Credit: @clavicular0 Instagram
Expert Issues ‘Looksmaxxing’ Warning After Clavicular Is Rushed To Hospital
Experts issue new warnings about a worrying ‘looksmaxxing’ trend that is inspired by influencers like Clavicular.
These warnings are particularly relevant after Clavicular was rushed to hospital earlier this week after a suspected overdose.
Clavicular, real name Braden Peters, was out with his friends at a restaurant in Miami on Tuesday night when he started to become visibly disorientated.
His loyal fans saw the incident play out across several online videos.
“Just got home, that was brutal,” he wrote on X once discharged.
“All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution.
“The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask,” his post read.
Clavicular is one of the key influencers in the ‘looksmaxxing’ craze, even encouraging his young fans to hit themselves in the face with a hammer.
The ‘Manosphere’
There is a place on the internet in which trends targeting young men thrive: the ‘Manosphere’.
It is a hot topic of discussion after the new Netflix documentary from Louis Theroux was released, where he interviews a lot of the key people in the space.
Don’t worry if you haven’t come across this before, it just means that your social media algorithm is a bit nicer than others.
The ‘Manosphere’ is a network of blogs, podcasts and streamers which aims to promote traditional masculine values to young men.
Key figures like Andrew Tate and Clavicular have amassed a huge following by targeting young men looking for role models on the internet.
It becomes an issue as these role models are pushing more and more extreme views onto the men who follow their every move.
These views range from seeing feminism as a threat to masculinity to avoiding all romantic relationships with women at all costs.
Their glamorous lives in places like Dubai and Bali help them to make their views seem like the solution to a perfect life to the people watching around the world.
Young men are becoming more and more drawn to the views of these influencers, and it is creating a herd of people who follow their every word.
It is a worrying thought as these extreme views spread, but when it starts to become dangerous is when these crazy ‘looksmaxxing’ trends, like bone-smashing, become the norm.
‘Looksmaxxing’
The range of ‘looksmaxxing’ trends span from ‘softmaxxing’ (lifestyle changes like skincare, fitness, hair styling) and ‘hardmaxxing’ (more extreme measures such as surgeries) to alter physical appearance.
If you have seen the 2000 film American Psycho, it makes sense that the Christian Bale character has become a bit of a hero for this community.
The film, particularly the scene of the character’s extreme morning routine, has become guidance for many young men.
American Psycho is a satire of a certain lifestyle in 1980s New York, but from a single clip the social media audiences aren’t grasping that.
This emulates real life, as viewers aren’t seeing the realities of their favourite influencers’ lives.
They aren’t seeing that the ‘looksmaxxing’ results are coming from surgeries and steroids, rather than hitting themselves in the face with a hammer.
It is a wider issue with the online world, and one that is going to continue to cause a range of problems for the younger generations.
What is ‘bone-smashing’?
For years, online self-improvement culture aimed at men has pushed the idea that masculinity can be achieved through a few simple steps.
Lift heavier weights. Eat better food. Work harder to earn more money.
But in some corners of the internet, that pursuit of perfection is now taking a darker turn.
The latest example is a disturbing trend known as “bone-smashing”, and it highlights just how social media is radicalizing young men.
Bone-smashing is exactly what it sounds like. Participants repeatedly strike parts of their face, usually the jaw or cheekbones, with hard objects in the belief that controlled trauma will reshape the bones over time.
The promise is simple: hit your face often enough, and you will develop the sharp jawline or pronounced cheekbones that internet culture equates with masculine attractiveness.
The problem, according to doctors, is that this does not work.
Facial bones do not gradually reshape from blunt trauma in the way these communities claim.
What actually happens is far more dangerous: fractures, nerve damage, infections, and long-term deformities.
Kyle Zagrodzky, bone health expert and founder of OsteoStrong, says the idea misunderstands how bone development actually works.
“A recent TikTok trend called bone-smashing, like many TikTok trends and challenges, is as bad and stupid as it sounds,” he says.
“Don’t do this. It’s very dangerous.”
According to Zagrodzky, the potential complications can be severe and long-lasting.
“Firstly, its going to hurt, and continue to hurt for weeks, months of even years.
“Next, nerve damage. Smashing one’s bone without an x-ray or careful planning by a trained surgeon is carless and could cause serious or irreparable damage to the nerves.”
Other risks include internal or external bleeding and fractures that heal incorrectly.
“Without proper planning by a trained professional, the bones can grow back in a way that causes an unattractive disfiguration,” he warned.
Young people may be especially vulnerable because their bones are still developing.
Is there a solution?
It is a worrying issue that does not seem to have an easy fix, as many young men become more and more drawn into this world.
Psychotherapist Eloise Skinner says we can attribute some of this problem to the impact of social media, which allows people to visualize a ‘looksmaxxed’ version of their own face and to share improvement practices on a vast scale.
“The pursuit of beauty is something that has been around for thousands of years, but social media might have heightened our expectations around what is possible for our own appearance.
“As well as exposing us to a huge range of attractive people which we might not have had access to in previous years,” she adds.
Potential solutions like social media restrictions and medical guidance would no longer make an impact on the generation of men who are infatuated with these influencers.
There doesn’t seem to be a clear solution, but when young men are breaking their own bones in pursuit of an internet ideal, the problem is far more than a bizarre trend.
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