Looksmaxxing: chronicles of harmful beauty standards
What do rococo, the'60s and the 2020s have in common?
đ Hello! Weâre The Z Link, a global Gen Z-led social media agency that helps brands reach our generation. The Digital Native, written by our Trends Reporter, Shaurya, takes a deep dive into niche internet micro-trends and subcultures, and analyzes them so you donât have to. For any feedback, questions or suggestions, just reply to this email!
Did you ever think weâd be conversing about unrealistic and frankly dangerous beauty standards in 2024? I⊠Actually did. I mean, come on, I write these newsletters; of course, I knew Iâd be talking about it. But looksmaxxing is just the â90s repackaged. When I said I wanted the â90s back, I didnât mean unrealistic beauty standards, too. But theyâre here regardless, so letâs tread carefully into the territory of looksmaxxing lest I offend a Greek alphabet bro. I do talk about my struggle with eating so, potential trigger warnings. <3
What the hell is looksmaxxing?
Looksmaxxing is the process of basically maximising your physical appearance. The term itself has its origins rooted in Reddit, and we all know nothing good ever comes from Reddit, so maybe donât keep your hopes high for this, either. But anyway, the term eventually found its way into TikTok and has been popularised even more. Itâs just the term thatâs been popularised because essentially everything theyâre doing over on looksmaxxing TikTok is quite literally the bare minimum in terms of self-care. Phrases like âwear an antiperspirantâ or âshower at least once a dayâ are peddled as looksmaxxing. Itâs not. Itâs basic self-care.
A lot of TikToks that come under looksmaxxing pretty much look the same; youâll see an edit of Francisco âChicoâ Lachowski and Jordan Barrett. Sometimes, youâll see Sean OâPry or Lucky Blue Smith as well. The reason is that theyâve become the standard for men when it comes to what they âshouldâ look like. Do you see a pattern? Because I do. Itâs all supermodels that won the genetic lottery. They also have similar features like âhunter eyesâ and a strong jaw. And to get this look, looksmaxxers are âmewingâ (no, not like a cat [unfortunately]), and some are going as far as surgery, and theyâre known as âhardmaxxersâ (while youâre at it, please take a page out of book boyfriendsâ books [not literally] and start behaving like them, please Iâm begging. More emotional availability in 2024). All of this begs the question of where you draw the line. How do you differentiate taking care of yourself for yourself vs. taking care of yourself for others and how beneficial it is.
How is it different from self-care?
Okay, so self-care, Iâm pretty sure Iâve written about self-care in the earlier newsletters, but let me give you a refresher on my thoughts because Iâm sure theyâve changed in a year. TikTok will make you believe thereâs only one way to practice self-care. Even if the users say that it looks different for everyone, somehow, their routines look the same to me. đ I want to see how feral girls take care of themselves or how the academically gifted girl cries herself to bed because of burnout because same. Anyway, Iâm going off a tangent, back to looksmaxxing.
As I was saying, self-care, first of all, isnât a harmful practice, and itâs very subjective. Second of all, not only does self-care take physical (including appearance) into account, but it also promotes mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. In fact, it promotes physical (again, including appearance) well-being through mental and emotional well-being. Because if you canât FEEL sexy, you canât LOOK sexy, you know? Being hot is a state of mind, I should know. đ§đ»ââïž
Looksmaxxing isnât inherently harmful; I mean, IT IS about taking care of yourself, after all, but to only focus on appearance and then talk smack about certain features that people canât change (even if itâs a joke)? Thatâs when it becomes problematic. Now, obviously, I can counter it by saying if people taking care of their appearance only makes them happy and helps them mentally, whatâs the problem? And the thing is, there isnât one. Iâve been in that position, and it does help to a certain extent. And obviously, it helps; people treat you differently when you look a certain way â pretty privilege and whatnot, but thatâs an entirely (but not so much) different conversation. My point is the second you start looking a different way, itâll basically make you go down a spiral. How do you manage that spiral? I went down a spiral and tackled it in the most unhealthy way I could think of. I probably wouldâve done much better if I had also spent time filling my metaphorical cup and working on my mental and emotional well-being. This is why I want you to sit down with yourself and make changes externally and internally.
Parallel lines: a comparison between looksmaxxing and history
Speaking of taking a toll, looksmaxxing might have much more in common with the '90s than you think. I wanted '90s fashion, music and movies back, not the return of carb fright. Long live sliced breadâŒïž Outlived Betty White. đâđ»
I can't think of a segue so let's dive right in with the comparison, starting with unrealistic body standards. The '90s probably had the worst of them, or at least was the start, and then it just kept getting worse and worse. It's definitely the latter. But in all fairness, we've seen people modelling their beauty standards after the people in the zeitgeist since like forever. The rococo period saw a very rectangular silhouette (shoutout to Marie Antoinette; she would've loved Sofia Coppola's version of her), the '60s saw Twiggy, the '90s had Kate Moss and Naomi, and the 2000s had the Victoria's Secret angels.
We've talked about the '90s cocaine chic in one of our earlier newsletters and how that made a comeback. For clarity, though, people weren't doing drugs; when I say comeback of cocaine chic, I really mean that people were looking at unhealthy beauty standards again and going to extremes for it. Obviously, looksmaxxing is nowhere near as harmful as that, but the fact that people want to look a certain way and are going to great lengths to look that way. Everybody wants to look the same, just like they did in the '90s.
Nothing ever changes, really. The Elizabethan era had people using mercury to look as pale as possible, the '90s saw people doing hard drugs, and today, we've got people getting surgeries to look a certain way. I'd say there's a difference because you could at least alter your lifestyle and stop doing mercury-laced makeup, but everything related to beauty standards has almost always been inherently dangerous.
Conclusion
What goes around comes around, basically. Iâm not saying looksmaxxing is bad because it is an amazing step when it comes to taking care of yourself. Itâs one of the first things people usually do when they start a self-care journey, and I did it. I started caring for myself physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally and basically all the â-allysâ. I wouldnât call it looksmaxxing because itâs quite literally the bare minimum. But if youâre not careful with it, chances are youâll develop an unhealthy relationship with yourself, which is the opposite of what we want. 3 years ago, when I started taking care of myself physically, I developed a very unhealthy and obsessive relationship with food and how I looked. I still havenât recovered, although itâs a lot better now. So all Iâm saying is while youâre trying to look sexy, you need to feel it, too, because it can get ugly pretty quick. Take care of yourself the right way, please, Iâm begging.
Any questions/suggestions as to what we should cover next? Reach out to us and weâre always here to chat!
â Written by Shaurya, Trends Reporter at The Z Link
Connect with Shaurya on Instagram where she shares great content and lives her best influencer life as a fashion student in London. And she writes all of these great issues too. What canât she do??? đ§ Thank you for reading!