A 'looksmaxxing' influencer has spoken out after a video revealing that he wears a wig went viral.
For anyone who doesn't sink hours into doomscrolling everyday, 'looksmaxxing' is a trend where chronically online men go to extreme lengths in an attempt to optimise their physical appearance.
And looksmaxxing isn't your run of the mill techniques - such as going to the gym or getting a new haircut - either, as some men are going as far as undergoing cosmetic surgery in order to make themselves appear more masculine.
A 20-year-old, known online as Clavicular, has been one of the streamers at the forefront of the controversial trend, dangerously telling his followers about 'smashing' their faces with hammers.
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Another well-known content creator and participant in the looksmaxxing trend is Androgenic, who was exposed for wearing a wig on a livestream after a stranger snatched his cap.
The clip, which has been viewed over 14 million times on X, shows the 25-year-old influencer attending an event in Brisbane when a person sneaks up behind him and swipes his hat.
It's then revealed his 'hair' is actually a wig sewn into the cap, while his real barnet is much shorter and seemingly receding.
Angered by the stranger's actions, Androgenic is able to quickly catch up to the man and get his cap back, but not before his real hair is revealed to everyone watching his Kick stream.
Check out the moment in the viral clip below:
"I've just had a hair transplant bro," he can be heard saying later in the livestream, adding: "That's gonna go as viral as f**k."
Androgenic was correct in his prediction that the clip would go viral, with the content creator receiving the heat for building a following using his appearance while seemingly lying about his hairline.
"Androgenic got baldmogged live wig snatched, hairline clapped, full fraudmaxxer reveal. Aura evaporated in seconds. Generational L, no coming back from that," read one barely intelligible reaction to the video.
"There’s genuinely no coming back from this," added a second person.
However, others rushed to his defence as one user commented: "People are so mean wtf."
Androgenic has since responded to the clip, confirming that he'd undergone a hair transplant and hitting back at claims he deceived his followers.
"I don't think people realised that I've literally been spamming videos of me being bald for like two months, and I literally publicly made videos of me showing that I'm wearing a wig days ago, but I'm glad this is going this viral," he said in a TikTok.
In a follow-up video, Androgenic claimed: "The looksmaxxing niche is only going to get bigger because it's so self-reinforcing.
"I get my wig snatched off in public, and I just get millions of people telling me I look disgusting. And look, you might be right, but you're just proving the importance of looks more."
The looksmaxxing debate
The whole debacle has sparked wider debate around the looksmaxxing trend online, with several people branding it 'toxic' and 'cringe'.
"It think it is really sad that there are guys who think they need to break their legs and chin with a hammer just so a girl will talk to them," penned one person on a Reddit thread about the topic.
"Yeah it's toxic social media driven behaviour, I thought everyone not bought into it was on the same page about it," wrote a second, while a third added: "It's extremely misguided and the whole ideology behind it more than likely hurts way more people than it helps."
Writing for Patient, psychologist Dr Candice O’Neil warned that the looksmaxxing trend 'has the potential to influence young people's feelings about themselves and behaviours both implicitly and overtly'.
She added: "This becomes unhealthy when it moves from general self-improvement and wellbeing practices into a preoccupation with their appearance - particularly when that involves constant comparison with others or extreme adjustments to food and exercise. This can also lead to deep feelings of poor self-worth and self-concept."
Speaking about 'dissatisfaction and low self-esteem', Dr Stuart Murray, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of Southern California, told the BBC: "If you're diluting yourself down to a number or a skin tone, or an angular tilt of your face, it reduces your value as a person. We want men to focus on more sustainable ways to generate their self-esteem and identity."
Topics: Viral
Brenna Cooper