Background

Almost ten years ago, I was off of college for the summer and working in a gas station. I hadn't had a girlfriend and was watching David DeAngelo's "Double Your Dating" DVDs religiously, absorbing all of the knowledge and sometimes trying out my new social skills with co-workers and customers.

By far the most interesting experience was when I figured out how to use the "underlook."

The "underlook," according to Double Your Dating, has an extensive history. Apparently Lord Byron used to go to fancy parties back in the day and play up the image of a rebel and an outlaw--and he'd cement it with a look of mystery and maybe even contemptuous disgust. As demonstrated in DYD, Byron would lower his head and look up at people to create the desired effect. An "underlook." Looking up at someone from under your brows.

Apparently, the underlook involves some version of the following:

  • Your head slightly facing downward from the other person's eyeline
  • Making eye contact while looking up from this downward position
  • Squinted eyes
  • Pursed lips, mouth maybe slightly open
  • Furrowed, raised brows

Basically, this. You can tinker with the five variables here, obviously. You'll see more examples and variations below.

DeAngelo went on to give some examples of male sex symbols who had mastered the underlook: Marlon Brando, James Dean, Pierce Brosnan. According to DeAngelo, he went out to a beach one day to experiment with this look and its effect was so powerful that a woman approached him, said about two words, and started making out with him.

Powerful, yes.

True? Hmm.

I set out to experiment with it myself.

The First Attempts

It wasn't hard to do my job as a gas station clerk and experiment with body language. I could still be polite to customers, provide good service while tweaking my body or my facial expressions. In fact, there was a security camera on which you could watch yourself--I used to use it to check my posture.

Additionally, at night, the windows were reflective. As I learned about the underlook, I would try to get it in the mirror.

How did my first attempts go?

Not so great. One customer asked me "are you confused?" Yikes.

I didn't feel cool, and the interactions I had with customers didn't change one iota.

Then, one day, I had an epiphany.

How I Did It

I decided to really go for it, to truly test out the underlook by exaggerating it. It looked ridiculous to scrunch my brow, really purse my lips out like a douchebag, etc. And I added one twist: I would make this face, and try to relax as much as possible so that I didn't look tightened or, as that one customer put it, confused.

Additionally, I was frustrated with my lack of results. I decided to throw caution to the wind, truly go for it, and hold my face no matter what the women did.

The results were somewhat magical.

As if the universe knew I had figured it out, a lot of attractive female customers started coming in. As they came in, I just shot them the underlook and did my best to hold it--and hold the overall frame.

The IOIs were obvious. They played with their hair. They held such strong eye contact it was if they were hypnotized. I even almost laughed at myself as one woman wouldn't stop looking at me. One woman said to her friend, "he's hot." Understand--I had never heard that before. Women looked nervous (maybe I wasn't too calibrated) and openly flirted with me.

It was so powerful that I thought, "Wow--I don't know if I've ever seen female attraction before."

The key to my success? I didn't just make the face; I backed it up with rock-solid belief in myself. If a woman didn't initially respond with IOIs, I kept it up and then that would trigger the IOIs. It was astounding; it wasn't just about the face, but the frame that came with it. Something as subtle as not changing your expression when she doesn't express interest was enough to illicit IOIs.

I felt great. I must have done it right, because my body language affected my mood. I felt confident.

After that rush of customers, I turned around to examine myself in the window again.

Keep in mind for a while I'd been struggling about doing this face in the mirror. I couldn't seem to get it.

Now, for the first time, I saw it in my reflection.

I saw my own face wearing something pretty close to this expression.

I had it.

I have since used this facial expression when walking around places like malls, and have found that when done right, it illicits eye contact and approach invitations. That's all well and good, of course, but it will still require you actually approaching girls. And you can't just keep your face plastered like that; you'll come across weird.

How To Do It Yourself

The first thing to do is look at examples of guys doing this successfully. Observe:

Marlon Brando -- Damn, he's perfect at it, a little playful...extremely cocky

James Dean

Sean Connery

But the key for me was two-fold:

  • Exaggerate the look-really push it. Then relax your face and feel natural wearing it.
  • Back it up with belief; remember that your facial expression is just that: expression. You should be expressing how good, how confident, how cocky, how dashing you feel. Without that on the inside, no one's going to buy it, and you're going to lose the face quickly.

I can't understate how important that last point is: a facial expression is an expression of your frame control. As I said, one woman wouldn't give me IOIs until she had already tried to brush me off and she saw that I held the face.

But also remember: you can use this face to reverse-engineer the feeling, too, the same way you smile first to whip yourself into happiness.

How to Do It Wrong

Douchebags seem to know about the face and use it wrong.

I imagine when I first started out, I looked like Will Smith's son. Online, people ask "why does he always look worried?"

On paper, he's doing everything right: furrowing the brow, pursing the lips. But the vibe is somewhat forced and it derails the entire thing.

Also, remember that this expression is just a tool of body language--in and of itself, it's not going to do anything. It's how you use it--to express the confidence already inside you--that has the most effect.

So if you want to do it wrong, here's what you should do:

  • Think that you should plaster this face on yourself 24/7. Remember: you can flash it once or twice and the effect is the same, although some women need to see that you hold your frame.
  • Focus on the face and not the feeling.
  • Don't relax and be the opposite of Mickey Rourke in 9 1/2 Weeks. It's so, so, so important to relax. Look at Rourke and how even the muscles around his eyes are relaxed. He looks like he just got a face massage and feels amazing. Most of the time Rourke's underlook is subtle--he just drops his head and relaxes his jaw, and then holds the frame. You should feel free to smile, to laugh, whatever--this is just one facial expression among many. This is the mistake that Will Smith's son appears to be making.
  • Believe that it's the face--and not you--generating the attraction.
  • Put too much importance on a facial expression. Just use it occasionally and see how you feel. This is not a way to interact with women, but rather a tool for understanding body language and its affects on you and the people around you. Get yourself to that point of good body language when you meet someone, then simply vibe with them. The results may astound you.

Now I don't want to make this out to be some magic pill. Don't go out like this and do nothing else. My results as reported above were an experiment. Socializing with human beings requires flexibility, empathy, and calibration. This is just a tool to be aware of. In fact, one of the chief benefits of the face is noticing and changing how you feel.

What you feel, she feels. This expression should be viewed as a tool to reverse engineer how you feel about yourself (the same way you can start smiling to give yourself a happier, brighter day). Once you believe it, the world will believe it.

It's easy to creep someone out while attempting this kind of body language, so don't be weird. In the end, this is not an answer to anything, really, but more of an experimental curiosity. But fascinating? Yes.

Use the tool wisely, my friends.