Can Chewing a Hard Piece of Plastic Give You a More “Manly” Jawline?
Every morning for the past three weeks I have spent five minutes chewing on a smooth piece of plastic the size of a small egg. It's called a Jawzrsize, and, at least according to hundreds of online testimonials and more than a few viral videos, continuing to regularly chew on this thing will grow and sculpt more than 50 muscles in my neck and jaw, leaving me with a sharper and more “masculine” appearance. Which is easy enough to laugh at—but not when you've still got a minute to go and your jaw is burning. It's a real workout—it feels like I'm trying to lift a weight that I'm not quite strong enough for.
I first became aware of Jawzrsize through a video on my Instagram discover page. (It's that kind of product.) In the video, CEO Brandon Harris held forth on the “forgotten value of biting” before chomping down on the product and flexing his neck. It was completely bizarre—and I couldn't help but click for more. When Harris speaks he sounds like Matthew McConaughey after four Red Bulls, quickly shifting between surf-bro philosophy to impassioned sales pitches.
Harris created Jawzrsize after a series of intense accidents. In his early twenties, he broke his jaw in five places and lost a portion of his ear after a brawl broke out during an MMA event in Alaska. His jaw had to be wired shut for several months. Almost immediately afterward he moved to Hawaii—where he crashed his motorcycle and landed in a coma. During rehab, he wanted to find a way to strengthen his face the same way he was strengthening the rest of his body.
"My older brother had a pit bull we called Kane. He had the meanest bite. And all he’d ever do is gnaw on his Kong toy," Harris told me from his Maui home. “I’d sit there and watch him use his masseter muscles and see his neck engaging. And I thought…I want something just like that.”
According to Harris, who repeatedly points out that he is not a doctor, the science behind the Jawersize is simple. The soft foods in the current Western diet have divorced us from the way our ancestors ate. That in turn gave us weaker facial features. The resistance that Jawersize offers builds the muscles in the jaw and face through repeated use, resulting in a sort of primal connection to our historical lineage and a more defined and handsome jawline.
Using himself as a guinea pig, he tested prototypes until he found a design that he was happy with, touting his facial transformation post-coma as proof of concept. A successful Kickstarter campaign in 2016 propelled the company forward, and after a years of growth—including coverage on Ellen and Dr. Phil spin-off The Doctors—Jawzrsize claims annual sales in the seven figures. I am not particularly self-conscious about my jaw, nor have I recently had it broken in a fight, but my curiosity quickly got the better of me.
Jawzrsize
$45.00, Jawzrsize
While it was in the mail, I asked Dr. Alex St.Pierre, a clinician with specialization in kinesiology, about his thoughts on those claims. He was skeptical. “Your jaw is not just made up of muscles, but the mandible—the jaw bone—largely determines the shape of the jawline,” he said. “Training the masseter muscles could, in theory, give you the appearance of a wider, more defined jaw. But this will not affect other aspects of the jawline. While it is possible to get some change in how the jaw looks, you will will be limited by the bones that you were born with.”
Another contributing factor to a person’s face shape is their body fat percentage. Even if you are able to grow the masseter muscles, a change is less apparent if you’re carrying more weight. It’s like trying to build your abs when you’ve still got a beer belly.
On Reddit and Youtube you’ll find people championing Jawersize and showing off incredible transformations.You'll also find about as many insisting that Jawzrsize is a scam or could potentially cause injury. The small print on the Jawersize website does say that the transitions they showcase are not typical results. They also offer a money-back guarantee to anyone unsatisfied with the product. But for lots of guys, it seems a theoretical shot at a slightly more defined jawline is worth it.
In fact, there are even enough true believers to support a second facial fitness product, Chisell. Dmitrii Vasiukov was inspired to create the device after seeing a demo of Jawersize online. He was fascinated with the potential of the product, but he thought the chew toy aesthetic of Jawersize was too silly to be taken seriously. The Chisell promises similar results to Jawersize with a more discreet design—users chew on a smaller piece of plastic positioned over the back molars. But it's the way Vasiukov talks about what getting a better jaw can do for your life that really got my attention.
"Historically people with wider bigger jaws are automatically perceived as more dominant," he said. “The dominance aspect is not only felt by girls. It’s also felt by your peers. The majority of interactions have a dominant and submissive, even if the difference is very small, and what I’ve noticed since I trained my jaw is that people perceive you as a bit more dominant.” This seemed more than a bit too good to be true, but I asked Harris if his jaw had been a factor in attracting the opposite sex."You should have seen the girls at the conventions coming up to me," said Harris. "It was like having abs for your face."
The idea that you could unlock some secret level of manhood through the power of chewing was both laughable and sort of intoxicating. Here were these people achieving big things: starting companies, getting laid, and fulfilling their dreams, through the power of a stronger jaw.
On the first day of my facial fitness journey I completed 150 reps—bites—on my Jawzrsize in five minutes. There was an undeniable pump—I knew that something was happening. Within a week I was clearly making gains: The chewing had gotten easier and I'd managed to up my rep count to an even 200. But I doubted whether or not that feeling was going to actually lead to any changes in my face. Each day in the mirror I kept looking at myself wondering if there were any discernible changes, like a middle schooler hoping for that first peach fuzz of a mustache.
I took a picture before I started, and another after three weeks of chewing. If you really squint, my jaw does look slightly more defined in the “after.” Maybe. It might just be the lighting. What I do know for sure is, shortly after starting my facial fitness journey, a co-worker from an old restaurant job hit me up on Instagram to confess a crush. Could that be a coincidence? It's hard to say, really.
GQ grooming columnist Phillip Picardi asks: If face rollers are bullshit, how come they deliver such sweet, cool relief?
Originally Appeared on GQ
