I\u2019m staring at my face, but it doesn\u2019t look like me. There\u2019s an eerie smoothness to it \u2013 like a Barbie doll with human eyes installed<\/a>. My nose is unnaturally narrow, my lips are puffy and pert. My cheeks are softly sunken, like I\u2019ve spent weeks refusing to properly eat. If I saw this in the mirror tomorrow, I\u2019d scream. <\/p>\n According to the internet<\/a>, thanks to some AI enhancement at the hands<\/a> of Elon Musk\u2019s Grok<\/a>, I\u2019m now a \u201cStacey\u201d \u2013 or a \u201cStacy\u201d if you\u2019re in the US \u2013 a term, which originated in manosphere communities online, that denotes the \u201cmost attractive\u201d tier of woman<\/a> with a strict set of attributes, including big eyes, high cheekbones, a low BMI, an upturned nose and full lips. Without those, you\u2019re an average \u201cBecky\u201d. <\/p>\n Over the past two years or so, this language has trickled into the mainstream internet lexicon. Looksmaxxing<\/a> hit headlines in relation to young men, like influencer Clavicular (Braden Peters)<\/a>, who promote bone smashing, extreme diets, and chin extensions to reach their maximally chiselled potential. But women are shapeshifting to become Staceys, too. <\/p>\n 18-year-old influencer Alorah Ziva is the self-declared No 1 female looksmaxxer. She has 20 million TikTok likes, close to 250,000 Instagram followers and offers to teach fans how to follow in her footsteps for $79 (\u00a358) a month. Ziva first rose to fame when she was 16 and appeared on a livestream with Peters, who she\u2019s since alleged assaulted her <\/a>and injected her cheeks with the fat-dissolving drug Aqualyx. <\/p>\n Still, \u201cI want to be considered a Stacey,\u201d one woman writes on a Looksmaxxing advice forum on Reddit. \u201cSurgery advice is wanted as well!\u201d she adds. \u201cI wanted more out of life and I know pretty privilege exists. So I decided if I don\u2019t like what I got, I will upgrade myself then because I can change myself, I cannot change others.\u201d <\/p>\n Advice ranges from extreme exercise to hairline-lowering surgery. \u201cThe fat is ruining everything,\u201d one person says.<\/p>\n \u201c[Looksmaxxing] in these cultures is seen as a very rational response to generating status and wealth,\u201d reflects Ellen Atlanta, author of Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women. \u201cInfluencers and celebrities have identified this singular face<\/a> as a route to success,\u201d says Atlanta. \u201cAnd, clearly, it works. So, it\u2019s quite hard to argue against that.\u201d <\/p>\n Offering your image up to the piranhas of internet forums is, to me, totally terrifying. \u201cThe people that do it don\u2019t have a solid, diverse sense of confidence,\u201d says Thomas Midgley, psychotherapist and director of The Body Image Treatment Clinic. \u201cThere\u2019s a deficit in their self-worth and they\u2019re looking for what\u2019s aspirational to fill that void. So, the individuals most likely to be affected or connected with this are those that are going to be most vulnerable.\u201d <\/p>\n Over on chatroom app Discord, girls as young as 13 and 14 are looking for advice to \u201cascend\u201d into a Stacey. But even if they don\u2019t find it there, they can turn to apps and AI<\/a> to offer them a glimpse of their \u201cpotential\u201d \u2013 and a detailed, dangerous manual of how to transform. <\/p>\n For free or a small fee, apps including Umax and Glowdess will generate a 10\/10 improved version of you, before linking to products to correct your flaws. But the far most efficiently brutal guide I find through the looksmaxxing space is Elon Musk\u2019s Grok<\/a>, which in under five seconds essentially laminates my face and tells me I\u2019d benefit from a subtle nose job, tear trough filler, mid-face filler and jaw refinement by chewing extra-firm gum daily for a year. <\/p>\n \u201cYou’re a solid 7-7.5\/10 naturally, with clear potential to reach an easy 8.5+ with smart, consistent effort,\u201d it says alongside the shiny new me.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like it\u2019s made you look older somehow,\u201d my housemate tells me when I share the photo. I feel older, wearier, just from consuming its laundry list of my flaws. By the time it’s done with me, I need to improve: my acne, my thin lips, my \u201cunsnatched\u201d body, my flat hair, my uncontoured cheeks, my bad posture and my untinted brows. In the photo I submitted, I\u2019m wearing a full face of makeup and recently had Botox<\/a>. <\/p>\n But the thing with looksmaxxing is, you can never be maxed out. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how good you look today. It only works if you\u2019re improving,\u201d says Midgley. \u201cThat\u2019s the crux of it.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe industry conquers a different part of you; It starts to find smaller and smaller pieces to break off for you to analyse and decide are wrong,\u201d adds Atlanta.\u201cGirls are worried about their underarms, their chins, their ears \u2013 and there is an industry to change those. But it will give you another insecurity to keep making money off of you. There is no end.\u201d <\/p>\n While I close my laptop with a depressed sigh, others are taking these AI images into plastic surgeons’ offices and asking for the works. \u201cIt\u2019s a slippery slope because it can turn into a disconnect between reality and AI,\u201d says plastic surgeon Nora Nugent. \u201cYou can get pulled into chasing the impossible\u2026we are definitely seeing an increase in those images.\u201d <\/p>\n Nugent says one client arrived at her practice asking for implants in their chin, cheeks and jaw after an AI told them they needed the procedures. \u201cYou\u2019d never give someone that many implants in their face,\u201d she says. \u201cYou\u2019d either look like a balloon or totally over-contoured with very exaggerated features. There\u2019s a line where it stops being good and changes into weird.\u201d<\/p>\n Research suggests that individuals who frequently take and post selfies and \u201cself-objectify\u201d by sharing them online report lower body satisfaction, higher levels of anxiety, and lower self-confidence than passive scrollers. \u201cResearch into looksmaxxing is still in its early stages,\u201d says Dr Helena Lewis-Smith. \u201cBut we can predict that it will only increase appearance pressures further.”<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue that makes us particularly concerned is that these forum users are so young. Their bodies are changing. They\u2019re still developing and so they\u2019re extremely vulnerable,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n Not all feedback on looksmaxxing forums about how to become a Stacey is bad \u2013 but Lewis-Smith says that doesn\u2019t matter. \u201cEven positive reinforcement increases appearance investment and body image concerns,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe encourage people to shift the focus away from appearance altogether, and rather to see and celebrate individuals for who they are, not what they look like.\u201d <\/p>\n This sagacity can, sometimes, develop with age. \u201cA more nuanced wisdom grows later,\u201d Midgley reassures. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to just be known for their looks anymore. They want to be more than that.\u201d On the cusp of 29, I feel as though I\u2019m starting to feel that kick in, which is one small mercy, at least. There are few forum users over-30 asking for advice, I notice.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Midgley worries about the lack of restrictions protecting teenagers in the meantime. Once you\u2019ve lost your self-worth, it can be a long road of therapy to get back. <\/p>\n![\"Number](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-10-26-31.png\")
Number one female looksmaxxer Alorah Ziva offering fans her secrets \u2013 for $79 a month (Instagram @zahloria)<\/p>\n![\"Optimisation:](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-08-at-10-31-03.png\")
Optimisation: Apps like Glowdess offer users a chance to see their ‘potential’ (Lydia Spencer-Elliott)<\/p>\n![\"\u2018I\u2019m](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/looksmaxxing-(surgery).jpg\")
\u2018I\u2019m staring at my face, but it doesn\u2019t look like me\u2019: Grok\u2019s AI makeover (Lydia Spencer-Elliott\/X)<\/p>\n![\"Lydia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Risky-Lydia-has-been-getting-botox-since-she-was-26.png\")
Lydia is one of many young people who\u2019ve had Botox in their twenties (Lydia Spencer-Elliott\/The Independent)<\/p>\n