Do you smell that?
From looksmaxxing to roidmaxxing, young men are diving headfirst into extreme, psuedoscientific internet “hacks” to optimize every facet of their physical appearance and attractiveness, including their love lives.
And just when we thought the trends had peaked with bonesmashing â the literal hammering of facial bones to chisel sharper features â a pungent new fixation has entered the chat.
Since 2024, a growing cohort of TikTok young men creators have claimed to uncover a hidden biological superpower: their own B.O.
They say they’re “pheromone maxxing” by ditching hair-washing, showers and deodorant, with some even reportedly resorting to drinking their own pee â all in the name of triggering an allegedly primal attraction in women.
The trend relies on primal attraction theory, which proposes that modern hygiene products wash away or mask natural chemical signals, and that skipping soap makes a man biologically irresistible.
“Stopped washing my hair at all and now unironically get more compliments on how it smells and looks (from women),” said one user. “Pheromone maxxing is key.”
Another creator put it more bluntly: “The reason you can’t pull baddies is because you wear cologne and deodorant.”
Medical experts, however, warn that this viral lifestyle can have dangerous consequences, ranging from painful lumps to conditions requiring surgery.
B.O. or bad science?
“There’s no good evidence that humans attract each other through pheromones, but there’s plenty of evidence that unwashed, sweaty skin grows bacteria,” Dr. Jody A. Levine, a dermatologist and co-owner at Plastic Surgery & Dermatology of NYC, told The Post.
“The trend has real health risks and no proven benefit.”
According to Levine, whose specialities includes medical and surgical pediatric dermatology, skipping showers is more likely to land you an infection than a date.
Take the armpit, for instance, a warm, damp environment packed with hair follicles where bacteria thrives. While fresh sweat is actually odorless, it quickly turns odious when skin bacteria metabolizes, or breaks down, the components of the sweat.
Other hairy, sweat-prone regions like the genitals, scalp and bearded areas face the same issue.
Without regular washing, bacteria accumulates on the skin. This buildup opens the door for staph and MRSA cause abscesses, cellulitis, and in rare cases, infections serious enough to need surgery, especially if you shave.
Levine advises anyone experiencing a fast-growing painful lump, a fever or rapidly spreading redness to see a doctor immediately.
Pee isn’t a love potion
As for sipping your own pee to find a soulmate, “there’s no scientific basis for any of this,” Dr. Michael Aziz, a primary care physician and internist at Lenox Hill Hospital, told The Post.
“Drinking urine is very dangerous because it’s full of salt, which can make you dehydrated.”
While normal urine is about 95% water, it still consists of the metabolic waste products the body is actively trying to discard, including urea, uric acid, creatinine, bacteria and even trace amounts of metabolized medications and drugs.
Re-ingesting this filtered waste forces the kidneys to process the same toxins twice. It also introduces bacteria and pathogens directly into the digestive tract, potentially causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or severe infections.
And for anyone hoping for a goodnight kiss after a date, Aziz added that drinking urine can lead to bad breath and bacterial overgrowth in the mouth.
With these extreme “maxxing” trends circulating rapidly online among young men and teens, he urged parents to step in and ground their kids in a fresh dose of reality.
“If someone is attracted to someone who’s sweaty, that’s more of a fetish,” he said, noting that humans don’t interact via pheromones the way animals do.
“It doesn’t necessarily lead to attraction. Actually, for most people, it’s a turnoff.”
