Teen boys are demanding pricey chewing gum to chisel their jaws — but does it even work?
Dr. Kavita Mariwalla was gobsmacked when her 12-year-old son asked for mastic chewing gum to chisel his jawline.
“My 12-year-old asked me for it and I was like, ‘What are you even talking about?’” the dermatologist told New York Magazine’s The Cut.
According to Mariwalla, her son said it would yield the same results as “mewing,” a facial fitness technique that involves placing your tongue on the roof of your mouth to create the illusion of a sharper jaw.
“As a mom, it made me wonder why he was so obsessed with his jawline at age 12, and what social media was feeding him.”
The urge to improve facial features is interlinked with the growing “looksmaxxing” trend, in which people go to extreme lengths in an attempt to change or “maximize” their facial features to achieve optimal beauty.
The fad, which proliferated on TikTok and Reddit among men facing relationship woes, has also prompted concern for the mental health of participants, who are turning to facial fitness routines and specialty gum to tone their jaws.
Specifically, mastic gum — sold by vendors such as RockJaw, Stronger Gum and Jawliner — promises a chiseled jawline, supposedly building jaw muscles to improve their definition in the face.
“Most kids my age want a sharp, defined jawline because of promotion of looksmaxxing on TikTok,” 14-year-old Henry Dixon, who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, told The Cut.
“People want these jawlines because they want to look like models and potentially more attractive,” he continued, clarifying that he, however, doesn’t “care much about that stuff.”
RockJaw, for one, recommends chewing one to two crystals — which are made from tough plant resin — for 30 minutes to 1.5 hours per day, recommending even chewing on both sides of the mouth and ample breaks.
But celebrity dermatologist Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank warned that they may not be able to achieve the desired effect with gum alone — if at all.
The Manhattan derm told The Cut he is skeptical of the promoted effects of the gum, as seen on TikTok.
Even if the mastic gum did enhance the appearance of the jaw, he said, it could lead to overgrown masseter muscles and, in turn, issues with the jaw, such as popping, clicking or temporomandibular-jaw disorders, also known as TMJ.
The gum, he warned, “may not necessarily sharpen the undersurface of the jawline if the bone structure is not there,” and likely will yield a square-shaped jaw or wider mug.
And, not to mention, it’s more expensive than your typical bubblegum.
While the “after” photos seen on social media seem enticing, there are probably other factors at play, Frank noted.
“If it’s not Photoshopped, then there’s a dramatic difference in lighting, giving an impression of greater definition,” he said after looking at images on Jawliner’s Instagram profile.
Frank’s advice? Give it a few years. The over-eager teens could really just have a bad case of baby face.
“Younger people tend to have more natural fat volume in their face,” Frank explained. “For men that are thin and fit, as they age into their 20s and 30s they will naturally, likely, see more definition.”
