What is looksmaxxing? (And mewing?) A guide for parents and grandparents

Your grandson has started holding his jaw in a strange way in every photo. He asks for a specific skincare product, talks about his “canthal tilt,” and won’t eat bread. If you’ve heard the word “looksmaxxing” around him, this is what it means.

The short answer

Looksmaxxing means trying to maximize your physical attractiveness. The “-maxxing” ending comes from video games, where you “max out” a stat. Looksmaxxing applies that to your face and body.

It’s mostly a trend among teenage boys and young men. Merriam-Webster added the word in 2026, and it’s on the shortlists for this year’s word-of-the-year picks.

The two kinds

People who talk about it split it in two.

“Softmaxxing” is the ordinary stuff: skincare, a good haircut, exercise, sleep, better posture, clothes that fit. Much of it is what you’d have called “taking care of yourself.” A teenager who starts washing his face and lifting weights is, frankly, not a problem.

“Hardmaxxing” is where it goes wrong. It includes steroids, unregulated supplements, extreme dieting, cosmetic procedures, and dangerous fads like “bone smashing,” where people hit their own faces in the belief it will reshape the bone. Doctors, including a Johns Hopkins review in 2026, have warned about these risks for boys and teens.

What is mewing?

Mewing is a looksmaxxing technique: pressing your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, supposedly to sharpen your jawline over time. It’s named after a British orthodontist, John Mew, whose ideas the mainstream orthodontic profession does not accept. There’s no good evidence it changes your face.

Kids also use mewing as a joke. A kid who doesn’t want to answer a question will put a finger to his lips and trace his jaw, meaning “can’t talk, I’m mewing.” That version is just goofing around.

Why it’s worth understanding

Looksmaxxing grew up in online spaces that rate people by appearance, the same places that gave us mogging and chopped. Some of those spaces are harmless self-improvement. Others push the idea that your face decides your worth, and that boys who aren’t handsome enough are doomed.

Signs it’s moved past normal teenage vanity:

• Talking about facial features with technical-sounding terms and a lot of anxiety
• Extreme dieting or sudden interest in supplements and “peptides”
• Asking for money for procedures
• Seeming genuinely hopeless about his looks

What you can do

Don’t mock it. If a grandkid is mewing in photos, teasing will only push the topic underground. Ask what got him interested. Praise the healthy parts: “You’ve really stuck with the gym.” If anything on the list above shows up, mention it to his parents. That’s what grandparents are for.

If a word in his texts sounds like a medical term you’ve never heard, paste it into the Generational Translator. For the gaming roots of a lot of this vocabulary, see what “sigma” means.