From Grooming to Extremes: The Rise of Looksmaxxing Among Young Men

Looksmaxxing seems to be the latest buzzword among young netizens. While many describe the trend to be about harmless intensive grooming to look your best, looksmaxxing had initially gained momentum in digital communities that associate with topics such as incel culture, alpha male and manosphere subculture, making this a more worrisome trend than most others.

Although the trend had started off in male-focused niche online forums such as Lookism, PUAHate and Sluthate but now, it has been taken over by mainstream social media fitness influencers. Popular US-based content creator Dylan Mcknight announced that he has achieved a looksmaxing transformation where he attributed his improved skin complexion, and defined jawline and bone structure that fits the current beauty standards to looksmaxxing. Indian influencers like Sun Kalra and Chadtag have promoted looksmaxxing in India.

“Globally, there has been a noticeable rise in young men seeking aesthetic treatments, driven by increasing social media exposure, video interactions, fitness culture, and changing attitudes toward male grooming and self-care,” says Dr. B Krishna Chaitanya, Consultant Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, Kamineni Hospitals. “Most young men seek subtle enhancement of facial balance, skin quality, or body contour while maintaining a natural, masculine appearance.”

The trend’s recent rise in popularity has brought polarising views from netizen, with one side arguing that it is promoting fitness trends and healthier lifestyle choices amongst the youth, while others have criticized the intensity of the grooming and the general misogynistic and hyper-masculine ideas that are fuelling such spaces.

Internet manospheres

Incels, usually members of male-only subcultures, define themselves as someone who is unable to find a romantic partner despite trying earnestly. Many of them found solace in online communities, which have been growing in digital spaces since 2010s, quietly at first, and later defensively loud.

During this era, there was also a rise of hyper-masculine communities, aka manospheres, where internet personalities such as Andrew Tate were deemed heroes.

At the apex of the incel beauty tower is the character Patrick Bateman from the 2000 satire-thriller American Psycho. Bateman is known by incels as a superior “sigma” male: a lone wolf and capitalist hustler who attracts money-hungry women.

The character is portrayed in the movie as a shallow, manipulative, misogynistic and extremely violent person. Other characters idolised by incels include Tyler Durden from Fight Club and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.

Although the films that these characters were part of were known to be a critique of modern society and masculinity, clips of these films have been taken out of context and the characters have been glorified for violence.

Discipline or self harm?

The trend in itself - looksmaxxing - talks about focusing on maximizing physical attractiveness through mainly grooming, mewing, increasing one's exercise schedule, better dietary plans but also, at times, involves surgery procedures.

The aim of looksmaxxing is to become the most ‘attractive’ and ‘desirable’ version of themselves. It is to in turn, be on top of the desirability scale. One becomes attractive according to a set of criteria, with importance given to jawline, bone structure, eye shapes, skin care routine and overall physical changes in the body. Looksmaxxers often apply scores and have parameters regarding the amount of looksmaxxing one has done or one has accomplished. In recent years the trend has gained even more popularity with users showcasing ‘before’ and ‘after’ transformations.

The ones in support of looksmaxxing have argued it being a way to promote better lifestyle choices and increase in fitness amongst the youth. This trend has given the internet the best body weight transformations and fat loss transformations. Multiple self-help, fitness and even fashion influencers have been a part of the looksmaxxing trend in India.

“Increased digitalisation, constant exposure to carefully curated images on social media, and growing awareness about available cosmetic treatments have made men more conscious of their appearance. Consequently, they are becoming more open to both surgical and non-surgical enhancements,” said Dr. Dasari Madhu Vinay Kumar, Senior Plastic Surgeon at CARE Hospitals in Hyderabad.

The obsession over becoming a looksmaxxer has made users to do hardmaxxing, which is to improve one's appearance by whichever means necessary. Surgical procedures undertaken to achieve ‘hunter eyes’, which is considered attractive among looksmaxxers, are one case in point. The intensive grooming has made people to take steps like:

- steroid use

- hair transplants and plastic surgery

- using pumps for penis stretching

- removing ribs for a sculpted waist

- bone-smashing, which involves using hammers to break bones in the face to look more masculine

- starvemaxxing, which encourages extreme dieting and eating disorders

- whitemaxxing, which involves using creams to present as more fair

- edgemaxxing, which is described as “withholding climaxing in order to boost testosterone to improve appearance”

-Consuming pills and drugs to boost testosterone.

“We are witnessing a sharp rise—nearly 30–40%—in young men seeking aesthetic procedures driven by the ‘looksmaxxing’ trend and social media pressure. Jawline sculpting, hair transplants, beard transplants, moustache transplants, and skin perfection treatments like Botox, Fillers, Thread lifts, Chemical peels etc are increasingly common,” said Dr Rajasekhar Madala, Consultant Plastic, Cosmetic & Hair Transplant Surgeon at Medicover Hospitals, Hyderabad.

The case of a 28-year old man from Hyderabad who had died during a ‘smile enhancement’ procedure in 2024 had brought the issue to the spotlight.

“While modern cosmetic procedures are largely safe when done by qualified experts, blindly chasing online standards can be risky. Proper consultation, mental readiness, and realistic expectations are crucial before undergoing any enhancement,” he adds.

This article is written by Satvik AVP, a student of Loyola Academy, Secunderabad, interning with Deccan Chronicle.