Looksmaxxing: the healthy, practical version

What is looksmaxxing?

Looksmaxxing is internet slang for making the most of how you look. To looksmax is to work on it on purpose: skin, hair, body, clothes and photos. Softmaxxing is the non-invasive side, the everyday habits you can start today. Needles and surgery are a different kind of decision, one for a doctor, not a forum.

Advice online runs from sensible to dangerous, often in the same thread. This page sticks to the sensible end. The goal isn't a new face, but a rested, healthy, well-kept version of the one you have.

How to looksmax: start with sleep, skin, hair and grooming

Sleep comes first because it shows. In one study, strangers rated the same people as more tired and less attractive in photos taken after too little sleep. Most adults need 7 to 9 hours. Keep the same bedtime, weekends included, and leave your phone out of bed.

Skincare basics are three products, not twelve: a gentle cleanser, a moisturizer, and a broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 30 or higher every morning, even when it's cloudy. Add new products one at a time so you know what caused a reaction, and give a routine a couple of months before judging it. For acne or other skin problems, see a dermatologist.

A haircut that suits your face is one of the quickest visible changes. Bring photos of cuts you like on people with hair like yours, and ask your barber or stylist what works with your face shape, hair type and hairline. Short styles need a trim every few weeks.

Grooming is the small stuff people notice up close. Clear the hairs between your brows without over-plucking. Keep a beard's neckline about a finger or two above your Adam's apple, or shave cleanly. Then the quiet basics: trimmed nails, no stray nose or ear hair, clean teeth, fresh breath.

Fitness, posture and clothes that fit

Training changes how you look and how you carry yourself. Lift two or three times a week with big movements like squats, push-ups, rows and presses, and walk most days. Progress shows over months, so take a photo now. If you want to lose fat, go slowly: steady changes are safer and easier to keep.

Posture costs nothing and works right away. Stand tall, let your shoulders drop back and down, and keep your chin level instead of pushed toward a screen. It reads as confidence, in person and in photos.

Clothes that fit beat expensive clothes. Shoulder seams sit at the edge of your shoulders, sleeves end at your wrist, T-shirts reach about the middle of your zipper, and trousers don't pool at your ankles. A tailor can fix most fit problems cheaply. Plain colors that contrast with your skin and hair look sharper than big logos.

Looksmaxxing tips for photos: light, angle, expression

Online, a photo is often the first impression, and it's where small skills pay off fastest. Face the light: a window in front of you, or outdoors in the hour before sunset, never a bare bulb overhead. Have a friend take it from a couple of meters away, or use a timer, so a close lens doesn't enlarge your nose. Keep the camera at eye level or a little above.

Expression matters as much as features. A real smile, or slightly narrowing your lower eyelids as if about to smile, looks warmer than a blank stare. Push your face a little toward the camera and tip your chin down a touch to define your jaw. Take twenty shots, not two, and let a friend pick: people are often worse at choosing their own best photo than others are.

What to skip: anything that risks your health

Some of what spreads under the looksmaxxing name is dangerous. Before any medical or cosmetic procedure, from hair loss treatment and acne medication to fillers and surgery, talk to a doctor: a forum can't see your face or your medical history. Skip these completely, whatever the before-and-after pictures promise:

• "Bone smashing": hitting your face to reshape it can fracture bone and damage nerves, and there is no evidence it works.
• Pills, powders and injections bought online: steroids, SARMs, tanning injections and "research" peptides are unregulated or prescription-only, and can seriously harm you.
• Crash diets, extreme fasting and dehydrating for a sharper face: they drain your energy and health, and the look doesn't last.
• Do-it-yourself cosmetic procedures, and fillers or other treatments from anyone who isn't a licensed medical professional.

Measure your progress instead of guessing

Your own eyes are a poor judge of progress: you see yourself every day, so change is hard to spot, and on a bad day everything looks worse. Post a before photo on RATE, make one change, then post an after photo in the same light, from the same distance, with a similar expression. Once enough people have rated both, compare the average scores and which age groups rated each one higher.

Change one thing at a time: a new haircut, a skincare routine and new glasses in the same week won't tell you what helped. Because your score counts ratings from the people you choose to match with, you see how the people you care about see each version. Don't want matches at all? Choose "No one" under "Match me with". RATE is for adults 18+ only.

Keep it in proportion

Looksmaxxing should help you feel better in your own skin. Once the basics are in place, the gains get smaller and the effort bigger. Watch for signs of obsession: checking mirrors all the time, skipping plans because of how you look, spending money you don't have, or feeling worse the more you work on it. If that's you, take a break and talk to someone you trust or a doctor.

And remember what a score is: people's opinion of one photo, at one moment. It's a handy way to compare photos and habits, never a measure of your worth.