean that a person needs to join a gym; although, it depends on the desired results of the exercising. They could simply park at the back of the parking lot or take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. We could all use a little more exercise.
HAIR
Let’s begin with hair. There are so many different ways that a person could describe hair. A person could describe the length, color, body, thickness, and style. We will begin with the length of the hair. Length can be described as short, medium, long, average, boy cut, shoulder length, mid-back, and to the bottom of the back. The color could be described as white, gray, brown, black, blond, and auburn as the natural colors; of course, there are always various other colors when a person starts naming all the shades of all the hair dye colors that there are. Our list would be very long in that case. The body of hair can be described as curly, wavy, puffy, matted, frizzy, permed, wavy, and straight. Thickness could be bald, thin, average or thick. The style of the hair is probably the most difficult to describe to someone and may be done on a case by case basis. A few examples might be a specific hairdo or style, down and straight, up and in a bun, business like, high and tight, low and loose, feathered, with bangs, etc.
EYES
The eyes of a person can be described in a couple different ways. Color is an obvious one, as well as position and the emotion behind the eyes. Natural colors of eyes include green, brown, blue, and hazel. A person can find contacts that make the color of the eyes appear to be either a different shade of the natural color or a completely different color. The position of the eyes may refer to the height of the eyes on the face or to the position of the eyes in regards to each other. Emotion behind the eyes can be dead (emotionless), heavy (tired), or rheumy (old or sick). There are many more descriptions to the eyes than these examples.
SKIN
There are literally hundreds of charts to define skin color and tone. A person’s skin could be defined using color, undertone, texture or complexion. Color generally refers to the most prominent shade of the flesh. It can be described as bronze, peanut, olive, ivory, and fair to name a few. Interesting to note that none of those sound like the terms used in society to describe someone’s skin color; black, white, brown, etc. The undertone is generally a hint of color under the skin color. Undertone may be described as olive, porcelain, or pink; as well as being described using terms such as warm, neutral, or cool. There are several descriptions of the texture of skin. The three basic ones are dry, normal, and oily. Others include smooth, rough, glowing or shiny. Describing a complexion could be blotchy, pasty, pimply, even toned or freckly.
NOSE
A person could describe a nose in terms of the size of the nose, the width of the bridge, the size of the nostrils, the shape of the philtrum and the ridge, the size of the base, and the tip of the nose. The size of the nose may be small, medium, average, big, wide, short, or long. The width of the bridge may be wide, close, and normal. The nostrils may be big, small, or normal. The nostrils may also be used to describe emotion or attitude like flaring or "stuck up". The philtrum is the groove that reaches from the top center of the nostrils down to the lips. This may be described as flat, curved, long, normal, or short. The ridge of the nose could be long, short, curved, flat, normal, crooked, straight, hooked, droopy, and Grecian to name a few. The size of the base may be wide, skinny, or normal. The tip of the nose could be said to be broad, buttoned, round, big, small, normal, pointy, or droopy.
BODY
The general shape of a person, their stature, and their body type can all be used to describe a person’s body. The general shape might be round, pear-shaped, square, triangle, hourglass, or rectangle. Their stature could be short, tall, medium, petite, average, gigantic, or towering. Body type is broken down into three categories: ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. A few of the characteristics of the ectomorph are small frame, thin, and lean muscles. Mesomorph characteristics include athletic, strong, and muscly. Characteristics for endomorph body types include round physique and stocky.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS ARE NOT NECESSARILY PERMANENT
It is important to note that most of the characteristics within this article can be changed or altered with the exceptions of height and certain traits of skin color like the amount of melanin in the skin. Hair can be changed with hair dyes, perms, and hair-cuts. The color of the eyes may be changed with contact lenses. A dermatologist may be seen about skin care and complexion, or someone can go tanning to darken their skin. A rhinoplasty is a procedure that can alter the nose in numerous ways. A person can change what they consume in terms of food, drinks, and snacks to limit the amount of sugars that turn into fat. Choose to prepare food at home, drink more water, and eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts for snacks. Finally, exercise can be added to a daily routine to transform their size and/or shape. This doesn’t mean that a person needs to join a gym; although, it depends on the desired results of the exercising. They could simply park at the back of the parking lot or take the stairs instead of an elevator or escalator. We could all use a little more exercise.
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