LOOKSMETER · GUIDE
How to ascend
The step-by-step version: what to do, in what order, on what timeline - and what to skip. No fantasy numbers; the sequence that actually moves a score, with a way to verify it moved.
The order is the method
Almost everyone who fails to ascend fails the same way: five habits started at once, all dropped by week three, nothing measured before or after. The people who actually move a score do less, in a stricter order - diagnose, take the quick wins, install the routines, carry the one long lever, rescore.
That order isn't motivational advice, it's mechanical: quick wins buy the morale that funds the slow work, and a baseline measurement is the only thing that stops motivated perception from writing the ending for you.
The playbook, step by step
Each step has a timeframe and a done-condition. Don't start the next until the current one is either done or running on autopilot:
Step 1 - Get a baseline (today)
One front-facing photo, even lighting, neutral expression, camera at eye height. Score it and save the breakdown. Your weakest changeable category is now your priority list - not the feature you fixate on in the mirror, which for most people is the wrong one.
Step 2 - Quick wins (week 1-2)
Haircut matched to your face shape, brow cleanup, a deliberate facial-hair decision, clothes that fit your frame now rather than the frame you're planning. Days of effort, visible immediately.
Step 3 - Install the routines (weeks 2-8)
Skin: cleanser, moisturiser, SPF every day; add a retinoid at week four if your skin tolerates it. Sleep at a fixed time - it shows in the eye area faster than anything sold for the eye area. Ten minutes of posture work. Small enough to survive a bad week; that's the point.
Step 4 - The long lever (months 2-12+)
Body composition. For most faces this is where the jawline border, cheek definition and eye-area sharpness actually live. Lift, walk, eat at a modest deficit or surplus depending on your start. It is the least glamorous step, it takes the longest, and it is most of ascension. This is the stage everyone quits - schedule it so you can't.
Step 5 - Rescore and iterate (month 3, then quarterly)
Identical conditions, same rubric. Categories that moved tell you what worked; categories that didn't are either not done yet or structural - and structural questions belong with licensed professionals, not with a forum's advice thread.
What to skip
Everything in this list transfers time from levers that work to levers that don't: mewing and jaw exercisers (adult bone doesn't remodel from either), bonesmashing (self-harm with a rebrand), miracle supplements beyond the boring basics your doctor would name, and cycling through rating apps until one flatters you - a score that moves when your face didn't isn't feedback, it's noise.
The same goes for planning-as-procrastination: a second opinion, a third spreadsheet, a new routine video every night. One honest baseline and the five steps above out-perform every optimised plan that never reaches step four.
Set the expectation honestly
Sustained softmaxxing is worth fractions of a point up to around one full point for most people - more only if you're starting far from your baseline: significant weight to move, untreated skin, no grooming. The categories that respond are Miscellaneous and Angularity; skeletal Harmony mostly doesn't move without surgery, and this page doesn't sell surgery.
One point is also not small. It's the difference people notice without being able to say what changed - which is what ascending actually looks like from the outside.
Frequently asked
How do I start ascending?
Start with a diagnosis, not a routine. Most people begin by copying someone else's checklist and spend months on their strongest features. Get an honest scored baseline first - which of Harmony, Dimorphism, Angularity and Miscellaneous is actually your weakest category - then work the weakest thing that's changeable. Everything sequences from that one reading.
How do I ascend without surgery?
The non-surgical levers, in impact order for most people: body composition (the single biggest lever - facial definition lives here), skin consistency over months, a haircut actually matched to your face shape, grooming (brows, facial-hair decision), posture, and clothes that fit. That list is most of what softmaxxing means, and carried for a year it's typically worth fractions of a point up to around one point - real, visible, and nobody's fantasy number.
What should I do first, today?
Three things cost you a week and compound everything after: book a haircut consult and ask what suits your face shape rather than bringing a celebrity photo, clean up your brows, and start the boring skin trio - cleanser, moisturiser, SPF - tonight. None of these are the big lever, but they're visible in days and they make the slow work easier to sustain.
How long does ascending take?
Grooming and style: days. Skin: visible at two to three months of daily consistency. Body composition: six to eighteen months depending on where you start. Plan on six months to two years for a full cycle. Any guide promising a visible ascension in two weeks is describing a haircut.
Does mewing help you ascend?
Not measurably in adults. Tongue posture can marginally affect how you carry your jaw in the moment, but it does not remodel adult bone - the before/afters that circulate are lighting, angle, leanness and age. Time spent on mewing routines is time not spent on the levers that do move a score. Same verdict for jaw exercisers and 'bonesmashing', which is just self-harm.
How do I know if I've actually ascended?
Rescore under identical conditions months apart: same camera height and distance, same lighting, neutral expression, same strict rubric. Identical photos score identically on LooksMeter, so any movement in the number is movement in you - not in the scoring. If your score moved, you ascended. If only your best angle improved, you learned photography.
Keep reading
This page is general information about facial aesthetics terminology, not medical or cosmetic advice. Scores from our tools are AI-generated estimates for entertainment and self-reflection.