looksmaxxing
noun
| LOOKS-mak-sing
Efforts, sometimes extreme, young men take to look more attractive
What does looksmaxxing mean?
Looksmaxxing refers to practices, especially among young men online, to enhance their physical appearance. These practices range in intensity, from everyday skincare to cosmetic surgery.
Related forms of the word include looksmaxx and looksmaxxer.
Examples of looksmaxxing
We can all probably agree that it’s unhealthy to fixate excessively on your appearance. But GQ can also endorse one common looksmaxing recommendation—a skin care routine that includes retinol.
—Adam Hurly, GQ, 31 Jul. 2024
Teenage boys hoping to improve their attractiveness in “looksmaxxing” communities online are encountering an explosion of gum brands that position their products as the facial equivalent of a Spartan workout routine.
—Once you approach looksmaxxing holistically you get a lot further. Realizing that everything is interconnected. That a complete lifestyle change will bring the best results. Posture, movement, nutrition, skin. All will equally influence your facial structure. Expression.
—
Where does looksmaxxing come from?
Looksmaxxing combines looks (in the sense of “physical appearance”) and maxxing (Internet and gaming slang based on max, short for maximize). The additional x may be influenced by such words as doxxing, a variant of dox. The term originated in the mid-2010s in the online community known as incels, celibate men generally associated with misogynist beliefs and extremist ideologies. By the early 2020s, it had spread across social media, especially TikTok. As the trend gained prominence in late 2023 and early 2024, looksmaxxing prompted discussion about its health and safety, as well concerns about toxic masculinity.
Looksmaxxing has a well-developed set of practices—and subculture, including its own specialized lingo. Various recommendations for skincare, grooming, exercise, dieting, and fashion are referred to as softmaxxing. More extreme activities are known as hardmaxxing, and can involve disordered eating and surgical body modifications. One activity closely associated with looksmaxxing is called mewing, a pseudoscientific tongue exercise purported to improve jaw structure. Indeed, a chiseled jaw—as well as a symmetrical face, pouty lips, hollowed cheeks, and an inwardly sloping eye slant called “hunter eyes”—are among stereotypical male beauty standards that looksmaxxers, as they are called, feel will help them attract women, boost their confidence, and attain greater success and status.
How is looksmaxxing used?
Looksmaxxing is widely used by its practitioners referring to specific techniques they consider to be self-improvement; looksmaxxers may post pictures of themselves at the gym, for instance, using the hashtag #looksmaxxing. Among critics, the word is often discussed in terms of its negative impacts on young men, including body dysmorphia and misogyny. Since it spread from incel forums to mainstream social media, looksmaxxing has become increasingly used in ironic ways online to make fun of the trend, as in “I’m looksmaxxing today by changing out of my pajamas.” In some instances, men may use looksmaxxing to caption a picture of themselves where they like how they look.
More Slang Words
