Some teenagers are even willing to use steroids made for cattle to build muscle. It is genuinely chilling.
Body-image pressure has existed for years. But with social media booming, often absurd beauty standards are being amplified. Women are frequently the main targets, yet young men are far from spared. In recent months, the aggressively “alpha”, masculinist trend of looksmaxxing has surged across social platforms and via ChatGPT, and it is proving particularly dangerous for teenagers-still developing and highly impressionable.
In the pursuit of a so-called ideal of male beauty, some adolescents are pushing every boundary and putting their health on the line. More and more are turning to steroids to “improve” how they look, despite the risks.
Read more – Looksmaxxing: they customised ChatGPT and it’s alarming
Mirror, mirror on the wall… looksmaxxing and the “ideal” male face
Heavily promoted on social media over the past few months, looksmaxxing is a trend that grew out of misogynistic, masculinist corners of the internet and, more broadly, incel culture. It rests on the belief that a young man’s appearance inevitably determines his success with women-and in life generally.
The male beauty standard pushed by looksmaxxing is very specific: to be “handsome” is to be hyper-masculine, with a sharply square jaw, chiseled features, “hunter eyes”, prominent cheekbones, and so on.
From “bone smashing” to bleaching teeth: risky looksmaxxing routines
To reach this looksmaxxing-approved version of beauty, a range of “methods” circulate online-some as ridiculous as they are worrying. One is “bone smashing”, which involves hitting your face with a hammer to create micro-fractures and supposedly reshape the bones for a more defined, squarer, more “masculine” jaw. Another is whitening teeth using hydrogen peroxide. Do not try this at home.
Teens taking cattle steroids: the trenbolone acetate shortcut
From that same movement comes an even more alarming practice for adolescents. Some are prepared to do anything to achieve their dream physique-including using animal-only steroids and radically altering their bodies, despite obvious dangers.
On social media, Zaid Laila, 16, has been posting his jaw-dropping physical transformation. In just 6 months, the teenager shows off an impressive build. His “secret”? Training, of course-but above all, injections of “tren”.
Trenbolone acetate is an anabolic androgenic steroid used in veterinary medicine as an artificial growth hormone in the United States and Canada. Put simply, it is a drug used to fatten cattle before they are sent to slaughter-never approved for humans.
@zaidtrenn Adds 30 pounds to your bench #foryoupage #fyp #gym #gymtok #viraltiktokvideo ♬ hot n cold – audiobear
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“Why wait 10 years?”: normalising steroid use on social media
Zaid does not see the issue. To him, it is simply a shortcut to the “ideal” body. “Why wait 10 years when I can get it in less than a year?” he told CBS News. While steroid use is not new, it used to be a taboo topic. Now, young men like Zaid are not embarrassed about it-quite the opposite: they discuss it openly.
The sixth-former understands that using such steroids carries health risks, but it does not worry him. “If I have a heart attack at 30, I have a heart attack,” he says casually. In reality, he should be far more concerned. Anabolic steroids can damage the heart, kidneys, and liver. But trenbolone may be even more dangerous, with more severe side effects given how potent it is.
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