Bagel Heads

2003body modification trenddeclining

Bagel Heads is a body modification where saline is injected into the forehead to create a doughnut-shaped bulge that lasts about 24 hours2. The look was popularized by body-mod enthusiast Jerome Abramovitch in the early 2000s and drew wide mainstream attention in September 2012 after a National Geographic Taboo segment showed Japanese practitioners undergoing the procedure1.

body modification memesshock humor memesjapanese internet memesbody image memesreality tv origin memes

Overview

Bagel Heads describe both a body modification style and the people who wear it. A practitioner takes a saline drip into the forehead until enough fluid pools under the skin, then someone presses a thumb into the center of the swelling to shape it into a doughnut ring3. The effect fades within roughly 24 hours as the body absorbs the fluid, so the look is temporary rather than lasting2.

The procedure is done at professional piercing and tattoo studios and, according to practitioners, can bring headaches, infection, pressure sensations, and stretched skin2. Its shock value made the modification a natural fit for reality TV segments about extreme body practices1.

How It Spread

The trend moved to Japan through photographer Ryoichi Maeda, who first met Abramovitch at the 1999 Modcon body modification conference and later received Abramovitch's blessing to bring the procedure home. Vice published an interview with Maeda on June 17th, 2011, detailing the handoff, and the pop-culture blog Oh No They Didn't ran photos of Japanese practitioners that August.

The tipping point came on September 23rd, 2012, when National Geographic's Taboo aired an "Extreme Bodies" episode featuring a Japanese bagel head session. Within days the clip was everywhere: BuzzFeed reposted the Taboo footage on September 25th1, while Jezebel, the Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, Mashable, The Week, and Geekologie all ran their own writeups by September 27th.

Pushback started almost immediately. On September 29th, the Japan Times blog Japan Pulse published "Bagel Head Trend is a Big Distortion," quoting Japanese subculture writer La Carmina, who had helped with the Taboo segment but said the procedure was too expensive to count as a real trend at home3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Bagel Heads

2003body modification trenddeclining

Bagel Heads is a body modification where saline is injected into the forehead to create a doughnut-shaped bulge that lasts about 24 hours2. The look was popularized by body-mod enthusiast Jerome Abramovitch in the early 2000s and drew wide mainstream attention in September 2012 after a National Geographic Taboo segment showed Japanese practitioners undergoing the procedure1.

body modification memes shock humor memes japanese internet memes body image memes reality tv origin memes

Overview

Bagel Heads describe both a body modification style and the people who wear it. A practitioner takes a saline drip into the forehead until enough fluid pools under the skin, then someone presses a thumb into the center of the swelling to shape it into a doughnut ring3. The effect fades within roughly 24 hours as the body absorbs the fluid, so the look is temporary rather than lasting2.

The procedure is done at professional piercing and tattoo studios and, according to practitioners, can bring headaches, infection, pressure sensations, and stretched skin2. Its shock value made the modification a natural fit for reality TV segments about extreme body practices1.

How It Spread

The trend moved to Japan through photographer Ryoichi Maeda, who first met Abramovitch at the 1999 Modcon body modification conference and later received Abramovitch's blessing to bring the procedure home. Vice published an interview with Maeda on June 17th, 2011, detailing the handoff, and the pop-culture blog Oh No They Didn't ran photos of Japanese practitioners that August.

The tipping point came on September 23rd, 2012, when National Geographic's Taboo aired an "Extreme Bodies" episode featuring a Japanese bagel head session. Within days the clip was everywhere: BuzzFeed reposted the Taboo footage on September 25th1, while Jezebel, the Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, Mashable, The Week, and Geekologie all ran their own writeups by September 27th.

Pushback started almost immediately. On September 29th, the Japan Times blog Japan Pulse published "Bagel Head Trend is a Big Distortion," quoting Japanese subculture writer La Carmina, who had helped with the Taboo segment but said the procedure was too expensive to count as a real trend at home3.

Frequently Asked Questions