Finally Revealing My Truth: Why Did It Take Me So Long to See It?

It’s shocking to me that it took me so long to see that I was T4. I have heard from others who know me that it was fairly obvious. So why couldn’t I see it? I fell into some common traps.

1) Thinking I wasn’t perfect enough for T4.
Many T4s fall into this trap: our perfecting nature makes it so that we have a hard time seeing ourselves in T4’s symmetry and perfect posture, and/or feel like we don’t hit all the checkboxes. I don’t have perfect posture. Like anyone else, I can see where I have asymmetry in my face. My nose has long been a sore point for me in terms of my appearance, and when I read “lump of clay” for T3, I felt like I couldn’t be anything else in the system, especially not the “perfect” type.

2) Confusing “still + upward” with “push forward.”
T4s and T3s can both have what is considered to be a “strong” personality. I am definitely a bold person, and the S1 makes me a little more high energy than, say, a 4/2. Things that I had thought were an indicator of T3 actually were an indicator of being T4 and being my own authority and not being afraid to express my opinion.

There were a lot of things that should have clued me in:

1) My childhood behavior.
No one would have ever called me an “active” child. I was very still–you could place me in a chair and I would stay there, observing the world. I didn’t talk much. I enjoyed spending time alone, working on my own things. I didn’t have much use for other children. I never related to the ways that T3s are shamed as children because, well, I wasn’t that kid.

2) Never dressing T3.
Many people who have placed themselves in the wrong type will dress with all the other elements of their actual type, just in the colors of the type they think they are. My “T3” wardrobe was basically 4/1, just in the T3 colors. The T3 elements never felt right on me and never suited my taste–even when I would buy T3 jewelry from the DYT store, it would literally be too large for my ears or wrists, and I never took any of the clothes I bought from there out of the package.

So why didn’t I see these obvious things? I think it all goes back to #1: I just didn’t think I was “enough” for T4. I didn’t think my facial features would qualify. I had to see them from a different perspective (my license, with proper T4 hair because it worked better than T3 hair… another sign) in order to see myself as T4. And once I allowed myself to see myself as T4, I have been able to go back to what I love and what I feel expresses me. The Autumn colors never suited my personality, really. I am a bold person, and the clear, strong hues have always been what I have wanted to be in all of these systems.

Again, I don’t feel like I would drape into these colors in any of the color-based systems, but when everything is put together, it is what feels the most true to me. And in the end, I think that is what we all want: to feel like ourselves.

7 Comments on Finally Revealing My Truth: Why Did It Take Me So Long to See It?

  1. Doubleletterlady
    October 23, 2018 at 11:38 pm

    I find it odd that all the reasons you are giving for not seeing your 4-ness are similar to the reasons I give for not being a type 4. I was immediately attracted to type 4 when I first saw the dyt videos. Most of the guesses on the Guess That Type facebook group were four. I found a picture of myself from before I knew anything about Color Me Beautiful and all the style systems and I was dressed, head to toe, in all type 4, even my hair was t4, despite being blonde. Everything should point to me being type 4, but I don’t see it in my physical self.

    It is very interesting to me that you have what I would call non traditional type 4 coloring. Most of the type 4s at dyt are some sort of winter. That is the main problem I have with the dyt recommendations – the colors. (even though those are the colors that make me happy.) I know that I wouldn’t drape in the type 4 colors either. My coloring is very low contrast and my custom palette lines up with type 2 colors beautifully. So it is confusing. I want all the systems to line up exactly, but they don’t.

    I would really love to exclaim oh! Yes, I am a type 4! But I am still held back by the same issues that you mention. I’m not perfect enough. My nose is too big. My eyes are asymmetrical.

    One thing I did enjoy while experimenting with Type 4: instant respect. I might have never received a compliment, but people got out of my way (for once in my life) and I got exactly what I asked for, every time I made a request. Have you experienced this?

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      October 23, 2018 at 11:49 pm

      I don’t think I’d ever drape into winter, but I have the T4 reflective porcelain skin and I could do the platinum hair, which is what my hair was like as a kid, if I didn’t have to budget that money for my haircut to be perfect. It’s all the elements together, not just color.

      I feel like I have a strong personality, so I haven’t really experienced a difference in the way people treat me, but I have gotten “stunning” 🙂

      Reply
      • Doubleletterlady
        October 23, 2018 at 11:59 pm

        That is awesome!!! Compliments are always nice.

        Reply
  2. Rachel
    October 29, 2018 at 4:32 pm

    I’ve been wondering if I’m stuck on the same. I feel like I’m too cute for T4, not stunning enough, that I move too much, etc. but I might be in my S1 – I didn’t think of this as being part of the “T4s don’t feel perfect enough for T4” but I guess it may well be?

    I think that ultimately it has to be about feeling like yourself, no matter the system.

    Reply
  3. Shawna
    October 29, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    It took me ages to figure out that I am a 4/1 also. Of course the colour palette doesn’t work as I am a spring though if you just think of the goal as achieving an effect, I can achieve a bold and striking look with Spring colours. T3 is much to heavy and busy on me and I can pull off T1 so for awhile I thought I must be a 1/4. But I kept using 4 type style lines and there is no way I’d wear a big flower. I don’t think DYT is a very complete system but I have learned from it just as I have learned from all of them but consider all of them flawed. Mainly I style myself as a 4 but use spring colours and sometimes a T1 type of print or accessory though in small doses. It’s as though a very blended 4/1 look is what is right. But appearance aside, my energy and personality are 4/1 and I can see them both in my face, however as you say it was difficult to get past that ‘perfect’ and ‘stunning’ concept.

    Reply
  4. Violet
    November 13, 2018 at 12:13 am

    Winters are not the only type with high contrast. In the 12 type colour systems you have several that have high or higher contrasts. For example Bright Spring shares the high contrast and high chroma of Type 4. Deep Autumn also has a lot of contrast going on. You may not be a winter but could be either of those. There is even a summer type in the 12-type colour systems that has higher contrast than the other summers. So it’s unnecessary to toss your skin’s best colours out the window if you are not some form of Winter, which is what Tuttle’s DYT system could have some people who fall outside the 4 type colour systems do. 12 type colours and also PSC for example John Kitchener, which allows for your own unique palette.

    Reply
    • stylesyntax
      November 13, 2018 at 2:53 am

      I don’t think DYT T4 is Winter, for the record—just that pure hues are generally not found on Autumn palettes. But I have made some more progress since I wrote this post, so stay tuned 🙂 I did think I was DA for a long time, which I documented extensively on this blog, and have owned a BSp palette as well.

      Reply

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