I have gained and lost a bit of weight in the last handful of years, and I also change my hair relatively frequently. Even when the hair changes are pretty minimal, I guess I have one of those faces that look really different with different hair lengths?? Anyway, people never recognize me after a few months. I’m talking people I see semi-regularly, or have long histories with. If any amount of time passes where people don’t see me regularly it’s like my face just tends to pass out of people’s memories.
I have never known how to break this without being awkward. I walk up to people and say hi and get that blank look, SOMETIMES (but not always!) followed by the “OH! IT’S YOU!” So often I get the “oh sorry, it’s because you changed your hair!” and I just go “haha yeah I get that a lot” but I always feel like they feel guilty and I don’t know how to tell them not to feel bad, it genuinely happens all the time.
I think I overthink it because one time I opened a convo with someone with “oh my gosh idk if you remember me but we met a few years ago—“ and they went “uh, yeah, we’re friends on Facebook” and it was equally awkward. Lmao.
How do I casually tell people “hey I’m [name], you probably just forgot my face” lol. How do I make this less awkward for everyone involved?