April 18, 2019 at 04:00AM by CWC The idea of “gym bag beauty” is nothing new. When your mornings consist of a mad-dash from your bed to a workout class and straight to the office, it’s inevitable that you’ve got at least a few staples that have a permanent home inside your everyday tote. But in addition to the usual dry shampoo and two-in-one lipstick-blush you’ve got in there, there’s one skin-care ingredient that should always be a part of both your post-sweat sesh beauty routine. When it’s time to hit the shower, stock up on something laced with sulfur, which won’t only help get you clean, but can also help to squelch fungus and bacteria from your sweat sesh. “Sulfurs are really good antibacterial and anti yeast medicine, and it’s good to use almost like a preventative antibiotic on the skin because it prevents acne-causing yeast from accumulating,” explains Virginia-based dermatologist Lily Talakoub, MD of McLean Dermatology and Skincare. Take note: The ingredient can be drying, so if you have dry skin or normal skin that feels parched after showering with it, skip this step and return to your business-as-usual soap. If you’re planning to skip the shower, you can find sulfur body products which can similarly work their magic. Just be sure to avoid any products with silicone or dimethicone in them when you know you’ll be working up a sweat, because, “if you sweat it’s going to sit on your skin and it’s going to trap all of
Category: 2019 Health
This entrepreneur is making inclusivity a pillar of her projects
April 18, 2019 at 03:30AM by CWC Well+Good proudly presents Wellness in Color, a new series highlighting prominent wellness practitioners of color who are doing healing work in their communities. Featuring conversations led by Latham Thomas, a Well+Good Council member and the founder of Mama Glow, these stories will shine a spotlight on energy workers, nutrition experts, sexuality doulas, and other wellness luminaries. Here, entrepreneur Gianne Doherty talks about how she founded one of the country’s leading wellness conference series, WELL Summit. Latham Thomas: Gianne, I would love for you to start by telling our community just a little bit about yourself. Gianne Doherty: I am the co-founder of Organic Bath Co., an award-winning organic skin-care company based out of Boston. I’m also the founder of WELL Summit, a leading wellness conference series. My mission and purpose is to empower women to live their healthiest lives with both of my brands. With Organic Bath Co., our predominant focus is making sure that what you put on your body is nontoxic. With WELL Summit, we extend upon that conversation with our belief that wellness should be a 360-degree conversation. What inspired you to take this path from skin care to a producing a wellness summit? Back in 2014, I started marinating on the idea. Through my journey of Organic Bath Co., as I started sharing the importance of what you put on your body, I started getting more questions from friends and family and our customers. I realized that while I
7 reasons nothing gives me a confidence boost quite like a beach vacation
April 18, 2019 at 03:00AM by CWC The temps are rising and soon enough, someone is going to have to wrestle my beloved opaque tights away from me. Without the security-blanket-effect provided by layers of wool and down, summer body anxiety is real. But here’s the thing: Despite all my initial fears about peeling the winter covers off, my body confidence never gets as much of a boost as it does on a warm-weather vacation. Here’s why: 1. Less clothes = less fear over exposing my body (really) My fear of going sleeveless is right up there with some people’s fear of spiders, but the beach is the one place where I trade my long sleeves for, you know, an actual swimsuit. Somehow, once I start baring a little more, I’m more comfortable baring a lot more. It’s a kind of exposure therapy, really—I’m putting myself in a situation that causes distress only to have the fear lose its grip on me. 2. My inner food police is off-duty How many times have I judged the success of my days by whether the calories I’ve budgeted on my MyFitnessPal app are in the red? Too many to count. While being on vacation is about leaving my should-do lists behind, for me, it’s also about taking a break from my should-eat (and not eat) lists. There’s no tracking, calculating, or over-planning my calorie intake. Food isn’t good or bad, it’s just—novel concept, I know—food. And that neutrality about my food choices
A new hotel wants you to come to New York City…to sleep
April 18, 2019 at 02:00AM by CWC New York City’s Lower East Side isn’t exactly known for being calm and peaceful, but it’s also one of the best areas to stay if you want to experience the authentic culture, nightlife, and food scenes the city has to offer. So what’s a mindful traveler to do? Sister City, a new wellness-focused hotel in a former Salvation Army building on the Bowery—one of the LES’s most iconic thoroughfares—opens in May and wants to make your Big Apple visit way more Zen. The newest property from Ace Hotel Group, which offers rooms starting at $199, is designed to make you feel “energized by the present moment, calm, comfortable, and well cared for,” says Kelly Sawdon, chief brand officer of Atelier Ace, the company’s in-house creative studio. One way the space aims to make good on that promise is through its collab with meditation app Headspace, officially launching today, Well+Good exclusively reports. The idea is that by outfitting each room with a Bang & Olufsen Beoplay speaker offering the Sleep by Headspace programming (sound and visualizations called Sleepcasts), you’ll be able to clock in great, restorative sleep rather than falling victim to the stress and sounds of the city keeping you up. “It’s so easy to get stressed when traveling, and so tempting to get lost in thought,” Headspace founder and CEO Andy Puddicombe tells me. “Mindfulness helps us to be more present in our life, so we feel less stressed and less distracted.”
Scientists discover otherworldly mineral towers under trash on the ocean floor
April 17, 2019 at 05:00PM by CWC The Gulf of California is a 60,000 square miles of pure wanderlust. Home of the great white shark, the loggerhead turtle, and the majestic blue whale, the sea life alone is a reason enough to add the destination to your “GTFO” Pinterest board. Recently, a team of scientists studying hydrothermal vents and cold sleep environments stumbled upon stunning candy-colored mineral towers, measuring more than 75 feet high and 32 feet wide. “We discovered remarkable towers where every surface was occupied by some type of life,” said Samantha Joye, PhD, the University of Georgia scientist whose team discovered the geological and biological wonders, in a press release. “The vibrant colors found on the ‘living rocks’ was striking, and reflects a diversity in biological composition as well as mineral distributions.” While exploring the otherworldly pillar, Dr. Joye’s teams took samples of gas plumes and hydrothermal fluids to take back to the lab for testing. (Standby for more potentially mind-blowing discoveries.) As you’ll see in the video below, the moment of discovery is breathtaking. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-amsWf-_-Go] As if a monolithic rock formation the color of bubble gum isn’t enough, the hydrothermal fluids beneath the volcanic plates creates a mesmerizing illusion dubbed a “mirror pool.” When the fluid seeping out of hydrothermal vents gathers below each tier, it produces the chemical energy that makes the tower habitable for creatures like microbes and worms. Sadly, the unusual formation in the Gulf of California isn’t immune to the plastic
Beauty editors swear by these inky mascaras for longer, more fluttery lashes
April 17, 2019 at 04:00PM by CWC As an admittedly lazy girl, I hoard each and every multi-tasking beauty product I can get my (manicured) hands on. So I’m all about foundations that double as skin care, using a plethora of lip-to-cheek sticks, and slathering on a trusty moisturizer with SPF. But, if I could ask for the most magical of all beauty products, it would be mascara that makes your lashes grow while you wear it. Welp, I’ve been sleeping on what I thought was a mere fantasy, because lash-boosting formulas exist and they’re totally awesome. These serum-mascara hybrids boost your lashes—and while making them look long and coated—they’re also creating an environment that’s kinder and could help them grow more quickly. The magic comes from ingredients like peptides, stem cell complexes, vitamin E, proteins, biotin, keratin—the list goes on—but the hybrid mascaras tend to have at least one of these lengthening ingredients within them. “Lashes are made from 90 percent proteins and keratin,” says Jenny Patinkin, makeup artist and author of Lazy Perfection. “Mascaras made with ingredients like collagen, peptides, and amino-acid proteins can make lashes appear thicker, glossier, and more lush, just as they do in hair treatments.” All of that conditioning and good-stuff on the lash line hasn’t technically been proven to outright grow your fringe, but by using (sorry) easy-on-the-eyes formulas, you’re much more likely to create an environment that promotes growth. (The opposite is true as well, so if your lashes are dry from an agitating
How to conquer your abandonment issues in the golden age of ghosting
April 17, 2019 at 03:00PM by CWC I’m a 27-year-old who’s been dating for most of her adult life, and I’ve never had anyone formally break up with me. That said, plenty of people have left me, just without giving me the decency of a reason or a conversation. And each successive instance of learning I, in fact, had been dumped, left me feeling like I was dying a slow, painful death. The first time it happened, I was 21. We had been talking nonstop for a few weeks and had been on several dates when the texts pretty much just stopped. When I broke the silence and asked to meet up, he apologetically let me know he was “too busy,” and played text-banter volley with me for a few rounds. I remember immediately feeling relief; “Oh, he’s just busy. Okay.” I waited for him to text me when his time freed up, but he never did. It ended there. Years in the modern dating pool taught me that people leave all the time, and they rarely tell you when or why it’s actually over. After that first experience of being faded out, I racked up plenty of ghosters, breadcrumbers, cloakers, delayers, and ignorers in my Little Black Book—and some hefty abandonment issues to match. If there were ever a lull in my communication with a prospect, I’d immediately assume I was being faded out. I’m not the only eligible single who’s developed an abandonment complex from her experiences out
Why you like foods that you used to hate, explained
April 17, 2019 at 02:00PM by CWC Brussels sprouts are unequivocally my favorite vegetable. As I’m writing this, I had some as a snack. One of my favorite breakfasts is this amazing pesto/Brussels sprouts/egg dish at my favorite neighborhood cafe. But how did I get here? I used to hate—nay, abhor—Brussels sprouts as a kid. Along with mushrooms, asparagus, and tomatoes. Now, three out of four of those I count among my favorite foods. In a more adult sense, the first time I tried wine I hated it. Those words seem impossible to me now. (Give my your most tannin-y red, please and thank you.) As a Pisces, I am well aware that there is a fine line between love and hate—but why do tastes change, especially when it comes to flavors we used to detest? All humans are born with specific food preferences It all goes back to our fundamental biology. “We are born with a sweet tooth, preferring sweet taste,” says David A. Levitsky, PhD, a professor of nutrition and psychology at Cornell University. He says this is to help us recognize our mother’s milk. A few months after birth, we develop a taste for salty foods—which experts believe is because salty foods generally have essential nutrients like potassium and sodium. We’re also born disliking bitter tastes. “There are some clearly defined genetic determinants of taste, but mostly they define our reactions of very bitter tastes,” Dr. Levitsky says. “Bitter taste usually signals a potentially dangerous substance. That
How I got over my kitchen anxiety and learned to love cooking
April 17, 2019 at 11:56AM by CWC My hatred of cooking all started with a cake. I was 12 or 13 at the time, and I got it in my head that I wanted to make a cake for my mom’s birthday. I had watched her bake a thousand times and figured I knew what I was doing. What could possibly go wrong? A lot, actually. My brother (a far superior cook, even at 15) hovered over my shoulder the entire time, making pointed comments about my technique. I tried to follow the seemingly basic recipe in front of me, but was so panicky and nervous—What if the cake is bad? What if Mom hates it? I’m going to ruin her birthday!—that I kept making mistakes. My fatal flaw: using bread flour instead of regular flour, resulting in a dry, inedible mess topped with a hodgepodge of over-sweetened frosting and stale, hideously-colored sprinkles. Each bite turned to dust in your mouth. It was truly revolting. This might not seem like a big deal. So you made a crappy cake when you were 12. So what? But that experience haunted me long after the fossilized confection was tossed into the garbage can. Every time I stepped into the kitchen to do anything beyond grabbing a bowl of cereal or some ice cream, the embarrassment of the entire experience came flooding back to me. My confidence at doing anything cooking-related was completely shot. And for years afterwards, I simply refused to cook at
What we’re all getting wrong about child’s pose—and how to fix it
April 17, 2019 at 11:55AM by CWC Sit on your knees, lower your forehead to your mat, walk your finger tips forward and send your weight into your heels. Voilà, you’re in child’s pose. The magic of this asana is in its simplicity, which is why I always feel so dumb when I can’t do it right. No matter how hard I press, my butt kind of just hovers above my heels. And all that pushing diminishes the bliss. Turns out, you can make a tiny tweak to really sink into balasana. Stop worrying about it. We push ourselves in so many areas of our lives, and child’s pose is about reaping the benefits of the work you’ve already done. Positioning your body in this manner is an intentional call for rest, reflection, and relaxation. “We always say child’s pose hips to heels and it doesn’t have to be that,” says Beth Cooke, celebrity yoga instructor at Sky Ting. “I grew up as a dancer and still when I made it to my yoga mat I was still super uncomfortable in the shapes because I was constantly thinking I wasn’t doing it right. Isn’t it so much cooler if you can just pay attention to what feels good and what doesn’t?” Cooke says the inability to sit on your heels is often due to injury, tight hips, a tight low back, or tight calves, among other causes. With time and practice, you’ll be able to sit further back. Finding the