Viral 'Black Wife Effect' trend showing white men getting a striking glow-up has the internet stunned

As long as social media thrives, interesting trends going viral and then wading off after a while is inevitable. Recently, one such trend has been breaking the internet, leaving millions of users stunned. It is the "Black Wife Effect" trend on TikTok that shows how white men looked before and after they married a black woman. One thing that seems quite common in all these videos is how refined men's physical appearance has become. They genuinely attribute their "black wives" to grooming them into good-looking men.

Let's take fashion and lifestyle influencer Frilancy Hoyle's (@frilancy) husband, for instance. The video, with over 4.3 million views, shows her husband Michael Hoyle dressed up in simple shorts and t-shirts before his wife came into his life. One would easily spot that he had not put much effort into his physical appearance until Frilancy tweaked his fashion game. "Mikey had all the qualities I was looking for in a life partner but zero fashion sense. But I was ok with it because that was a department I could easily take care of. Just added a few Zambian seasonings," the wife mentioned in the caption. Michael's "after" pictures show a drastic, "fashion model" level transformation.

Similarly, the video shared by couple influencers Ego and Valdas (@egoandvaldas) reveals an almost unrecognizable transformation of the husband, Valdas Ikechukwu - all thanks to his black wife. "I love this for him! The black girl effect is a real thing guys!" she mentioned in the captions. With comparatively better and fashionable outfit choices and well-groomed hair and beard, Ikechukwu's glow-up after marrying his wife was quite noticeable. 

With a ton of other TikTok users hopping onto the "Black Wife Effect" trend, social activist Betsy (@basicallybetsy2.0) posted a video explaining the deeper meaning of this trend. "What I'm thinking is that everything black women touch, they elevate. And that's not just on a partner scale, that's on a societal scale," Betsy noted. She added how black women are always a part of the top-notch people in any industry, so it was obvious that their partners/husbands had a glow-up. "I thought that the fascinating thing about the 'Black Wife Effect' is not even that they look better, their styles are better, but it's also like, you can visibly see their confidence get better," Betsy pointed out.

Betsy feels that such a glow-up was not only physical but also because the men were well cared for. "I feel like black women have been socialized to be deep carers," Betsy added. Holding black women to these high standards made it exhausting for them to go above and beyond. "They do that because the standards are, 'exceed or not exist,'" said Betsy. "A lot of times, people can appreciate what black women do, but they don't know how to properly support us to keep doing it," she added. As per Betsy, the "Black Wife Effect" should also focus on elevating the lives of black women rather than just lauding them as good carers.

Betsy's perspective resonated with many users. "They look so loved, that’s the common denominator. I saw one with two women and the Asian wife was literally glowing from her black wife’s love," noted @kristalisbougie. "It's beyond physical, it's spiritual. That's why they can't emulate what we do," @babyrin_x chimed in. "We make everything better!" said @astii_g.

You can follow Frilancy Hoyle (@frilancy) on TikTok for fashion and lifestyle content. You can also follow Ego & Valdas (@egoandvaldas) on TikTok for relationship content and Betsy (@basicallybetsy2.0) on TikTok for more activism content.