Body culture: no gym bro, no couch potato. How to look after yourself without obsessing
SHORT ANSWER
Body culture (or the cult of the body) is when your physique becomes the measure of what you’re worth. You train, eat and check the mirror out of guilt and obligation, and it’s never enough. Looking after yourself is fine. The problem is the word “cult”. Between the gym bro who lives for his six-pack and the guy who says self-care is a capitalist plot there’s a pretty comfy middle ground: doing things for your body because they make you feel good, consistently and without punishment.
Open Instagram for five minutes and someone has already told you your breakfast is wrong, your training is wrong, your sleep is wrong and your face could use some work. The next video tells you all of that is a trap to sell you stuff.
So we got thinking about how we talk about bodies. Mostly our own. Brace yourself, this one gets a bit deep.
In this post
What is body culture?
It’s what happens when your body stops being the place you live and becomes a project that never ends. You train for fear of losing your gains, eat with a calculator and look in the mirror hunting for flaws.
The idea isn’t new (the Greeks had a thing for torsos). What’s new is the scale: social media, apps that track everything, filters, and a whole industry that needs you to never quite like what you see.
Looking after yourself isn’t the issue. As this philosophical essay on body culture (in Spanish) points out, the problem lies in the word “cult”: when your physique becomes the most important thing in your life and everything else orbits around it.
Gym bros vs. the comfort-food crew: the two tribes of the internet
There’s something exhausting about the way we talk (to ourselves) about our bodies. The internet seems to have split into two camps:
- The peak-performance bros. Electrolytes, ice baths, preventive Botox and two hours of Hyrox before breakfast. Wellness and looksmaxxing as a personality.
- Body-positivity taken a bit too far. Self-care is capitalist oppression, letting yourself go is an act of rebellion and ultra-processed food is a form of self-love.
No six-pack? You’re worthless. Too into sport? You’re part of the problem. Pick a side.
We’d rather not. Somewhere between making an effort because it’s fun and punishing yourself because it’s never enough, there’s probably a middle ground. And life there is pretty good.
When does self-care turn into obsession?
There’s no exact line. But the signs are pretty clear when you put them side by side:
| Situation | Looking after yourself | Body culture |
|---|---|---|
| Why you train | It feels good and clears your head | If you skip it, you feel guilty |
| A day you can’t make it | There’s always tomorrow | It ruins your mood or you go twice as hard |
| Food | You eat well most of the time and enjoy the rest | You count everything and a dinner out stresses you |
| The mirror | You look, you like it more or less, you move on | You check for flaws several times a day |
| Plans | The gym fits into your life | Your life fits around the gym |
| Photos | You come out how you come out | Retake after retake until you find the angle |
If you see yourself more in the right-hand column, noticing it is already a step. It’s more common than you’d think, and in men it has a name you’ll hear more and more: bigorexia (muscle dysmorphia). It’s seeing yourself as small or not defined enough even when objectively you aren’t, and living hung up on it.
If this sounds a bit too familiar
If your body, food or exercise are causing you distress every day, talk to your GP or a psychologist. Asking for help with this is as normal as seeing a physio for your back.
Three self-help mantras we’re not fully sold on
“If you look after yourself, do it only for you”
For you, yes. And a bit for other people too. We like being liked. Someone telling you “you’re looking well” feels good, and wanting that validation is legit as long as it’s not the only thing driving you.
“Accept yourself just as you are”
And as you could become. Loving yourself doesn’t have to mean freezing yourself in place. It’s like a friendship or a houseplant: what you don’t look after, wilts.
“You are what your actions say about you”
Fine, but we’re not into turning every gesture into an epic either. Looking after yourself is, most of the time, repetitive, boring and monotonous. And that’s fine.
Sustainable hedonism: self-care you actually enjoy
Washing your face. Going for a walk. Going to bed a bit earlier. Eating something green now and then. None of it makes it into a reel with epic music, and it’s exactly what shows most over the years.
We like thinking about self-care in a less intense, more human way: a mix of health, pleasure, looks, energy, rest, play and respect. Looking after yourself can also be a form of affection. Self-affection.
It works like a long relationship, a garden or furnishing a home: daily gestures, steady effort and accepting you’ll go through phases. Some with more gym. Some with more sofa.
- Training, yes. But without turning the gym into a religion.
- Moisturiser, yes. But without a twelve-step routine you’ll ditch by February.
- Eating well, yes. But without weighing your rice for the rest of your life.
- Wanting to look good, yes. But without turning yourself into an impossible project.
We’re not after the perfect body.
We’re after looking in the mirror and thinking:
“Yep. Pretty happy living here.”
The bare-minimum routine (and what a skincare brand is doing here)
We’re a skincare brand, so you can guess where this is going. But let’s stay consistent with everything above: you don’t need twenty products. You need a few that do plenty and that you actually want to use.
If we had to keep just two habits, they’d be these: a soap you like in the shower and a morning cream that saves you steps.
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- Clean without drying
- Smell like a treat
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- With sun filter
Spend a lot of time outdoors? Handsomefyer Sun is the version with broad-spectrum UVA+UVB SPF 50 (€36.99). Prices as of October 2026.
P.S. If you recognised yourself a little in the peak-performance bros, relax. We’re the same with creams. 🖤
Body culture FAQ
What is body culture?
It’s the tendency to make your physical appearance the centre of your self-worth: training, eating and looking after yourself out of obligation and guilt, chasing an ideal that never arrives. Looking after yourself is fine; it becomes a cult when your physique takes over the centre of your life.
Is looking after yourself the same as body culture?
No. Looking after yourself means doing things for your body because they make you feel good. The cult kicks in when you do it out of guilt, when skipping a day ruins your mood, or when you organise your life around the gym or your diet.
What is bigorexia?
Also called muscle dysmorphia: seeing yourself as small or not muscular enough even when you aren’t, with a constant preoccupation with your body that affects your daily life. It’s more common in men. If you recognise yourself, talk to your GP or a psychologist.
What is looksmaxxing?
An internet trend about maximising your physical attractiveness. It mixes sensible habits (good sleep, skincare, a decent haircut) with some pretty extreme practices. We explain it in Looksmaxxing 101.
How do you look after yourself without obsessing?
Pick a few habits that make you feel good and that you can keep up (moving, sleep, decent food, a short skincare routine), take days off without guilt, and watch out if your body starts dictating your mood or your plans.
Keep reading
Where do I start?
One cream that saves you steps and a soap you actually want to use. And if you’re not sure what your skin needs, our test tells you in a minute.