On TikTok Shop, a Brand for the Looksmaxxers Emerges

The looksmaxxers officially have a viral beauty brand to call their own.

Based Bodyworks, a digitally native men’s grooming brand founded by influencer-barber Lance Baker, has quickly ascended through the ranks on TikTok, where Baker counts 1.6 million followers on his personal page and 2.7 million followers on Based’s page.

Launched in 2022, Based offers a range of hair, body and facial skin care products ranging in price from $14.40 for santal-scented magnesium deodorant to $28 for shampoo, conditioner and Under Eye Elixir, respectively.

Data from Charm.io shows that in February, Based did roughly $5 million in sales on TikTok Shop U.S., making it the fourth top-grossing beauty brand during the month. It came out above viral hair tool brand Wavytalk and L’Oréal-owned Color Wow, and just behind Tarte Cosmetics, which netted $9.7 million in sales on the platform.

The brand is favored primarily by Gen Z men and teen boys, many of whom showcase the brand in transformation-led social media content. Based is often mentioned alongside “looksmaxxing,” an increasingly popular content niche wherein men strive to maximize their physical attractiveness, sometimes by any means necessary. On his YouTube channel, Baker’s own videos include those titled “Turning Anime Nerds Into Looksmaxxers” and “Giving Looksmaxxers haircuts.” The latter video features Kareem Shami (@syrianpsycho), a Gen Z creator who has 1.9 million followers on TikTok; refers to himself as the “Godfather of looksmaxxing,” and has a wellness brand of his own called Ascend Labs.

While Ascend isn’t as big as Based, its top product is a debloating powder which has sold roughly 32,000 units on TikTok Shop so far. Based, on the other hand, has sold more than 2 million units total on TikTok Shop, with its volumizing Hair Texture Powder being the top seller with more than 440,000 sold.

The brand hosts live shopping streams around the clock, and per a pinned video on its TikTok page, has been in talks with potential brick-and-mortar retail partners since at least last June. Like many TikTok Shop-viral brands, Based also sells on Amazon, where more than 40,000 bottles of its Texture Powder have sold in the last 30 days.

Elsewhere on TikTok Shop in February, fast-growing Korean skin care brand Dr. Melaxin topped Medicube by monthly sales for the first time, while trendy oral care brand Dr. Dent also saw fast growth. In all, beauty sales on TikTok Shop U.S. reached $290.8 million in February, up 128 percent versus last February when sales totaled $127.6 million.

The top 10 beauty brands by TikTok Shop U.S. revenue in February, per Charm.io.