‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer exposed live on stream after having cap stolen

A video of 'looksmaxxing' influencer has gone viral online after it was revealed he wears a wig.

For anyone who doesn't sink hours into doomscrolling everyday, 'looksmaxxing' is a trend where chronically online men go to extreme lengths in order to optimise their physical appearance.

And looksmaxxing isn't your run of the mill techniques - such as going to the gym or getting a new haircut - either, as some men are going as far a undergoing cosmetic surgery or even smashing their own faces with hammers in order to make themselves appear more masculine.

One well known content creator and participant in the looksmaxxing trend is Androgenic, who was exposed for wearing a wig on a livestream after a stranger snatched his cap.

The clip, which has been viewed over 14 million times on X shows the influencer, real name Braden Peters, attending an event in Brisbane when a stranger sneaks up behind him and swipes his cap.

It's then revealed his 'hair' is actually a wig sewn into the cap while his real barnet is much shorter, thinner and seemingly receding.

Angered by the stranger's actions, Peters is able to quickly catch up to the stranger and snatch his cap back, but not before his real hair is revealed to everyone watching along on his Kick stream.

Check out the moment in the viral clip below:

"I've just had a hair transplant bro," he can be heard saying later in the livestream, adding: "That's gonna go as viral as f**k."

Peters was correct in his prediction that the clip would go viral, with the content creator receiving the heat for building a following using his appearance while lying about his hairline.

"Androgenic got baldmogged live wig snatched, hairline clapped, full fraudmaxxer reveal. Aura evaporated in seconds. Generational L, no coming back from that," read one barely intelligible reaction to the clip.

"There’s genuinely no coming back from this," added a second person.

Peters has since responded to the clip, confirming that he had undergone a hair transplant." The looksmaxxing niche is only going to get bigger because it's so self-reinforcing," he said.

"I get my wig snatched off in public, and I just get millions of people telling me I look disgusting. And look, you might be right, but you're just proving the importance of looks more."

The whole debacle has sparked wider debate around the looksmaxxing trend online, with several people branding the trend 'toxic' and 'cringe'.

"It think it is really sad that there are guys who think they need to break their legs and chin with a hammer just so a girl will talk to them," penned one person during a Reddit debate on the topic.

"Yeah it's toxic social media driven behaviour, I thought everyone not bought into it was on the same page about it," wrote a second, while a third added: "It's extremely misguided and the whole ideology behind it more than likely hurts way more people than it helps."