midface crisis
Iron
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2025
- Posts
- 107
- Reputation
- 89
There’s a strange contradiction in how people talk about “looksmaxxing” online versus how they behave in real life.
You’ll see the same people clowning on looksmaxxing, dismissing it as ridiculous ,obsessive, or even delusional and gay. They’ll push a kind of “bluepill” narrative, telling everyone that looks don’t matter that much (particularly in foid TikTok reposts, that confidence is everything, that self-improvement in appearance is somehow misguided or excessive.
But then you step into real life, and those exact same people are often the first to judge others based on appearance. They laugh at people they consider unattractive, reward those who fit certain beauty standards, and participate in the same social hierarchies they claim don’t exist.
That contradiction is where things get interesting.
A lot of the criticism of looksmaxxing seems to come from a misunderstanding or maybe a deliberate oversimplification of the core idea ”do this ridiculous thing and you will be Chad”. People reduce it to extremes: bonesmashing, mewing, eyelid cutting . They ignore the broader reality, which is just self-presentation, grooming, fitness, style, most importantly the face. Things everyone engages in to some degree.
And yet, many of the loudest critics are deeply invested in their own version of appearance optimization (foids). Waking up early to do makeup, styling the same ugly hair, using cosmetic enhancements like makeup, those fucking plastic eyelashes, slutty outfits that are all forms of improving perceived attractiveness. The difference is mainly in branding and social acceptability.
What’s even more telling is how confidence often appears when those enhancements are removed. The same people who publicly deny the importance of looks, may feel noticeably less secure without the routines and tools they rely on. That suggests that, on some level, they do recognize the impact of appearance—even if they don’t openly admit it. The makeup frauds you see laughing at their looksmatch in public suddenly get so insecure when you can see her with hyperpigmentation, shirt eyelashes, dry lips, eyebags and nasolabial folds.
So the question becomes: why the hostility toward others who are simply more explicit about it?
Part of it might be social positioning. If someone feels they’ve found a comfortable place within existing standards where their current effort yields good results. then a broader normalization of “looksmaxxing” could feel like a threat. More people optimizing their appearance raises the baseline, increases competition, and disrupts that balance.
The same ltb’s with makeup that can date a htn in today’s hypergamy will fuse together and hate on ever form of looksmax (Clavicular is an example, They say he’s insecure and not all that etc) they hate the concept of hypergamy balancing out and they will have to date their looksmatch
Another part is narrative control. It’s easier to maintain the idea that attraction is mostly “natural” or “effortless” than to acknowledge how much deliberate work goes into it. Had a lesson with my psychology teacher where he actually mentioned this ”if there would be no people around on a empty island, would you bother with makeup” the girls freaked out when boys was once again reminded that those girls that look good at first glance look horrible without it, that men look better
So what you end up with is a double standard:
– Improving your appearance is normal, as long as you don’t call it that.
– Effort is acceptable, as long as it looks effortless.
– Participation is fine, but awareness of the system is not.
That’s why people who openly talk about optimizing their looks often get labeled as insecure, because they’re breaking the unspoken rule of pretending it doesn’t matter as much as it clearly does.
I can’t even enjoy life anymore, I get pissed of seeing the same Clavicular edit where he is sad and then happy in a club for the 1000th time. Normies love edits.
I hate nt humor, I hate how nt people talk, I hate their views of the world, I hate their agenda and double standards
You’ll see the same people clowning on looksmaxxing, dismissing it as ridiculous ,obsessive, or even delusional and gay. They’ll push a kind of “bluepill” narrative, telling everyone that looks don’t matter that much (particularly in foid TikTok reposts, that confidence is everything, that self-improvement in appearance is somehow misguided or excessive.
But then you step into real life, and those exact same people are often the first to judge others based on appearance. They laugh at people they consider unattractive, reward those who fit certain beauty standards, and participate in the same social hierarchies they claim don’t exist.
That contradiction is where things get interesting.
A lot of the criticism of looksmaxxing seems to come from a misunderstanding or maybe a deliberate oversimplification of the core idea ”do this ridiculous thing and you will be Chad”. People reduce it to extremes: bonesmashing, mewing, eyelid cutting . They ignore the broader reality, which is just self-presentation, grooming, fitness, style, most importantly the face. Things everyone engages in to some degree.
And yet, many of the loudest critics are deeply invested in their own version of appearance optimization (foids). Waking up early to do makeup, styling the same ugly hair, using cosmetic enhancements like makeup, those fucking plastic eyelashes, slutty outfits that are all forms of improving perceived attractiveness. The difference is mainly in branding and social acceptability.
What’s even more telling is how confidence often appears when those enhancements are removed. The same people who publicly deny the importance of looks, may feel noticeably less secure without the routines and tools they rely on. That suggests that, on some level, they do recognize the impact of appearance—even if they don’t openly admit it. The makeup frauds you see laughing at their looksmatch in public suddenly get so insecure when you can see her with hyperpigmentation, shirt eyelashes, dry lips, eyebags and nasolabial folds.
So the question becomes: why the hostility toward others who are simply more explicit about it?
Part of it might be social positioning. If someone feels they’ve found a comfortable place within existing standards where their current effort yields good results. then a broader normalization of “looksmaxxing” could feel like a threat. More people optimizing their appearance raises the baseline, increases competition, and disrupts that balance.
The same ltb’s with makeup that can date a htn in today’s hypergamy will fuse together and hate on ever form of looksmax (Clavicular is an example, They say he’s insecure and not all that etc) they hate the concept of hypergamy balancing out and they will have to date their looksmatch
Another part is narrative control. It’s easier to maintain the idea that attraction is mostly “natural” or “effortless” than to acknowledge how much deliberate work goes into it. Had a lesson with my psychology teacher where he actually mentioned this ”if there would be no people around on a empty island, would you bother with makeup” the girls freaked out when boys was once again reminded that those girls that look good at first glance look horrible without it, that men look better
So what you end up with is a double standard:
– Improving your appearance is normal, as long as you don’t call it that.
– Effort is acceptable, as long as it looks effortless.
– Participation is fine, but awareness of the system is not.
That’s why people who openly talk about optimizing their looks often get labeled as insecure, because they’re breaking the unspoken rule of pretending it doesn’t matter as much as it clearly does.
I can’t even enjoy life anymore, I get pissed of seeing the same Clavicular edit where he is sad and then happy in a club for the 1000th time. Normies love edits.
I hate nt humor, I hate how nt people talk, I hate their views of the world, I hate their agenda and double standards