It’s a telling sign of current beauty standards that Kim Kardashian’s shapewear and underwear brand, Skims, has started selling a piece of headgear that bears a close resemblance to a postsurgery compression garment.

Skims’ Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap, which was released Tuesday (Aug 29) and sells for US$48 (approximately RM205), is billed as something that will scoop up the cheeks, neck and chin and hold them in place.

The product generated much online chatter in the hours after the company unveiled it on Instagram and is now available only on a waiting list.

With its chin strap and Velcro closures, the Seamless Sculpt Face Wrap is eerily similar to the bandagelike garments worn by patients who have undergone intensive cosmetic surgery, said Dr Jonathan Sykes, a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, California, and the former president of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

In its promotional language, Skims says its facial wrap is made from the same “signature sculpting fabric” as its shapewear shorts and tank tops.

It is also said to include “collagen yarn”, though it’s unclear what that is. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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The wrap is an effort by Kardashian to bring beauty products under the Skims umbrella after the shuttering of her makeup and skin care line, SKKN by Kim, last month.

It also signals her entry into the growing universe of devices that offer the chimeric promise of a more sculpted face without the surgery, said Jessica DeFino, a beauty critic and writer of the Review Of Beauty newsletter.

Kardashian is “capitalising on this look that she likely got with much more expensive, potentially invasive, treatments, and is trying to sell it to the general public”, DeFino said, with a product that “will just never give a consumer the result that they are looking for”.

The release of the product comes at a time when members of the Kardashian family and other celebrities have become more candid about their body-enhancing procedures, such as Botox and breast augmentations, and the use of photo-editing apps.

The pursuit of so-called “snatched face” has driven demand for an array of beauty devices in recent years, said Anna Keller, a senior global analyst at the market research agency Mintel.

More people are seeking out affordable ways to achieve results that would typically cost time and money at a dermatologist’s clinic or a luxury spa.

One of these products, a hand-held machine from the beauty brand NuFace, is said by its manufacturer to rely on “microcurrent” to “increase cellular energy” and “improve facial tone”; others use red-light therapy to target inflammation.

In clinical settings, compression garments can reduce swelling after liposuction procedures or face-lifts, said Dr Alan Matarasso, a plastic surgeon in New York City.

Since becoming commercially available, they have also been used to treat nonsurgical inflammation, such as what arises “if you had a salty meal or a pizza that’s going to make you a little bit puffy in the morning”, Matarasso said.

The latest devices for the face, he added, are imperfect solutions for those who cannot afford or may not want cosmetic surgery, because they are likely to provide only short-lived results.

Skin Gym, a company that produces several beauty devices, started selling its own facial wrap this year, said Karina Sulzer, the brand’s founder.

“It sold out maybe five times,” she added.

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Social media has only turbocharged the trend.

The hashtag #facesculpting has led half a billion TikTok users to videos of people pulling and pinching at their faces, with or without specially designed tools, in attempts to attain the latest beauty standards.

The hashtag #morningshed – with users posting videos of themselves removing the layers of skin care products and devices they have worn while sleeping – has racked up more than one billion views.

In Instagram posts about its new facial wrap, Skims nodded to #morningshed by recommending that its product be worn overnight – a suggestion that DeFino, the beauty writer, considered a “depressing” sign.

“What that says to me is that this pressure to look beautiful has become so consuming that there is not even a moment of our day – while we are sleeping – that has not been commodified for the project of becoming more beautiful,” DeFino said. – ©2025 The New York Times Company

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.