Ellis Brooklyn’s New Vanilla Perfume Is Cozy, Creamy, And A Little Unexpected

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Not every summer fragrance needs to smell like sunscreen, citrus, or a very expensive hotel lobby. Sometimes the best ones are softer than that. A little warmer. A little stranger. The kind of scent you keep coming back to because you cannot quite place why it feels so comforting.

That is the feeling behind Ellis Brooklyn’s newest launch, Vanilla Rice, a creamy Eau de Parfum that takes vanilla in a more delicate direction. Instead of leaning into frosting, caramel, or anything overly sweet, this one pairs vanilla with toasted rice, coconut milk, sakura blossom, jasmine nectar, and skin musks.

It sounds a little unexpected at first, but that is the charm.

The Toasted Rice Twist

Vanilla has been everywhere in fragrance lately, but Vanilla Rice makes the note feel softer and more personal. The toasted rice gives it a gentle warmth that feels cozy without being heavy. Think warm rice steam, clean skin, and something creamy on the stove.

The fragrance opens with mandarin, freesia dew, and toasted rice, so there is a little brightness before the softer notes settle in. It is fresh for a second, then slowly turns creamy and comforting.

Creamy, Floral, But Not Too Sweet

At the heart of the scent are sakura blossom, coconut milk, and jasmine nectar. This is where Vanilla Rice starts to feel pretty and romantic, but still easy. The coconut milk gives it that smooth, milky softness, while the florals keep it light instead of dessert like.

It is sweet, but not sugary. Floral, but not powdery. Cozy, but not sleepy.

The Part That Stays With You

The dry down is all skin musks, tonka bean, and vanilla, which gives the scent that warm, close to the body finish. It is not the kind of perfume that walks into the room before you do. It is more of a “you smell really good” perfume, the kind someone notices when they are near you.

There is something nostalgic about it too. Not in a literal way, but in that soft, familiar, hard to explain way that good vanilla scents can have.

Why We’re Into It

Vanilla Rice feels like a quieter take on the gourmand trend. It has the comfort people love about vanilla, but the toasted rice and coconut milk make it feel more interesting and less obvious. It is creamy, soft, lightly sweet, and surprisingly chic. Basically, vanilla grew up, got a passport, and started ordering dessert somewhere beautiful. SHOP HERE

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The Quiet Rise Of Head Spas And The Japanese Brand That Won Us Over

If you have spent any time scrolling lately, you have probably seen it: someone reclined in a salon chair, eyes closed, while warm water cascades over their hair like the world’s chicest shampoo commercial. That, friends, is a head spa. And in much of the world, it is not a trend at all. It is just Tuesday.

In parts of Asia, scalp care is a regular part of the beauty and wellness conversation. Across Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, and beyond, head spa rituals have long been treated as more than just a very luxurious wash. They are about circulation, relaxation, scalp health, hair health, and the kind of nervous system exhale most of us are desperately trying to schedule into our week.

Here in LA, the head spa is still a little under the radar. It is the kind of thing your most in the know friend mentions casually, and suddenly the entire group chat wants the address. But it is starting to make noise, and after our visit, we get why.

A Little History, Because This Is Not Just A Fancy Shampoo

The head spa as we know it traces back to Japan, where the connection between beauty and overall wellbeing has always run deep. Early rituals drew from practices like shiatsu massage, which applies pressure to specific points to encourage relaxation and energy flow, along with nourishing oil treatments meant to care for both the scalp and the mind.

The idea is that, much like reflexology maps pressure points on the feet, the scalp holds its own network of tension, sensitivity, and release. Anyone who carries stress in their temples, jaw, or crown already knows this without needing a diagram.

By the 1990s, head spas had become staples in high end Japanese salons, where massage techniques, scalp treatments, and premium haircare came together as a full beauty ritual. From there, the experience traveled. Over the last two decades, head spas have made their way into luxury spas and wellness spaces around the world as self care became less of a Sunday night afterthought and more of a lifestyle category.

Which brings us, finally, to a salon chair in Los Angeles.

Enter YOLU

Plenty of head spas have been popping up around LA, and honestly, we have been watching the category with interest. But YOLU caught our attention for one very good reason: it is Japan’s number one haircare brand, and now it has a physical space in LA where you can actually experience the philosophy in real life.

Instead of just admiring the bottles on a shelf, you get to lie back and let the whole thing happen to you. Which, frankly, is our preferred method of research.

We booked the Sayo, YOLU’s sixty minute signature ritual, described as a complete journey to purify, nourish, and restore from scalp to soul. The treatment includes:

+ Head, shoulder, and décolleté massage
+ Shampoo massage
+ Purifying healing head bath
+ Hair treatment
+ Final nourishment with scalp serum and leave in treatment

If that reads like a lot, it feels like even more in person. The head bath alone is worth the trip. It is warm, weightless, and oddly emotional in the way only a really good wellness treatment can be. The kind of experience where you start by thinking about your to do list and end by wondering why you have been accepting regular shampooing as enough.

We walked out softer, calmer, and weirdly clear headed, with hair that stayed touchably good for days.

Let’s talk products

The in salon experience is built around YOLU’s hero range, but the good news for anyone not ready to commit to the full treatment is that the ritual can also come home with you.

YOLU recently arrived at Olive Young in the US, the Korean beauty retailer that opened its first US flagship in Pasadena and launched a dedicated US ecommerce platform in late May 2026. And yes, people lined up around the block for the opening. We were not surprised.

At the center of YOLU’s US expansion is its four step overnight collection: shampoo, conditioner, scalp serum, and hair oil. The system is designed to work in sync with the body’s natural nighttime renewal cycle, helping support a healthier scalp while restoring moisture, softness, and shine overnight.

Powered by the brand’s proprietary Night Cap Serum and Alpine Willow Extract, the collection targets scalp discomfort and dryness while helping protect strands from the stressors that happen while we sleep. Think friction, dryness, pillow chaos, and whatever else your hair is apparently dealing with at 2 a.m.

The full lineup lives here for the curious.

The bigger idea

What makes YOLU more than a pretty bottle is the philosophy underneath it. The brand is rooted in yōru no biyō, or nighttime beauty, built on the belief that beauty begins the night before.

It is a very appealing idea, especially for anyone who loves a morning payoff but has limited interest in doing more in the morning. YOLU is designed to turn an everyday routine into a small ritual of rest and renewal, supporting scalp and hair health while the body is already in repair mode.

By morning, the result is softer, smoother, more balanced hair. The kind that makes you feel like you did something impressive, even though the most important part was going to sleep.

But more than haircare, YOLU is really about the pause. The head spa takes something we usually rush through and turns it into a full body reset. The products bring that same sensibility home, making the shower feel a little less like a task and a little more like a ritual.

Whether you book the full Sayo treatment or simply swap in the overnight collection, consider this your sign that the best thing you can do for your hair might just be falling asleep.

Where to Book

YOLU Beauty Salon Head Spa & Blow Dry Bar is located at 8118 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048. https://yolubeauty.com/

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Sleep Hygiene Mistakes You Might Be Making Every Night

This piece comes to us from Lola Mark, a freelance writer specializing in women's health and wellness

You've got the silk pillowcase, the blackout curtains and maybe even a magnesium routine. But if you're still waking up foggy or lying awake longer than feels reasonable, the problem might not be obvious. Some of the most common sleep hygiene mistakes are so woven into everyday habits that they barely register as habits at all. Here's what might be working against you.

+ Your Bedroom Has an Identity Crisis

The bedroom does many jobs for many of us now. It's a home office, a streaming room, a scroll zone and sometimes a place to eat dinner in peace. The problem is your brain is paying attention to all of it.

When you consistently do stimulating things in bed like working, watching or debating whether to text back, your nervous system stops associating that space with rest. Over time, lying down stops being a cue for winding down and becomes just another activity.

The fix is refreshingly simple: keep the bed for sleep. If you can't drift off, get up and do something quiet in low light, like listening to calming music or reading a book, until you feel genuinely drowsy.

+ Your Wind-Down Routine Starts Too Late

Most of us don't start winding down until we're already exhausted, but that's too late. Your body needs time to shift out of high-alert mode, and that transition doesn't happen the moment you decide you're ready for bed.

Cortisol, your main alertness hormone, doesn't drop on command. If you've been replying to emails, watching something intense or doom-scrolling until 11 p.m., your nervous system is still running warm when your head hits the pillow.

Build at least 45 minutes to an hour of low-stimulation time before you want to go to sleep. Dim the lights, put on something undemanding or just sit quietly. The goal isn't to feel sleepy immediately, but to stop adding fuel to the fire.

+ Weekend Sleep Feels Like a Treat, but It's Costing You

Sleeping in on Saturday feels restorative. In reality, it's quietly shifting your internal clock, and by Monday morning, your body has no idea what time zone it's in.

This is called social jet lag, and it's more disruptive than most of us realize. Even a two-hour difference between your weekday wake time and your weekend wake time is enough to affect sleep quality, mood and energy for the first half of the week. You don't have to be rigid about it, but keeping your wake-up time within about an hour of your usual time makes a real difference over time.

+ Your Room Is Too Warm

Your body needs to drop its core temperature to fall asleep and stay asleep. If your room is warm, that process is harder than it needs to be.

The sleep-friendly temperature range is between 60° and 65° Fahrenheit. If that feels cold, consider taking a warm shower or bath before bed. It brings blood flow to the surface of your skin, helping release heat and nudging your core temperature down afterward. Cooling the room, keeping your feet uncovered or using a lighter blanket can all support the process, too.

+ You're Treating Sleep Like a Luxury, Not a Health Priority

It's easy to see sleep as the first thing to sacrifice when you're busy, but treating sleep as a luxury, rather than a nonnegotiable part of your health, is a mistake.

The impact goes far beyond feeling tired. Research links poor sleep to an elevated risk of heart disease, including high blood pressure and cholesterol. When you cut sleep short, you're interrupting crucial maintenance work that your cardiovascular system relies on. Over time, this can also negatively affect your metabolism, contributing to weight gain and other health issues.

This isn't about scaring yourself into better habits. It's about understanding that the hour you lose to your phone at midnight isn't neutral. Instead of seeing sleep as passive downtime, try framing it as one of the most powerful and straightforward things you can do for your long-term health.

+ Your Caffeine Cutoff Is Too Late

It can take anywhere from 2 to 12 hours for your body to eliminate only half of the caffeine you've consumed. That means a 3 p.m. latte could still be doing its job at 9 p.m. A reasonable cutoff for most people is somewhere around 1 p.m. or 2 p.m., and earlier if you're sensitive to it. If you're relying on sleep supplements to counteract a late caffeine habit, you're making the work harder than it needs to be.

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Living Well with Moa Gürbüzer, Founder of Oddbird: on Alcohol-Free Wine and Changing Drinking Culture at Its Core

For more than two decades, Moa Gürbüzer worked as a family therapist and social worker in Sweden, closely witnessing the ways alcohol quietly shapes families, relationships, and everyday life. Over time, she began to see the issue not just as individual, but something much larger, rooted in culture itself.

That perspective eventually led her to create Oddbird, a dealcoholized wine brand built to challenge long held norms around drinking and offer a more intentional way to celebrate. With no background in business or winemaking, she built the company from the ground up into a globally recognized brand known for its craftsmanship, research, and thoughtful approach to wine.

In this Living Well, Moa shares what she’s learned from building Oddbird, how her background continues to shape the way she leads, and why she believes celebration is less about alcohol, and more about presence.

Living well with Moa Gürbüzer

You founded Oddbird after more than two decades working as a therapist and social worker. What experiences from that chapter of your life ultimately led you to create the brand? During my years in therapy, I witnessed the ripple effects of alcohol, not just on the person drinking, but on families, children, and communities. I often saw the same silent patterns, children tiptoeing, partners covering up, families pretending everything was fine, while alcohol quietly shaped everything around them.

I realized I could spend my career helping people rebuild after the damage, or I could try to stop it before it happened. Oddbird became my attempt at prevention.

Starting a wine company with no background in business or wine is such a bold move. What pushed you to finally say, “I’m doing this”? I came to the conclusion that I had to do something to offset the societal pressures when I began teaching social work at a Swedish University. I realized that my first day on the job looked exactly the same as my last, the same life stories, the same dead ends, the same problems that never changed.

Nothing was happening on a structural level. It struck me that the entire system of social services was built on placing blame on the individual, instead of working preventatively before addiction or dependency developed. When I stood there as an educator, looking at young students preparing to walk the same path, I reflected on my own work.

That’s where the seed was planted, the idea that I wanted to contribute to change on a larger scale. I believe that power lies in working preventatively and structurally. Because while support matters deeply once harm has occurred, I think we as a society have a responsibility to create a culture where fewer people end up there at all.

What were the earliest days of building the brand like? In the early days, when I shared my ambition to create high-quality wine without alcohol, most people were quick to dismiss it as impossible. I saw a problem that others weren’t willing to engage with, and made a conscious decision to pursue it regardless, learning to block out the skepticism and stay anchored in my vision.

At the same time, I needed funding to keep going. Banks turned me down, investors did not show any interest, and it felt like opportunities were slipping away one by one. Just when it seemed like I had run out of options, my hairdresser stepped in and lent me the money I needed. She believed in me at a time when very few others did.

Her support allowed me to continue from a financial perspective, but it also gave me a sense of confidence and determination that I really needed at that time. It reminded me that belief can come from the most unexpected places, and that sometimes all it takes is one person who truly sees what you’re trying to build. I will always be deeply grateful for her trust.

After working as a therapist for so many years, how has that background shaped the way you lead a company? It has shaped everything. As a therapist, you learn to really listen, to understand what’s not being said, and to meet people where they are. I try to lead in the same way, with empathy, clarity, and honesty.

It also made me very aware of how much people carry, both in their personal lives and at work. So creating a safe and respectful environment for the team has always been important to me.

Your team leads one of the world’s largest research initiatives around dealcoholized wine. What inspired you to invest so heavily in the science behind it? We actually lead the world’s largest research consortium on dealcoholized wine, working with universities, researchers, and winemakers across more than 16 countries to continuously push the boundaries of our category.

For the past 14 years, our mission has been very clear, we are here to change drinking culture, and it’s not something we can achieve without investing in research. We believe this transformation must be built on rigor, and rigor means science. For us, research is not an add-on, it’s a given. It’s something we see as essential, like part of the daily routine.

A lot of people still assume alcohol free wine can’t match the structure or complexity of traditional wine. What has your research revealed that challenges that assumption? The complexity of wine comes from the soil, terroir, nature, fermentation, and maturing. Ethanol is just a very harmful byproduct of that process. We are only removing a small piece of an intricate and natural process, and by doing so, we are keeping the complexity, flavor, and structure.

What has been the most meaningful moment for you since launching the brand? It’s really hard to pinpoint one single moment. But the most meaningful ones are when people tell us they chose our wines for important occasions in their lives, weddings, celebrating a newborn, birthdays, proposals, and moments like that.

It’s difficult to put into words how humbling it is to be part of something so personal. To be chosen as even a small part of someone’s important life moment means a lot to us.

For someone discovering Oddbird for the first time, which bottle would you recommend starting with and why? It really depends on what kind of wine you usually enjoy. We work with different regions, grape varieties, and terroirs, so each wine really has its own personality. But our Blanc de Blancs is our most popular wine worldwide, and often the one people discover us through, so it can be a natural place to begin.

Do you have a favorite wine in the Oddbird collection? Oddbird C is my favourite, largely because of what it represents. It’s a wine I’ve envisioned since the very beginning of Oddbird, and seeing it come to life has been incredibly meaningful. SHOP ODDBIRD C HERE

As the product of five years of research, growing, aging, and dealcoholizing, C is our most complex creation to date and is a first of its kind dealcoholized champagne blend. It truly represents how far we’ve come.

If you were hosting a dinner party and serving Oddbird wines throughout the evening, how would you build the lineup? The food should guide the pairing. If you’re serving fish, seafood, or lighter dishes like fresh salads, you should opt for something fresh and crisp like our Blanc de Blancs.

If your menu includes acidity, spice, umami, or more savory and salty flavors, often found in cuisines like Japanese, Vietnamese, or Korean, you should pair it with our Riesling blend Presence. It brings high acidity along with floral and mineral notes that complement those profiles well.

If you’re serving grilled white meat, grilled fish, or seasonal vegetables, our Sparkling Rosé is a natural choice, thanks to its acidity and subtle berry profile.

If you’re serving dishes with higher fat, you need wines with good acidity and structure. In that case, our Low Intervention Sparkling Orange or GSM would be most suitable.

What has surprised you most about how drinking culture is evolving today? Only a few years ago, non-alcoholic options weren’t even considered part of the industry. Now, some of the world’s best restaurants, hotels, and events are starting to include Oddbird on their menus and wine programs.

This signals a real shift in recognition and creates dignified options for consumers that choose not to drink alcohol. As more people remove alcohol from their lifestyle, consumers have demonstrated that they want quality options that don’t compromise on taste or an intentional experience.

This demand is pushing the industry to innovate and expand in exciting ways to create products that were considered impossible a decade ago. We hope to be part of a larger cultural shift that questions why alcohol has to be the default in every social situation.

And finally, what’s a small piece of advice you’d offer someone who is rethinking their relationship with alcohol? Choosing alcohol free is not about giving something up, it’s about discovering new dimensions of taste, presence, and connection.

I encourage curiosity over restriction. Savor each moment more consciously, engage fully with friends, food, and experiences, and take pride in a choice that aligns with your lifestyle and values.

Dealcoholized wine can open the door to a richer, more thoughtful, and joyful way of celebrating life. It’s not the ethanol that defines how we connect, share, or rejoice, it’s presence, intention, and joy.

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The At-Home Wellness Tech We’d Actually Stack This Summer (And What We’d Skip)

By the time summer hits, most of us have quietly given up on whatever we promised ourselves in January. The routine slipped, the gadget is in a drawer, and the low hum of I was supposed to feel better than this by now is back. The good news is that mid-year is the easiest time to course correct.

If you are not familiar, BON CHARGE is a wellness tech company built on a simple idea: modern life strips away the natural light, rhythm, and recovery signals our bodies are wired for, and the right tools help restore them. Think red light therapy, blue light blocking, infrared, and PEMF, all grounded in research rather than wishful thinking. With a Scientific Advisory Board that includes names like Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, they have become one of the most trusted names in the space. They are also running their biggest sale of the year right now. They are also running their biggest sale of the year right now: 25% off sitewide through July, no code needed

Full disclosure, we are fans. We have been testing their devices for years and keep coming back, which is exactly why we feel okay being picky here. This is not a catalog. It is the shortlist: what we would put in our own carts, what is worth it only if it solves a problem you actually have, and what we would skip.

Here Is How We Would Shop It

Start here: the Red Light Face Mask

If you buy one thing, make it this. It is the one with a payoff you can actually see, not the kind you have to take on faith. When our editor wore it five nights a week for a few months, her injector was the one who asked what she had been doing differently. We later had a doctor break down why it works, and the short version is that the wavelengths are the real, scientifically-backed ones, not marketing dressed up as science.

It runs 630nm red light to work the surface where fine lines and dullness live, plus 850nm near-infrared that goes deeper to support recovery. Ten to twenty minutes, cordless, contours to your face, eye holes so you can watch your show through it.

Buy it if you are tired of skincare that asks for faith instead of giving proof. At 25% off, it costs less than a couple of facials and keeps working long after those would have faded. SHOP HERE

The full body upgrade: the Red Light Therapy Blanket

This is one of the most impressive wellness devices we have tested, full stop. Most red light therapy means standing in front of a panel like a houseplant under a grow light. The blanket lets you lie down instead, wrapping the same clinically backed wavelengths, 660nm and 850nm, around your whole body at once.

The clever part is that it does not stay a blanket. It detaches into two separate red light mats, so you can target one area, share it with someone, or set it up however your space allows. Our editor's version is a post shower wrap up before bed, plug in, pick a mode, unwind. It also folds down small, which matters when your wellness space is the foot of your bed.

Buy it if you want full body recovery and skin benefits in one device. The sale brings a tool like this down to around what you would spend on a spa day, except you own it and can use it every night. SHOP HERE

For your hair: the Red Light Cap

Thinning hair is the wellness concern nobody likes to say out loud, which is exactly why this one moves. The Cap uses 650nm red light to energize follicles and support thicker, fuller looking hair, and it is FDA-registered, which is not a phrase you get to use about most hair products. Ten minutes a day, hands free, so you can wear it while you get on with your morning.

The science here keeps getting more interesting. There is ongoing research and a growing body of conversation around how red light therapy supports the scalp, helping strengthen follicles to boost hair thickness and density over time. It is the same wavelength logic we have written about before, now in a form you can wear around the house. Unisex, comfortable, and the kind of thing you wish you had started six months ago.

Buy it if you have noticed more scalp than you would like, or you just want fuller hair without a clinic appointment. At $449 it is an investment, so the sale is the moment to do it. SHOP HERE

The serious recovery pick: the Infrared PEMF Mat Max

This is the grown up of the lineup. The PEMF Mat Max stacks far infrared heat, PEMF, red light, and near infrared into one mat, so it supports skin, recovery, and deep relaxation in a single lie down. It includes a crystal layer (amethyst, onyx, tourmaline and quartz/silica) that warms during use. Tourmaline is known to emit far‑infrared when heated, and the crystal layer is included to enhance the grounding, calming feel of the experience.It is the closest thing to a full reset you can keep in a closet.

It is not an impulse buy, and we would not pretend otherwise. But it is not just for people who train hard. Low frequency PEMF settings have been studied for their ability to nudge the body out of fight or flight and into a calmer, rest and digest state, the kind of shift linked to lower stress, easier sleep, and a quieter mind. The Mat's settings map to different brainwave frequencies, Delta for deep sleep, the Schumann resonance for grounding, Alpha for calm, Beta for focus, so it works to wind you down at night or center you in the middle of a chaotic day, not just to recover from a workout.

Buy it if recovery is non negotiable for you and you want the most complete tool in the range. A sale this size on a device at this tier does not come around often. SHOP HERE

Want the whole ritual in one go? The Beauty Sleep Kit

If you would rather not piece it together, the Beauty Sleep Kit is the one stop shop, bundling the Red Light Face Mask and Red Light Toothbrush for the evening ritual, plus blue light blocking glasses and a blackout sleep mask for the actual sleep. Bundle pricing plus the sale makes it the best value way in if you want to cover several bases at once. SHOP HERE

The ultimate splurge: the Infrared PEMF Sauna Dome

If the Mat Max is the serious pick, the Infrared Sauna Dome is the dream. This is the one you climb inside, an actual infrared sauna for your home, no membership, no lock in, no leaving the house. It brings together everything the brand does best under one dome: far infrared heat that climbs up to a genuine sweat, PEMF with the same gemstone layer and brainwave settings, plus 660nm red and 850nm near infrared light, all wrapped around your whole body at once.

The difference from the Mat is the sweat. The Dome delivers a real sauna session, the kind that loosens tight muscles, supports your body's natural detox, and leaves you with that wrung out, deeply relaxed calm afterward, then layers recovery and skin benefits on top. It sets up in minutes, heats up fast, and folds away when you are done.

If you are already paying for a weekly infrared sauna session, this is the swap that pays for itself. Those studio visits add up fast over a year, and the Dome hands you the same sweat on your own schedule, at home, in your robe, no booking required.

Buy it if you have wanted a home sauna and want it to do far more than sweat. It is the biggest investment here by a distance, which is exactly why a sale is the time to consider it. SHOP HERE

What makes it all work better

The tech does the heavy lifting, but the free stuff around it matters just as much. Morning sunlight on your face within an hour of waking sets your circadian rhythm so everything else, sleep, energy, recovery, has a foundation to build on. A few minutes of slow breathing before bed shifts you out of fight or flight faster than any gadget. Consistent sleep and wake times, less late night scrolling, water before coffee. None of it costs a thing, and it is what turns a red light session from a nice ritual into results you actually notice.

What we'd skip

Not everything trending is worth your money. Skip the single use gadgets that go viral, get used twice, and live out their days in a drawer. Skip anything that leans harder on celebrity endorsements than on actual research, if the only proof is a famous face, that is a red flag, not a reason to buy. And skip the urge to buy the whole category at once. The fastest way to fall off a new routine is to start with five things instead of one. Look past the marketing to the studies behind a product, buy the one tool that solves a problem you actually have, and build from there.

We do not say this about most wellness tech, but we have tested these tools ourselves for years, not for a week long trial, and they have earned their place in our routines. That is the whole reason we feel good pointing you toward them.

So if this is the summer you finally get serious about feeling better, do not overthink it. It is 25% off sitewide, but only through July. 

Start with the mask. Thank yourself in a month.

[Shop the BON CHARGE Mid-Year Sale here.]

All material on The Chalkboard Mag is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider for any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise, or other health related programs. This story is brought to you in partnership with BON CHARGE.

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5 Things We Learned From “The Next Conversation” by Jefferson Fisher

You know the moment. You are talking through something small, a dinner plan, a work deadline, an offhand comment that landed sideways, and then somehow your voice has gone tight, your ears are hot, and the original topic has quietly left the room. Twenty minutes later it is over, nobody really won, and you are lying awake rewriting your half of it like a director who hated the first cut.

If you have been following along, you know this is our favorite kind of read, the one that quietly rewires how a regular day feels. We learned to stop carrying everyone else's expectations from The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins, and we rethought our whole relationship with rest thanks to Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. This one belongs right on that shelf, except instead of your inner life, it goes to work on your out-loud one.

Enter Jefferson Fisher. He is a Texas trial lawyer who became an unlikely internet favorite by filming short, almost startlingly kind videos from the front seat of his truck, teaching regular people how to survive everyday arguments without losing themselves in them. His book, "The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More," takes that same gentle, no-nonsense energy and turns it into something you can actually use on a Tuesday. And his whole philosophy rests on one quietly radical idea: winning was never the point. The point is to stay connected enough that the next conversation can even happen.

Here are the five takeaways from The Next Conversation that felt most useful.

+ The pause is the whole game

Fisher's most repeated piece of advice is also the one we are all most likely to skip, probably because it sounds too easy to count. Before you respond to something that stings, breathe. He calls it a conversational breath, an inhale and then a long, slow exhale, and the entire job of that breath is to cut off your stress response before it grabs the wheel.

We will be honest, the first time we read this we thought, that is it? That is the big secret? But here is the thing. That tiny gap is the whole difference between answering from your values and answering from your nervous system. As Fisher puts it, the fastest way to lose your peace of mind is to give someone a piece of yours. The pause is how you hang onto it.

The part we love most: it asks absolutely nothing of the other person. You do not need them to be calmer or kinder or more reasonable than they are being. You just need one breath before you open your mouth. That is a deal we can make.

+ Stop trying to win, start trying to understand

Here is the reframe that genuinely loosened something in our chest. A conversation is not a contest. Fisher points out that winning an argument almost always costs you trust, respect, and connection, which, when you say it out loud, is a wildly bad trade. Think about the last time you "won" a fight at home. Did you feel like a champion, or did you feel a little sick?

His alternative is to get curious instead of defensive. When someone reacts way bigger than the moment seems to warrant, that is your tell. There is a hidden conversation running inside their head that you were never invited to, and what you are seeing is just the tip of an iceberg you cannot fully map. Trading "how do I make my point" for "what might they be carrying right now" changes the entire temperature of the room. It also, conveniently, lowers your own.

+ Your words are quietly running the show

Fisher is a lawyer, so he listens to language the way the rest of us watch the sky for rain. And one of his sharpest catches is how much we shrink ourselves with little hedging words before we have said anything that matters.

"Just." "Sort of." "Sorry to bother you." We toss these in to seem softer and gentler, and instead they make us smaller. His fixes are refreshingly do-it-today concrete. Drop the "just." Swap reflexive apologies for gratitude, so "sorry I'm late" becomes "thank you for waiting," which, notice, hands the warmth to them instead of the guilt to you. Own your actions in plain words, so "please see attached" becomes "I'm attaching the contract." Tiny edits. Genuinely surprising shift in how you come across, and even more so in how you feel saying them.

He also names a habit we are all a little guilty of: overexplaining. His line on it has been living in our head rent free. The more words it takes to tell the truth, the more it starts to sound like a lie. Say the thing. Then, and this is the hard part, stop talking.

+ Frame the conversation before you have it

This one felt like being handed a tool we did not know existed. Fisher's theory is that hard conversations tend to combust because we drop people straight into them with no warning and no map. So he gives you one. It is a three part setup he frames as a kind of conversational contract: name the topic, say what you are hoping to get out of it, and ask if now is even a good time.

Written down it sounds a touch formal. Out loud it is just, "I'd love to talk through how we split the holidays this year. I'm hoping we land somewhere that feels fair to both of us. Is now an okay time?" That sliver of structure does something almost sneaky. It keeps the other person from feeling ambushed, and a person who does not feel ambushed shows up softer, more open, more willing to actually meet you. You are opening a door instead of kicking one in.

+ Direct and kind are not opposites

So many of us are quietly convinced that being direct means being harsh, so we hedge and cushion and bury the point until nobody, including us, knows what we actually need. Fisher calls this out, gently, the way he calls out everything. Speaking directly does not mean you lack empathy. It means you respect the other person, and yourself, enough to say what you need without flinching.

His playbook for the truly difficult people might be worth the cover price on its own. For the backhanded little comment, a calm "was that meant to be condescending?" hands the moment right back to its owner. For the person bulldozing you, you can honor the feeling without surrendering the facts: "that does sound frustrating" lets the air out of the balloon without giving up your ground. And underneath all of it runs the same north star. Make this conversation safe enough that the next one can still happen.

The post 5 Things We Learned From “The Next Conversation” by Jefferson Fisher appeared first on The Chalkboard Mag.

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We Asked a Scientist Why Supplement Studies Feel So Confusing And Her Answer Was Eye-Opening

If you’ve ever tried to “do the right thing” when it comes to supplements, you’ve probably had that moment where nothing seems to add up. One article says vitamin D is essential for everything from immunity to longevity, while another claims it makes little difference. Omega-3s are praised one day and questioned the next. Multivitamins are either positioned as foundational or completely unnecessary.

At a certain point, it stops feeling like clarity and starts feeling like noise. After years of testing just about everything, we have landed on a short list of supplements we genuinely swear by, but getting there meant learning how to read past the headlines first.

So we went straight to the source. We asked Dr. Shilpa Raut, Vice President of Research and Development at Cymbiotika, to break down why supplement science feels so inconsistent and what most people are actually getting wrong when they read these studies. What she shared reframes the conversation entirely and, more importantly, explains why so many well-intentioned routines fall short.

Supplements Aren’t Studied Like Drugs

One of the biggest misconceptions starts with how supplements are studied in the first place. Most people assume clinical research works the same way across the board, but that’s not the case.

“In drugs, you’re studying patients with a clear condition and a measurable endpoint,” Dr. Raut explains. “With supplements, you are often studying healthy people or people who are not sick enough to qualify as patients.”

That difference alone changes how results show up. When you’re working with a generally healthy population, the impact of any one intervention tends to be more subtle, takes longer to detect, and is heavily influenced by individual variables like diet, stress, sleep, and baseline nutrient levels. As Dr. Raut puts it, “The expected effect size is often smaller, takes longer to detect, and is more influenced by baseline nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, stress, genetics, microbiome, and diet.”

In other words, the human body isn’t a controlled environment, and that variability inevitably shows up in the data.

Why Results Feel So Contradictory

That variability becomes even more pronounced when you look at who is actually being studied. If someone already has optimal levels of a nutrient, adding more may not create a noticeable difference. At the same time, that exact same nutrient could have a meaningful impact on someone who is deficient.

This is one of the reasons large studies sometimes conclude there is little to no benefit across a population. It’s not that the ingredient is ineffective, it’s that the average result doesn’t reflect individual need.

“Nutrients are not like drugs,” Dr. Raut says. “They work in networks, affect many tissues, and the body’s baseline nutrient status can strongly influence response.”

Once you understand that, the seemingly conflicting headlines start to feel less contradictory and more like an oversimplification of a much more nuanced reality.

The Quiet Problem: Dose

Dosing is another major factor that rarely gets enough attention, yet it quietly explains why so many people don’t see results even when they’re taking “the right” supplement.

“In clinical research, doses are carefully selected to reach a threshold where a biological effect is measurable,” Dr. Raut explains. “Many consumer products provide a fraction of that dose.”

That gap matters. You could be taking a supplement with a well-researched ingredient, but if the dose is too low, it may not produce any meaningful change. From a scientific standpoint, this comes down to dose-response relationships, how much of the nutrient actually reaches circulation, and the individual’s baseline status.

It’s not just about what you take. It’s whether you’re taking enough for it to matter.

It Only Works If Your Body Can Absorb It

Even if the dose is correct, there’s another layer that determines whether a supplement actually works: absorption.

“A supplement only works if it gets into the bloodstream in a usable form. That’s the essence of bioavailability,” Dr. Raut says.

This is where things often fall apart. Many nutrients don’t absorb efficiently on their own. Some require fat to be properly utilized, others degrade before they reach circulation, and some simply aren’t compatible with the body’s water-based environment in their standard form.

Dr. Raut explains it in a way that cuts through the noise: “You can take the best bioactive ingredients on the planet and still get almost none of their benefits. Not because the ingredients are wrong, but because the delivery form is broken.”

Once you understand this, it becomes clear why so many studies produce inconsistent results. It’s often not that the ingredient doesn’t work, it’s that the body never had a chance to use it.

Why Studies Don’t Reflect Real Life

There’s also a fundamental gap between how supplements are studied and how they’re actually used.

To establish causality, researchers isolate variables, which typically means studying a single ingredient at a time. But in real life, people don’t take single ingredients. They take blends, stacks, and combinations that interact with each other in complex ways.

“People are not buying a single ingredient, they are buying a finished product,” Dr. Raut points out.

Those combinations matter more than most people realize. Some nutrients compete for absorption, while others enhance each other’s effects. Some require completely different conditions to be effective. A poorly designed formula can cancel itself out, while a well-designed one can create meaningful synergy.

The Missing Piece: The Final Formula

This is where the conversation shifts from ingredients to formulation, which is arguably the most overlooked piece of the puzzle.

“Many brands cite studies on ingredients, not their actual formulation,” Dr. Raut says.

By the time an ingredient becomes part of a finished product, it has gone through processing, storage, and exposure to environmental factors that can impact its effectiveness. Then it still has to survive digestion, stomach acid, and enzymatic breakdown before it can even be absorbed.

“Before a nutrient can do anything for your body, it has to survive a gauntlet,” she explains.

That’s why she emphasizes the importance of testing the final product at the actual dose and format people use, not just relying on ingredient-level research. Because ultimately, that’s what determines real-world outcomes.

How to Cut Through the Noise

For anyone trying to make smarter decisions without getting overwhelmed, her advice is surprisingly simple and practical.

“If I had to simplify it down to three filters,” she says, “is the dose clinically relevant, is the delivery system designed for absorption, and is the claim based on the ingredient or the finished product?”

Those three questions alone can dramatically change how you evaluate what’s worth taking. If you want to go deeper on how to evaluate what is actually worth taking, Dr. Raut walked us through her full framework in our scientist's guide to the supplement aisle, where she breaks down everything from delivery formats to why final product testing matters.

The post We Asked a Scientist Why Supplement Studies Feel So Confusing And Her Answer Was Eye-Opening appeared first on The Chalkboard Mag.

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