Indian Looksmaxxing: In Search of the “Perfect” Face

Influencer San Kalra was 23 when he decided to undergo a complete transformation. Girls didn’t notice him, and he desperately wanted them to. He felt it was because of his thick glasses and facial acne. “Bruh,” Kalra, now 31, told me, “I was ugly asf.” 

Soon Kalra was going to the gym regularly, added skincare to his routine, changing the way he dressed, and improved his diet. It worked, and he lost 66 pounds. “Once I did that, I started creating content online,” Kalra said. But his journey was only beginning. He soon realized men were hanging out in online forums dedicated to what they called looksmaxxing. They followed facial exercises and even took literal hammers to their faces — just to achieve chiseled jawlines, “hunter” eyes, and angular cheekbones. 

“It started as a glow up,” Kalra said. “And then…it became darker.” The Juggernaut spoke to Indian looksmaxxers, sociologists, journalists, and others to decode the emerging world of male beauty extremes, as men increasingly feel the pressure to be “hotter” — no matter the cost.