Gazelle’s Social Experiment That Went South Real Quick

What an odd and deceiving reality we dwell in. Technology is evolving and advancing daily and if you asked me 21 years ago where the world would be today, I'd paint a picture of hovering-vehicles and escalators to the moon.

Instead, we have an app called Snapchat that lets you disguise your face behind an AI filter.

The other night I was messing around with some of the face-altering options on the scandalous Snapchat and came across a filter that made me appear bald, and to be quite honest, it wasn't half-bad. I should post this and see what the reactions are from my Facebook friends and Instagram followers, I thought to myself.

What happened next, I couldn't have predicted if I tried.

Almost 100 comments of people who were convinced or knew immediately that it was indeed fake. The sad part is seeing the comments that are basically saying that this "look" is better than my strong Portuguese hair that I love so much. I'm not sure if I should be offended or just take the compliment, because I'll most likely never shave my head unless you paid me to do so.

Here's what I'm talking about. You have the non-believers who I couldn't get past:

Then there were the complimenters who honestly thought that I had taken the clippers to the dome and added some fresh polish to it:

As much as I appreciate the positive comments and compliments, it scares me to think of how easily someone can be manipulated into believing an altered photo. This is "catfishing" on steroids, for those who are familiar with the term. What's it to say that I'm brave enough to post this photo within a dating site or app and the only reason the other person was interested was because of my bald head. Someone would be in for a real surprise if I were shallow enough to go through with such savagery; luckily, my morals are much higher than that.

The point is, be careful as to how you interpret your social media, especially when trying to get to know someone. You never know if their profile photo is manipulated by a beauty filter or something as drastic as removing or even adding hair to someone's head.

All I need now is a filter that tucks away the rolls and adds abs, then I could maybe feel a little more confident with my summertime shirtless selfies.

Joking, of course.