195 - What I'm Reading: Week of May 9th.
The MAHA teens, the Birthday Effect, male wedding beauty, remineralizing, the connection between endometriosis & autoimmune disease, how we taste sweet, glasses that hear & more...
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🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
If you are curious what people are cutting back on in beauty - read this Reddit post.
NYT: The rise of the ‘crunchy teen’ wellness influencer. High schoolers are appealing to other health-conscious kids online, sometimes by expressing views in line with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
I read this on Monday and the whole time had to remind myself every generation goes through this. I had a very memorable time in high school where I wanted to be a mountaineer and live off the land (lucky for my parents social media did not exist). Now with social media the messaging is definitely changing. And as the article points out, this is a reaction to a younger generation seeing young people get sick. And as you would expect there is a healthy dose of misinformation…cue ‘parasite cleanse’…and then in another video she is eating a pound of RAW ‘grassfed’ ground beef…perfect let’s see how well the parasite cleanse works for the Salmonella, E. coli, and Campylobacter, which are also natural 😉.
Tiktok failed to load.
Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browserJust for fun:
Fast Company: Scientists just designed the perfect cacio e pepe recipe. Here’s how to make this cheese-and-pepper pasta dish so it doesn’t clump, according to physic.
⭐️ 🪦 The Pudding: You will die someday. A look at the very real Birthday Effect.
💧 Okapa - if you are in the market for a cool new highly engineered water bottle [Instagram] (it is quite pricey), this is the founder.
👩🎤 Celebrity Brands:
Paris Hilton’s Parívie Skin Care launched with 6 products ranging from $38-$125, four of the products are formulated with inPHinite YouthTechnology,” a bioactive complex made with peptides, antioxidants and probiotic-fermented extracts [WWD; Instagram]. It is not clear what has been clinically tested …but press release uses the terminology. Their key ingredient “inPHinite YouthTechnology,” is a proprietary blend - which means you really do not know what the blend has and at what levels…if active at all.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
Serum Junkie — a newly launched skincare brand with three serums, a cleanser, and moisturizer [Instagram].
☁️ Celebrity makeup artist Alexx Mayo launched Dream Labs, unveiling a new skin-care/primer hybrid [Instagram].
⭐️ Mienne - (founded by Steven Chester) is launching on May 13 and teasing a very cool looking brand dubbed ‘Skincare formulas for everyday eroticism’ [Instagram].
⭐️ 🇰🇷 THOM - a beautiful skincare brand bringing the spa experience to home with a multi-step routine [Instagram].
My Willow - pre-launch K-beauty inspired skincare [Instagram].
🇸🇦 Jing Daily: What makes the Middle East beauty’s next frontier? With skincare penetration at just 12% to 14% compared to 35% globally, MENA represents untapped potential for brands that understand the region’s unique challenges.
BeautyMatter: Formula for sale — inside the business of white labeling.
🇨🇳 Jing Daily: How Fenty Beauty wove itself into the fabric of China’s beauty culture. One year in China, Fenty Beauty has revolutionized industry norms by empowering a mindset over a look, connecting with Chinese consumers who are taking a renewed look at beauty standards.
🤵 Vogue Business examines how the 2025 wedding season is redefining beauty norms, with brides and grooms alike embracing skin-first prep, gender-inclusive grooming (groom makeup searches up 42%), minimalist nail art, and floral hairstyles. Often major life shifts can be the start of a new habit, so this could be a larger entry point for men into skincare/beauty.
👩🦱 Haircare:
👃 Fragrance:
🇰🇷 Pleuvoir - a Korean fragrance brand with some personal care mixed in [Instagram].
🇯🇵 APFR - a Japanese fragrance house focused on the home [Instagram].
🦷 Oral Care:
⭐️ Independent: Worried dentists are preparing patients for RFK Jr’s fluoride tap water ban. Dentists are preparing for a potential surge in cavities and other dental issues in vulnerable populations.
⭐️ Larine Co offers remineralizing gum and remineralizing toothpaste - I ended up going down a rabbit hole to understand what these are [Instagram]. I guess with the rising fluoride discourse, ‘remineralizing’ and specifically a focus on nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA) has become the hot thing in oral care. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite — and it’s the primary component of human enamel and bone, when used in its nano-form has been shown to help with very early stage cavities (not anything advanced). In the nano form (nano-hydroxyapatite, or n-HA), particles are small enough to penetrate microscopic enamel damage and bind to tooth surfaces, helping rebuild structure. They can only help to really rebuild surface level issues, not a deep cavity. Remineralizing toothpastes & gums are growing in popularity - thanks to TikTok - where Underbrush has been very popular. The gums are mastic based…which is far more popular in other parts of the world. Mastic has some antibacterial properties…and apparently has been having a moment in a separate trend related to gigachads (
).
Google Trend Search - Past 5 years Hydroxyapatite.
💊 Supplements:
🇷🇴 Namo — a Romanian supplement brand with a playful look [Instagram].
🦬 Human Nature - Bison based supplements [Instagram].
🧜♀️ Fat Mermaid — a marine based liquid collagen for beauty [Instagram].
Yashy - a menopause gummy supplement - the formula includes kelp, soybean, and sage…I really think this one can be a pass for actual menopausal hormone relief [Instagram]
👩🔬 Femtech:
As GLP-1s gain traction for managing menopause-related symptoms like weight gain and insulin resistance, a broader debate is emerging: should menopause be reclassified as a disease to expand treatment access and accelerate innovation? [Second Opinion].
Axios: The future of fertility.
🇬🇧 Pharmacy Magazine: Boots launches 'menopause zones' in 150 stores.
🇬🇧 Preventcancer.co.uk launched a personalized breast cancer prevention assessment for women ages 30-75. The assessment includes a simple home saliva test and online clinical guidance. Routine breast cancer screenings do not start until 50 in the UK, I wish they started even earlier than 30...
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
🇨🇳 Fashion Dive: Temu walks back price increases. The fast fashion giant said it would transition to a “local fulfillment model” to circumvent the U.S.’ 145% tariff on imports from China.
🇰🇷 BoF: US retailers want in on K-Beauty — again. Amorepacific’s Hanyul is the latest of a flood of K-beauty brands being scooped up by US beauty retailers as consumers clamor for Korean products in the face of price hikes.
CNBC: Hispanic shoppers are spending less on groceries, putting pressure on consumer companies.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
TechCrunch: NewLimit, founded by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, raises $130M to develop age-reversing treatments.
⭐️ This is pretty exciting - Wired is reporting that OpenAI and the FDA are holding talks about using AI in drug evaluation. High-ranking OpenAI employees have met with the FDA multiple times in recent weeks to discuss AI and a project called cderGPT.
Oura expands its offering into food and metabolism with continuous glucose monitoring from Dexcom and the ability to track meals through photos [BusinessWire].
Fitt Insider: Aktiia scores $42M for next-gen blood pressure tech.
⭐️ Wired: Review: EssilorLuxottica Nuance Audio Glasses. When hearing aids hide in plain sight.
⭐️ Axios: The real longevity breakthroughs are already here…these are more related to biomarker tracking for cancers, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases - making symptom tracking and intervention earlier a reality.
WSJ: The MAHA-friendly app that’s driving food companies crazy. Yuka and other apps are influencing shoppers’ purchasing habits; ‘There are a lot of opinions out there’. I’ve definitely talked about Yuka before in the context of beauty and how its single ingredient analysis is quite controversial due to the data it is pulling from.
The Guardian: Amazon makes ‘fundamental leap forward in robotics’ with device having sense of touch. Vulcan device ‘capable of grabbing three-quarters of items in warehouses’ fuels fears of mass job losses
🗣 Social Media: News about TikTok, Meta, BeReal, Snapchat, X...
Not normally categorized here but if you have spent ANY time on TikTok lately it has been impossible to dodge ads from Wonder & Wonder Skin - both of which recently announced large new funding rounds.
♻️ Sustainability: Sustainable DesignThe New York Times: E.P.A. plans to shut down the Energy Star Program. The program reportedly takes $30M to run annually saving customers $40 billion in annual savings on utility bills.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
🇬🇧 SBTRCT the sustainable waterless skincare brand announced it has been acquired by T&H Marketed Limited.
🔬RESEARCH
⭐️ A massive study, with over 250K people, from the UK Biobank finds that people with endometriosis have a significantly higher risk of developing immune-related conditions—like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and multiple sclerosis. Researchers also discovered shared genetic variants and biological pathways, suggesting these diseases may stem from common mechanisms. This opens the door to repurposed treatments and earlier interventions [Human Reproduction].
⭐️ 🍬 For the first time, scientists have mapped the high-resolution structure of the human sweet taste receptor (TAS1R2/TAS1R3), revealing how our tongues detect sugar, stevia, sucralose, and aspartame. Using cryo-electron microscopy, researchers found that all these sweeteners dock into the same tiny pocket of the TAS1R2 subunit, unlocking new opportunities to design next-gen sweeteners that taste better, work faster, and maybe even sidestep sugar’s metabolic baggage [Cell].
In a study on the "other-race effect" (our tendency to better recognize faces of our own race), researchers used StyleGAN2 — the AI behind realistic fake faces — to reconstruct what people "see" in their minds when identifying faces. By collecting visual similarity ratings and reverse-engineering them through GANs, they produced hyper-realistic face images that reflected internal mental representations. People visualized same-race faces more accurately, while other-race faces appeared subtly younger, revealing hidden biases in how we perceive unfamiliar faces. A powerful glimpse at how AI can map human perception [Behavior Research Methods].
A new study found that the wealthiest 10% of the global population are responsible for roughly two-thirds of global warming since 1990, with the top 1% alone accountable for 20%—disproportionately contributing to extreme heat and drought events across the globe. The research highlights how emissions from affluent individuals, particularly in high-income countries, have significantly intensified climate extremes in vulnerable regions like the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and southern Africa [Nature Climate Change].
🧐 REPORTS
Bain & Company: Where Grocery Price Inflation Is Causing the Most Shopper Stress. Here’s who’s feeling the strain in the US and Europe, and how they’re dealing with the sticker shock.
McKinsey: Revolutionary innovations propelling growth. This report highlights eight revolutionary innovations from electric vehicles and GLP-1 drugs to CRISPR, blockchain, and generative AI that are reshaping industries, business models, and global economies through bold, high-impact shifts in how we produce, deliver, and experience value.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne