I wasn't sure if this should go here or in the general advice forum, so feel free to move it or tell me off or something if I chose wrong? Basically I'm just wondering if I actually count as faceblind, I think. I've been intermittently calling myself it for a little while, mostly when I'm trying to explain to someone why I've not recognised them, but I've always also felt like something of a poser. Maybe I'm just shit at remembering people. -clears throat- So. What basically appears to happen with me is that my memory for people is pretty context-dependent. My go-to example for this is... I went to a sword-fighting group for a while at uni and fairly reliably remembered to apply the right name to one guy who was more or less the leader when I joined. His life got a bit on top of him and he stopped coming for a while. One day, I went into the Co-Op to pick up a couple bits and he was on the till. I looked at him and thought 'I am getting some kind of recognition feeling for you??? But I don't know where from??? And I can't be certain I'm right???' so I waited for him to say something to indicate he recognised me. He did go 'hey' but I wasn't certain if this was intended to indicate that he knew me so I just mumbled something, paid and escaped as fast as possible. I only learned that it was indeed him later in the week when we both went to the club's AGM. And was kind of a bit embarrassed. Other notable occasions were someone from my riding lessons turning up to supply-teacher at my school when I was a young teen and me being a thousand percent unsure if it was really them (though I logicked that it probably was), and running into another guy from swordfighting when I was out with a friend and failing completely to remember both his name and where exactly he was from until about half an hour later. People coming up to me and going '[Name]! How are you!' and me not having the first idea who they are is a fairly common occurence for me. The reason I think this might be related to faceblindness is mostly because if I try and call people's faces to mind when they're not in front of me, I can't. Just... nothing comes up. I have better luck apparently if I'm trying to recreate a specific photograph, but I can't even remember my mother's face right now and I see her every day. If people have distinguishing features- like, my friend has big hair, and a guy I knew had huge dreads- then I seem to latch onto those as 'oh yes i know who you are now', though remembering their name is still not a given. If I know someone well enough I will reliably recognise them regardless of where they are, but I'm not certain how much of that is face and how much is getting to know the way they move and the way they usually dress and their body shape and so on. Definitely if people fall into similar categories of appearance I frequently mix them up. There's a couple of old ladies who look fairly similar who volunteer at the same charity shop as me, and I can never be entirely certain if I'm thinking of the right person when it comes to them, even though if they stood next to each other I would be like 'yes you are definitely distinct people with distinct facial and physical features'. This makes watching shows and movies full of Hollywood Generic Attractive Actors kind of tricky sometimes. 'Who's that? Is that the villain? Wait, are we supposed to care about that person?'. I'm good at missing people even if they're right in front of me, I know them well, and they're trying to attract my attention. I think the reason for this might be another facet against faceblindness, and it's that I don't actually pay much attention to people, usually. Enough to not walk into them, and if something interesting about someone catches my attention I will... stare usually... but as a general rule people I have no need to pay attention to, I won't. Which is why I will remember the people in charge of clubs (mostly so long as they're in context) but have no clue who the other members are until I start making friends with them. Basically I suspect it might be a combination of things, really. But I'd be interested in knowing what other people think.
Do you have problems recognizing someone you see almost everyday or even live with if they shave or change their hair?
The people I live with don't change their hair very often ahah. I... don't THINK I would? Certainly not while I was at home but it might potentially throw me a little bit elsewhere. The only person I can think of that changed their hair dramatically was my brother but he's huge and violently ginger, which makes him easy to identify anyway... I guess I'll find out if my friend gets that haircut she's been wanting and I ever see her in the flesh.
