December 20, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC Whether your go-to vibrator is on the fritz, you’re jonesing to try something new, you’re interested in spicing up your partnered bedroom activities, or, I don’t know, it’s just a slow Tuesday night, you may find yourself in the market for a new sex toy. But rather than dip into yours savings, how about repurposing certain items that are already laying around your home? You may not realize it at first glance, but rooms of your home—including kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom—are already full of items that can double as household sex toys for pleasuring yourself and your partners. And since you already own these goods, they’re basically free to use. But before you go digging around nightstand drawers, medicine cabinets, and the fridge, keep in mind that you’d be wise to exercise caution to avoid potential health risks associated with using household sex toys: “The major health risk is always infection [from] either bacteria that’s already on the product or that can get inside the product,” says OB-GYN Heather Bartos, MD, founder of Badass Women, Badass Health. Injury from sharp items is another potential risk. So to use (and enjoy) household toys as safely as possible, Dr. Bartos recommends making sure there are no sharp or rough edges on the product, because “even the smallest ridge can cause a cut, which can bleed or get infected.” From there, clean the item(s) with a toy cleaner or wash (non-food products) in boiling water for
Year: 2019
Tap these six products to nail the natural holiday makeup look (and it only takes five minutes)
December 20, 2019 at 02:16PM by CWC You’ve got shopping to finish, gifts to wrap, and parties to attend—so the last thing you want to do is spend hours cooped up in your bathroom prepping for said parties. When you need to get ready in a flash but still want to look glam (so like, always) keep this speedy, natural makeup tutorial in your back pocket, which was demonstrated by Beautycounter makeup artists at our latest Wellness Collective event with Athleta. Bonus: Beautycounter regularly lobbies congress for stricter personal-care legislation (Well+Good’s beauty editor Rachel Lapidos even joined in), so yes: It is possible to get the look without the harsh ingredients you’re trying to avoid. First, you start with a tinted moisturizer to create an even, natural-looking canvas for your look. “Foundation says it all in the name,” Brittany Hudson, makeup artist and Beautycounter ambassador says. “It’s like building a house—that’s what you need to do first.” Then, apply concealer under your eyes and to any spots or blemishes, making sure to tap rather than smear the product onto your face, which can cause more shadows. Next up: brows. Fill in your eyebrows with a pencil, starting from the middle and working your way outward before going back to the beginning. If you really want to dial up the brow boldness, brush against the hair, then smooth it out with a spoolie or a clear brow gel. Smile to find the apples of your cheeks, and sweep blush onto them moving
Weird, but true: Listening to others crack their bones helped me find relief
December 20, 2019 at 02:01PM by CWC “You’re still kicking,” I can hear Gregory Johnson, DC, say in his signature twang as he lightly karate chops a person’s knees to test their reflexes. He had just finishing decompressing the person’s spine by securing the person’s hips on a table with padded bars, and using a white, everyday towel around their neck, pulling their head slightly from their body in one swift motion. A huge cr-ra-ck can be heard when he does this (the move he’s termed the “ring dinger”), as the patient’s eyes go wide. I smile at my screen, and arch my back in bed, hoping to get a slight crack. I close my computer, then my eyes, and drift off to sleep. Sure, there’s Dr. Johnson from Texas (“Your Houston Chiropractor”) with his patented ring dinger. There’s also Dr. Rahim from California, whose calm nature and crazy before-and-afters makes me want to book a flight to Los Angeles. There’s Dr. Brenda Mondragon from D.C., who wears crazy leggings and spends a good portion of her time with the patient working out trigger or pressure points in the muscle before she cracks them like a glow stick. There’s Dr. Joseph Cipriano in Greenville, South Carolina, who uses a chin strap apparatus to decompress the patient’s spine—much like Dr. Johnson in Houston, just with a different piece of equipment (no towel here). And there are so many more. They’ve become my late-night watches. Their videos—which rack up thousands, sometimes millions
The case for not waiting until new year’s to start on your health goals, according to a psychologist
December 20, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC Have you experienced that moment in, like, mid-June when you’re just dozing off to sleep, and suddenly your eyes fly open because you’re hit with the realization that you haven’t made progress on any of your goals for the year? If that’s never happened to you, lucky you. If it has, you know how defeating it can feel, which has probably tempted you to avoid setting new year’s goals in the first place (keeping you from the transformation they can yield). Luckily, you don’t have to swear off personal improvement in the name of better sleep, according to licensed clinical psychologist Aimee Daramus, PsyD. Instead, she recommends kicking your goal setting into overdrive—by getting the ball rolling on your wellbeing-boosting initiatives now, instead of waiting for the clock to strike midnight on New Year’s Eve. “By starting to think about your new year’s goals before the new year actually gets here, you give yourself time to really think them through,” Daramus says. “Goals need to be feasible. If your goal is to have more of a social life, how are you going to make that measurable so that you know you’re making progress? How will you know when it’s working?” “By starting to think about your new year’s goals before the new year actually gets here, you give yourself time to really think them through.” In short, it’s about coming at your desired outcome with a constructive mindset you can take actionable steps
I went on an unplugged retreat in Napa to find out whether silence really is golden
December 20, 2019 at 01:00PM by CWC I typically answer texts, emails, and calls whenever they come in. My mission to be digitally available at all times, though, compromises the attention I’m able to give to the people right in front of me, and to be honest, the pursuit of always being on was taking its toll. (I’ve often felt like I’m a iPhone alerts away from a meltdown.) So when I was invited to try Calistoga Ranch’s silent retreat program, “Sound Off” Quiet Retreat, I was intrigued. “We created the ‘Sound Off’ Quiet Retreat to provide a solution for the luxury traveler who wishes to block out the everyday noise to truly experience extreme quiet, prioritize their wellness and reconnect with themselves and the outdoors,” says Avi Haskar, general manager and regional vice president of the wellness-forward boutique resort located in the middle of Napa Valley. “Our program caters to guests seeking out a quiet, rejuvenating solo trip or an opportunity to fully unplug with a partner in luxuriously relaxing setting.” The experience (from $1,929 per night) is customized to each guest’s needs. That may mean complete silence, sans technology. Or perhaps a couple wants to unplug from everything but communicating with each other. Or, maybe, something else. For my trip, I aimed to avoid speaking and using any technology that could connect me with others. My time on the silent retreat would mark not only my first-ever solo trip, but also the first instance I can remember being
Green turmeric tea is the two-in-one wellness drink taking over
December 20, 2019 at 12:00PM by CWC Apples and peanut butter, avocado and egg, hummus and pita…some healthy mainstays are just better together. But green tea and turmeric tea, while both uber-popular along the wellness set, have traditionally been enjoyed, well, separately. But this is 2019. People want whatever they’re eating to multitask just like they do. One at a time? Puh-lease. So maybe it’s not all that surprising that green turmeric tea (aka green tea with turmeric) is a trending healthy sip, named by Pinterest as a rising trend in December 2019, with searches up 100 percent year over year. Pinterest being Pinterest, you can of course search for ways to make your own green turmeric tea at home, souped up with other healthy ingredients like lemon, mint, or cinnamon. Or, you can turn to one of the many tea brands that have already done the hard work for you, so all you need to do is prep some hot water and drop a tea bag in your mug. Here, a registered dietitian weighs in on the growing popularity of green turmeric tea, giving her verdict on if it’s healthy or hype. Plus, see first-hand the brands bringing it to the masses. Green tea with turmeric: better together? The health benefits of both green tea and turmeric tea (also called golden milk, when made with alt-milk instead of water) are preached widely and often by wellness experts. Registered dietitian Melissa Mitri, RD, says green tea is full of antioxidants
Trainers say a one-second pause is the best way to get the most out of every strength training move
December 20, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC One of my all-time least favorite things that a trainer asks me to do in a workout—besides a round of burpees—is to pause. It happened in a HIIT class recently, and instead of doing regular squats, I was instructed to pause and hold between each rep before standing up. So yeah, my butt was on fire. Pausing at the hardest part of a strength training move, AKA an “isometric hold,” is one of the best things you can do in a workout. You know that burn you feel in your muscles when you’re sitting a second too long at the bottom of a squat? That’s exactly why. “Pausing at the hardest part of each movement requires full activation of the muscle that you’re working,” says Julia Stern, a trainer at Rumble Training in New York City. “Sometimes when we don’t pause, we’re relying too much on momentum to finish the movement. So when you pause at the bottom of a squat, for example, you’re building muscle endurance.” This means that you’re only relying on those activated muscles to stand or move back up… which is no easy feat. You’re also recruiting more muscles to do these holds, says Mitchell Fischer, a fitness expert with Gold’s Gym. “The muscle recruitment is much greater with increased time under tension with the isometric hold,” he says. When you pause right before the contraction, or ‘up’ part of the move, you then “explode out into the finishing position,” he
I’m a dermatologist, and this powerful skin-care serum is like microdermabrasion in a bottle
December 20, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC Retinol and alpha hydroxy-acids have traditionally been the Taylor Swift and Kanye West of the skin-care world: They don’t exactly play nice when they’re together. Both ingredients are known for their intense skin resurfacing properties—retinol by way of cell turnover, AHAs as an exfoliant—and when combined, it can cause skin irritation that’s as cringe-worthy as the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards (#TBT). To avoid any sort of “Look What You Made Me Do”-level drama, derms usually recommend separating the ingredients in your routine, either by alternating days or using one in the morning and one at night. That said, the team at Skin Better Science, a line of expert and research-backed skin-care products, figured out how to get both gold-standard ingredients into one bottle with minimal irritation. The result? The brand’s AlphaRet Overnight Cream ($120), or as we like to call it, “microdermabrasion in a bottle.” The super-science-y formula contains lactic acid, glycolic acid (which are both AHAs), and retinoids, which all promote exfoliation and cell turnover, plus squalane, niacinamide, ceramides, and fatty acids to moisturize the skin barrier and defend against irritation. “It delivers glycolic acid with a stabilized form of retinol to enhance exfoliation, cell turnover, and collagen production, which translates to a brighter complexion and improved skin texture,” says dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, MD, of Zeichner Dermatology. Thanks to this potent formula, fine lines—and other textural issues—don’t stand much of a chance. In addition to its two hero ingredients, the cream
How to create an ‘earscape’ with earrings that look cute together, because decisions are hard
December 20, 2019 at 01:00AM by CWC I’ve always envied the people who can pair and layer jewelry together effortlessly, without looking like they just threw on every single bauble that they own. When it comes to accessories, actually, I’m definitely in the “less is more” camp, unless it comes to my earrings. My ears weren’t pierced until I was 20, and then after that I wasn’t happy with just the lobes. No, I wanted all the piercings. My ears are adorned with about 10 piercings, but the tricky part lies in creating the earscape—aka finding out how to pair earrings and selecting the perfect constellation. I tend to get overwhelmed by all the options out there and then just end up in a spiral of indecision (also an accurate description of my life in general heyo). “A good way to start is to pick a theme,” Lisa Bubber, co-founder and CMO of Studs in NYC, says. They put together different cohesive looks to make the process easier for customers. “Constellation piercings custom-designed to your ear that are decorated with gold, pave, CZs, zodiac signs, geometric shapes, and stars are really popular right now,” she says. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Studs (@studs) on Nov 22, 2019 at 2:06pm PST //www.instagram.com/embed.js If you’re the kind of person who takes 10 years to decide on a polish color at the salon before settling on the same pale pink shade you always go for, consider trying
Next year’s ‘it’ plant is going to make your place look so rich
December 20, 2019 at 12:30AM by CWC Fiddle leaf fig? Sorry. The Money Tree is poised to take over in 2020, according to Bloomscape’s Plant Mom, Joyce Mast. “Many people believe that Money Trees signal good luck and good fortune to come. In fact, it is a popular plant in Feng Shui as it’s believed to create positive energy in a space,” she says. I don’t know about you, but after this year I am highly ready for some energy that isn’t “deeply chaotic” or “gloomy” or “perpetual malaise.” Plus, they’re nice to look at with their braided trunks and vibrant, green leaves. The Money Tree (Pachira aquatica) is native to Central and South America. In its natural habitat it can grow up to 60 feet tall—but the ones you bring home are usually about 1 to 8 feet tall. “The Money Tree is actually multiple trees painstakingly braided together during growth,” Mast says. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bloomscape (@bloomscape) on Sep 25, 2019 at 11:52am PDT //www.instagram.com/embed.js “Along with its status as a luck-magnet, money tree plants are incredibly easy to care for. They only require indirect light and infrequent watering, making it an easy plant for beginners,” says Mast. Money Trees like medium to bright indirect light and humidity. And never feed them after midnight. (Jk.) According to Mast, you also want to turn it every time you water it to make sure that it grows evenly. It also prefers “deep