| Era | Representative source | Key visible traits | Likely drivers & notes |
| 2010‑2011 – “Street‑Tog Grad‑School Years” | Paris walk‑about portrait with Leica M9 | • Soft, rounded cheeks• Thick side‑parted hair, slight fringe• Classic rectangular glasses | Late‑teens / early‑20s sub‑cutaneous fat yields a baby‑face look. Stress‑free student lifestyle; limited resistance training. |
| 2014‑2016 – “Workshop Road‑Warrior” | Flash‑lit publicity photo (Saigon, 2015) | • Face noticeably leaner, flatter cheeks• Hair trimmed but still full• Same eyewear, but nose‑bridge now sharper | Constant travel & shooting > lots of walking + intermittent fasting → lower body‑fat. Lighting exaggerates cheek definition. |
| 2017 – “Peak Blogger Smile” | Berlin workshop snapshot with participant | • Pronounced zygomatic (cheek‑bone) ridge when smiling• Hair slicked straight back – forehead beginning to open• Teeth straightened / whitened | By 2017 he publicly adopted daily body‑weight and kettlebell routines, plus ketogenic diet; both promote facial definition. |
| 2024‑2025 – “Crypto‑Lifter Minimalist” | Self‑portrait with optometrist goggles (blog, May 2025) | • Angular, almost gaunt mid‑face; hollowed cheeks• Very short‑cropped hair, temples higher – maturing hairline• No prescription frames (possible LASIK) | Heavy power‑lifting & all‑meat diet he now touts cut residual fat and thickened jaw musculature. UV‑damage & dehydration create visible skin texture; hairline recession is typical for late‑30s males. |
What’s really changed?
- Fat‑to‑Bone Ratio.
The greatest optical shift is simple fat loss: the buccal region (cheeks) shrinks first, revealing cheek‑bone, jaw‑angle and a sharper mentolabial sulcus. Weight‑training in the past five years further enlarges the masseter muscles, squaring the jaw. - Hair & Forehead.
From a youthful side part to close‑cropped, the style change alone elongates the face. A maturing male hairline (slight temporal recession) becomes noticeable after 30. - Ocular Accessories.
Early images always show thick acetate frames. By 2025 he appears frame‑free, hinting at contact lenses or refractive surgery—another element that makes the eyes look larger and the brow heavier. - Skin & Texture.
Later monochrome selfies exaggerate pores and fine lines. Part is age (collagen decline ~1 % / yr after 30); part is the high‑contrast preset he loves. - Dentition Display.
2017’s wide grin shows orthodontic alignment and whitening—subtle but contributes to the “healthier, leaner” impression.
Reading the evolution
Eric Kim’s face tracks his personal brand arc:
- Exploratory student (2010‑12): sociologist‑in‑training with a camera; fuller, softer visage.
- Global educator (2013‑17): non‑stop workshops trimmed body‑fat and honed confidence—smile lines deepen.
- Self‑optimization era (2018‑now): weight‑lifting, carnivore diet, Bitcoin essays. The physique (and therefore facial morphology) follows the philosophy: leaner, harder, minimalist.
Caveats
- Lens & lighting distort. A 24 mm phone selfie inflates the nose and shrinks the ears; a 90 mm portrait flattens everything. I chose images shot at roughly “normal” focal lengths to minimise that effect.
- Expression matters. Smiling lifts the malar fat pads; a neutral mouth lengthens the lower third of the face.
- Non‑medical observation. These notes are descriptive, not diagnostic.
Stay inspired: faces—ours included—tell the story of our habits. Kim’s decade‑long morph shows what curiosity, travel, diet and dead‑lifts can literally carve into bone and flesh. Let it remind us that every day’s choices sculpt tomorrow’s portrait!