“How to fix negative canthal tilt?” “How to improve facial symmetry?” “How to sharpen jawline?”

Within the past couple of months, looksmaxxing has become a very popular trend on social media. According to The Verge, looksmaxxing is defined as the art of enhancing your physical appearance. It is a play on the words based on “maxing” out your looks. The term looksmaxxing was first used on male-dominated websites such as looksmax.org and 4chan in the early 2000s. Under the looksmaxxing umbrella, there are many different terms, including “mog”, “ascend” and “blackpill”. As stated by Merriam Webster, to “mog” means to be more physically attractive when directly compared to another person and “ascending” means to maximize one’s physical attractiveness. “Blackpill” has a more negative connotation, referring to the philosophy that physical attractiveness is the most critical factor in life and dating success.

Looksmaxxers often have the goal of improving their romantic life through attempting to become more physically attractive. Famous supermodels such as Francisco “Chico” Lachowski and Jordan Barrett are considered the ideal standard and inspiration for looksmaxxers. With hopes of looking like supermodels, looksmaxxers put all their time and effort into this ideology. However, I find that when one puts too much importance on their looks, they begin adopting the blackpill mindset. In my opinion, the blackpill “looks are everything” perspective is very hopeless, especially since looks can fade. Prioritizing physical appearance over everything else can cause someone to overlook other important things. Recently, the blackpill community has been made mainstream to many young adults through social media influencers who share their looksmaxxing tips and journey.

Some looksmaxxers who positively improve themselves include creators such as @Hamza97 on Youtube. In many videos, Hamza gives positive tips such as meditation. I’d like to think of this as the good side of looksmaxxing, where people can improve themselves in a natural, healthy way. By practicing better skincare routines, exercising daily and eating healthier meals, one can improve themselves plenty. Some call it “softmaxxing”; non-invasive practices such as getting a new haircut. I think it’s more so about building better habits, but either way, softmaxxing is a version of looksmaxxing that I can accept because you can still improve your looks without hurting yourself. But, as you go deeper down the looksmaxxing rabbit hole, you will find that you’re no longer just healthily building better habits, instead focusing too heavily on looks and destroying both your internal and external confidence.

I think a clear example of the looksmaxxing journey going too far is Braden Peters, more widely known as Clavicular on social media platforms. Clavicular rose to popularity because of his successful looksmaxxing transformation and jaded outlook on life, which can be seen in his content and the way he interacts with others. At the age of 14, Clavicular started looksmaxxing and ranting about his looks on online forums. Clavicular used painful tools and methods such as overusing testosterone and bonesmashing to achieve a more masculine look.

“Your goal of [bonesmashing] is to create micro-fractures within the bone to break it down and to build it back stronger,” Clavicular said.

In many interviews, Clavicular has stated that he started looksmaxxing due to feeling like he was not enough for a girl to like him back. Negative emotions towards oneself like this are often the driving force behind looksmaxxing. I believe many other adolescents can relate to these feelings, with insecurity being almost a rite of passage for youth to experience. Seeing life-changing transformations like Clavicular’s has inspired many of these social media users with low self-esteem to start looksmaxxing. Something that may initially seem like a healthy building of self-confidence can turn into reinforcing unhealthy habits and views really quickly. But how does this affect other young adults?

Everyday, there are millions of teens using social media. Apps like TikTok, Youtube and Instagram have been filled with thousands of looksmaxxing edits that lower people’s self-esteem. Although some may believe that these videos don’t hold much weight, they are oftentimes hurtful and send subtle messages to those who may already experience low self-worth, normalizing the idea that they aren’t currently enough. Imagine you’re already having a bad day and decide to scroll through social media, only to come across an array of videos basically saying that you’re “chopped” and need to change yourself. It hurts, right? Even I have fallen victim to some of these trends that make me think I’m not good enough, so I can only imagine what it might be like for younger, even more susceptible audiences. What’s worse is that many looksmaxxers feed off of the insecurities of others to sell their looksmaxxing guide courses with the promises of looking better.

Now, I’m not saying improving yourself or your looks is bad, but I do believe that it should come from a place of positive will. Going full on into the negative side of looksmaxxing, like with blackpillers, can be hurtful to your mind, spirit and health.

I believe looksmaxxing thrives in the negative feelings and impressionability of young adults. But if we know feelings of self-negativity are driving it, then we also know what we can do in order to stop these trends. I believe we must first feel confident in our own skin. Although it may be hard to fully feel positive about yourself, helpful tactics include taking a break from social media. This works especially well if your For You Page is filled with nonsensical bonesmashing content that makes you feel bad about yourself and increases your insecurities. Other tactics include focusing more on your strengths rather than your flaws. While it may be hard to revert the damage that toxic social media trends have caused, taking a step forward in being inclusive to everyone—including yourself—despite their looks will ultimately have a positive impact on yourself and others around you.