Beautymaxxing Is Just Misogyny Disguised as Self-Improvement

Rola Elnaggar
1 day ago
4 min read

After an intense and dramatic acne breakout, I did the unthinkable. I googled how to get rid of the scars, and my algorithm across all social media was never the same again. Big captions that say: “How to go from average to gorgeous”, “Learn more about your aura”, “Are you dark autumn or dark winter?”, and my favorite, “How to fix crow’s feet without Botox” (I’m not embarrassed to say that I didn’t know what crow’s feet were and why I should fix them).

The language used in these posts aims to encourage people to refine and enhance their natural features, a result of the self-love movement from the previous decade, but it inadvertently emphasizes the insecurities. It tells you that you’re currently okay, but you can become unrecognizably better because it cannot sell you something without showing you where you are lacking. Like the posts that point out that millennials look a lot younger than zoomers, which immediately makes you decide you don’t want to be that type of Gen Z who looks older. It always starts with you searching for a solution to a real problem, and suddenly, the algorithm convinces you that you have ten other underlying problems you never knew or heard about.

And there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve your looks and overall self-esteem, but when does it become harmful?

While looksmaxxing, with its extreme grooming and fitness practices, has dominated among male audiences, beautymaxxing seems to be commanding the attention of the female demographic. Even though it doesn’t require women to smash their faces with hammers to sculpt a better facial bone structure, it still demands discipline and effort. It’s all about following a consistent skincare routine, a low-inflammation diet, a steady workout, better styling, and some cosmetic enhancements.

I can’t argue with sleeping well and having better posture, but should I really buy half the products at the pharmacy to make sure my skin stays radiant, only to freak out when the expensive retinol doesn’t give me any results?

The thing is, beautymaxxing wants you to look and feel better. Our lives have become increasingly unpredictable and devoid of meaning, so creating a routine helps ground us and make us feel productive. However, when we fail to maintain it, we are shamed for it and accused of being less womanly, less desirable, and a social pariah in a society obsessed with productivity and optimization to compensate for its emptiness.

The beautymaxxing culture, although beneficial in certain respects, is asking you to achieve the impossible. It promotes a clean-girl aesthetic that forces girls with naturally frizzy, curly hair to fight tooth and nail against both social standards and humidity. It’s not enough to be just skinny; you have to tone and sculpt those curves, too. One day, it’s hairline maintenance, and the next, it’s face-lifting adhesives. Have you also noticed how Dakota Johnson suddenly became more striking after she changed her hair color, got bangs, and finally started wearing colors in her season?

I have to admit that I’ve spent hours watching those color analysis videos. I do agree with their theory, even though their most studied woman is Anne Hathaway, and she simply cannot represent all seasons. Still, I did the test. I answered all the unrelated questions until it asked me to share my facial data, at which point I opted out. Because I discovered that beautymaxxing is capitalism’s new Trojan horse. It’s a trap, asking you to define your colors and your seasons, asking you to limit yourself and your options. And although I think that defining is acknowledging, I don’t want to be reduced to spring, summer, or autumn. I don’t want to stop wearing my favorite color because it washes out my features. I don’t want to think about reversing white hair when I still don’t have any. I don’t want corporate greed to weaponize the dark circles around my eyes against me. And I certainly don’t want to be in debt because everyone and their mother tried product X and it worked a miracle. But it’s never just product X; it’s Y, Z, and all the letters in the alphabet.

It’s already very suspicious how movements like looksmaxxing and beautymaxxing are emerging in the current global socioeconomic climate and succeeding. Poverty, inflation, and climate risks… yet people from middle- to lower-class backgrounds are pressured to purchase certain products to satisfy their self-care needs, when it should come naturally to them without the input of giant corporations. It’s not controversial to want to be healthier, but it’s abnormal when it’s pushed down our throats in this manner.

It also deprives us of our much-needed emotional development. It forces us to follow rigid instructions that prevent us from experimenting and making mistakes, like that one questionable haircut we survived. It can also lead to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and eating disorders, since we are treating our bodies like projects in constant need of fixing. It’s even starting to capitalize on imperfections, suggesting that the new direction in beauty is flaunting our flaws, like using dark circles as eyeshadow.

Well, when I look in the mirror and see my dark circles, I like to think they are facial traits I inherited from my grandfather. Traits that defined our family for generations, that exist for a reason. I refuse to blindly trust the algorithm. There will always be beneficial tips, but we have to be discerning. Because at the end of the day, when the beauty bar keeps getting raised and algorithms are manipulative, the only one you can trust is the person you see in the mirror.