Inside the ‘looksmaxing’ economy: Jawbone microfractures, expensive hairspray, and millions to be made off male insecurities

[HendryTan]

https://fortune.com/2024/07/01/looksmaxxing-apps-rate-teen-boys-faces-mental-health/

After Dillon Latham’s girlfriend dumped him during their junior year of high school, the then-17-year-old decided to invest in his appearance. He began spending hours daily in the gym, applying homemade skincare concoctions to his face like beef tallow moisturizer, and permed his hair to give it a tousled mop look. He says he felt and looked better. 

 

Soon, Latham started posting tips on TikTok to inspire teen boys in similar situations. His videos are captioned with language like “this is making you ugly,” “stop ruining your skin,” and “get a smaller nose.” The makeover advice went, and continues to go, viral. To date, his TikTok clips have nearly 98 million likes and 1 billion views across social media. Latham, who is now selling his own brand of hairspray, says he’s making six-figures in revenue monthly from sales and social media, leading him to skip college and be a full-time influencer.  

Latham’s videos are part of a trend called “looksmaxxing” that capitalizes on mostly boys’ insecurities, and tells them they can become attractive and masculine by toning their faces and bodies via rigid fitness, skincare, and hair care routines. In its mildest form, looksmax social media creators tell teen boys to wash their faces; in its most extreme, they tell boys to regularly pummel their jaws to induce micro fractures, get surgery, and take steroids. Social media algorithms tend to amplify this content.

Psychologists interviewed by Fortune expressed concern about the trend. They assailed the potentially devastating effects of the online advice and criticism that makes those seeking it feel inadequate and unattractive. 

“Psychologically, it’s essentially an erosion of the sense of self,” says Tom Hildebrandt, a clinical psychologist who has studied eating disorders for 20 years as the chief and founder of the Hildebrandt Laboratory at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in New York City. “It’s like, ‘The more I get feedback that I’m not good enough, the more I consume it. And then, I trade my attention, my time and sometimes my money and resources to give up my current identity in pursuit of this other one.’”
 

Latham, too, says the negative content he posts attracts far more views and engagement than positive stuff. So the now 19-year-old continues to insult the appearances of his viewers, and in turn, sell more products, mostly via TikTok Shop. 

He dismisses the critics, saying they should listen more closely to his advice. The negativity in his videos is mixed with positive messages, he argues. “People are really attracted to negative things because so many guys are insecure—so you pull them in with that in a way, and then try to help them.”

This negative feedback loop has also spurred a burgeoning looksmaxxing economy, including chewing gum meant to help with jaw exercises, personal care products, and clothing. 

Meanwhile, a number of apps claim to evaluate the looks of users and their success in following the looksmaxxing message. The most popular app is UMAX – Become Hot. Powered partly by OpenAI’s technology, UMAX rates paying users’ faces on masculinity, their jawlines, and cheekbones, among other attributes. Though it launched in December, the app is already raking in about $500,000 in subscription revenue monthly, according to Blake Anderson, the app’s 23-year-old founder and CEO. The amount could not be independently verified. 

UMAX, which relies on users uploading headshot photos, costs $3.99 weekly. It scores users’ faces each week on a scale up to 100, and gives tips like “start a skincare routine” to increase their scores. Though the app says users can forgo the first weekly fee if they refer three friends, this feature didn’t work in Fortune’s test of the app.