Hello, and welcome to our newly redesigned beauty and wellness newsletter, now called “I Tried That!” My boss, Chloe Malle, came up with the name one day after pulling me aside to discuss a wellness treatment that her mom chat was atwitter about—to which I replied, “I tried that!”
As you can probably imagine, a big part of my job is testing the major beauty and wellness trends, so each week I’ll be trying something new and telling you how it really went. (P.S. If you missed The Run Through from a couple weeks ago, I gave a breakdown on what I am into right now. Listen here.) I’m also going to start answering your burning beauty questions (email me at [email protected]!) and sharing what Vogue readers are buzzing about right now; lately, it’s been all about nutrition. I hope you enjoy it. |
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I’ve never had even the whisper of abdominal muscles; the workouts to get them feel near-impossible to me. That’s why EmSculpt—a device that channels electromagnetic energy into a muscle to make it contract—felt like a cheat code. Once on the treatment bed at the dermatologist’s office, they strapped a giant plastic device to my mid-section that looked like the stone from the Olympic sport of curling. At first, it tickled, feeling like a tiny chill going through my abs, but apparently that was just the warm-up. As the intensity escalated (the pulses during a session come in waves and can be turned up—the latter of which was both my request and my undoing), the discomfort level went from a 3 to a 7.
Thirty minutes later, I was covered in sweat and somehow a little out of breath—and yes, I had been supine the entire time. According to the device, I had just done the equivalent of 20,000 crunches—beating my previous week's number by, hm, 19,990?
In the days since, I’ve been a little bit sore—though not 20,000-crunches sore, thank God. But will I actually develop abs? Apparently, you need at least 4 sessions to tell. |
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“Can you write about the benefits of products that use castor oil as a main ingredient? Thank you, J”
If TikTok is to be believed, castor oil is a one-size-fits-all solution to bloating, hair loss, hydration, and more. Experts are a bit more measured. “Castor oil does not grow hair,” board-certified dermatologist Naana Boakye, MD, told Vogue when we looked into it. But it is an amazing hydrator of both skin and hair (I tried the ayurvedic tradition of navel oiling for a month and it worked). If you’re looking to use it at home, seek out a cold-pressed version, I like Sky Organics Pure Castor Oil—that’s what I used for navel oiling! |
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