Latest news with #AmyAbrams
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Straits Times
In the age of #notox, can cosmetic acupuncture be the new Botox?
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox A facial acupuncture session at Gotham Wellness in New York in March. Cosmetic acupuncture uses needles about one-fifth the diameter of typical hypodermic needles, and is said to increase circulation and improve skin tone. NEW YORK – Ms Amy Abrams, who owns and operates New York City's Manhattan Vintage Show, has been getting regular cosmetic acupuncture facials for five years. 'I've been going every four to six weeks,' she said of the routine she sees as part of a 'self-care commitment' to looking and feeling her best. Lanshin, a beauty spa in Brooklyn, New York City, that draws from traditional Chinese medicine practices, is her go-to. But recently, the 52-year-old found appointments with her acupuncturist difficult to come by. 'She didn't have anything for six weeks,' Ms Abrams said. 'I mean, that's great for her, but wow.' When it comes to achieving youthful-looking, rejuvenated skin, do all roads eventually lead to needles? It seems so, given the multitude of ways to poke one's face, from Botox injections and plumping fillers to microneedling facials and PRP (platelet-rich plasma) and salmon sperm DNA injections, all sought for the promise of a more glowy, suppl e visage. Cosmetic acupuncture, or facial acupuncture, the injection-free outlier of the bunch, uses needles about one-fifth the diameter of typical hypodermic needles, and is said to increase circulation and collagen production, and improve skin tone. Long favoured by American celebrities-turned-wellness moguls such as Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, it has grown in popularity as more people turn to holistic skincare methods. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Asia India, Singapore ministers discuss deeper tie-ups in digitalisation, skills, industrial parks Business More seniors remain employed after retirement and re-employment ages raised in 2022: MOM study Singapore To Vers or not to Vers: How will this scheme affect HDB prices? Asia Malaysia's ex-economy minister says his son was jabbed with syringe in planned attack Singapore askST: Will assets seized in $3b money laundering case be sold at public auctions? Singapore Woman, 68, charged over assaulting maid with scissors and nail clipper Business StarHub first-half profit falls 41.7% to $47.9m; telco eyes 'more aggressive stance' amid competition Singapore From quiet introvert to self-confident student: How this vulnerable, shy teen gets help to develop and discover her strength As one of the Western Hemisphere's more widely known forms of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture's stateside popularity reaches back to the 1970s, when an American journalist trailing President Richard Nixon's 1971 delegation to Beijing reported on having received the treatment there. In the ensuing decades, acupuncture coursed through the channels of medicine from alternative to the mainstream, seemingly effective for all manner of ills and conditions, including migraines, digestive issues, infertility and insomnia, as well as general pain management. American Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and National Basketball Association star LeBron James incorporated acupuncture into their injury recovery protocols. Paltrow's wellness and lifestyle website Goop has referred to the treatment in more than 60 articles. Little wonder that as popular interest and curiosity has spread, some people would look to acupuncture for facial rejuvenation. Interest in cosmetic acupuncture also aligns with the nascent #notox movement, which rejects Botox in favour of natural alternatives promising similar results – especially among Gen Z consumers. Online, Google searches for 'cosmetic acupuncture' have increased by 248 per cent in the past two years. As at January, the average number of views for notox-related content on TikTok had increased 223 per cent in the past year, according to the trend forecasting agency Trendalytics. Part of cosmetic acupuncture's outlier status lies in its holistic nature. Typically, treatments target points on the body, as well as on the face, to address issues such as poor sleep and digestion, stress and pre-menstrual syndrome – culprits that can factor into the skin's appearance. 'Its greatest benefit is that it's not just skin deep,' said Ms Stefanie DiLibero of Gotham Wellness in Manhattan, New York City . There, clients undergo a full health intake before their multi-step treatments, which include full-body acupuncture, micro-current stimulation and manual lymphatic drainage. Ms DiLibero said 90 per cent of her patients came for cosmetic acupuncture, but welcomed the all-in-one perks. Still, there is a strong emphasis on 'cosmetic', as many salons build in treatments one would see on an aesthetician's menu: lymphatic drainage massages, hydrating face masks and red light therapy to stimulate collagen production. Red light therapy is used to stimulate collagen production during a facial acupuncture session at Gotham Wellness in New York in March. PHOTO: JEANETTE SPICER/NYTIMES At Ora, a wellness spa with two locations in Manhattan, founder Kim Ross said that even teenagers with complexion concerns such as acne came for its acupuncture facial, which also includes body acupuncture, gua sha and LED therapy. Since Ora's opening in 2021, the facial has become one of its most popular offerings. Ms Claudia Baettig, an acupuncturist who works at Prosper LA in Los Angeles, is seeing women as early as their 20s come in for facial treatments. 'A lot of their peers are already doing Botox and injectables, and they want something preventative,' she said. Or they want to avoid Botox altogether. 'I'm just so scared of getting filler and then regretting it,' said Ms Michelle Desouza, who lives in Brooklyn and is the founder of Same Skin, a culture and wellness community for women. She scheduled her first cosmetic acupuncture session with Ms DiLibero at Gotham Wellness when she was just entering her 30s. She wanted to look rejuvenated, but 'not look like everyone else', she said, referring to the ubiquitous 'Instagram face' – the neutered look sometimes facilitated by face-tuning filters and actual aesthetic treatments that, often as not, looks artificial intelligence- generated. Ms Desouza, 36 , said she was an exception among her friends, many of whom had gone the way of Botox. While someone who has Botox done can still receive cosmetic acupuncture, Ms Baettig noted that it was like buying into 'two opposing schools of thought'. Botox prevents muscle contraction, while acupuncture performs the opposite. 'We're stimulating,' she said. 'We want to increase circulation to the muscles.' Does cosmetic acupuncture actually work? Success can be hard to measure because the objective is often subjective and varying. Ms Baettig said clients tended to have an instant glow after one session, but she warned them not to expect the same results as one would with injectables. 'But you do see a subtle reduction of fine lines and wrinkles,' she added. 'You do see a brighter complexion, typically after six to 10 treatments.' At Prosper LA, where a cosmetic acupuncture session costs US$195 (S$250) to US$225, and at other skincare salons, including Ora, where the signature facial is US$475, a series of treatments could easily put one in the same beauty budget range as injectables. But potential holistic benefits like serenity and a relaxed mood are foreign to most serums, peels and Botox sessions. 'It's a way to centre and calm myself,' said Ms Abrams, whose acupuncturist did manage to see her for a treatment without the six-week wait. NYTIMES
The Star
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
What are acupuncture facials and do they really work for glowing skin?
Amy Abrams, who owns and operates New York City's Manhattan Vintage Show, has been getting regular cosmetic acupuncture facials for five years. 'I've been going every four to six weeks,' she said, a routine she sees as part of a 'self-care commitment' to looking and feeling her best. Lanshin, a beauty spa in the Brooklyn borough of New York City that draws from traditional Chinese medicine practices, is her go-to, but recently, Abrams, 52, found appointments with her acupuncturist difficult to come by. 'She didn't have anything for six weeks,' Abrams said. 'I mean, that's great for her, but wow.' When it comes to achieving youthful-looking, rejuvenated skin, do all roads eventually lead to needles? It seems so, given the multitude of ways to poke one's face, from Botox injections and plumping fillers to microneedling facials and even PRP (platelet-rich plasma) and salmon sperm DNA injections, all sought out for the promise of a glowier, more supple visage. Pity the needle-phobic! Cosmetic acupuncture (aka facial acupuncture), the injection-free outlier of the bunch, uses needles approximately one-fifth the diameter of typical hypodermic needles and is said to increase circulation and collagen production, and improve skin tone. Long favoured by wellness moguls such as Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, it has grown in popularity as more people turn to holistic skin care methods. In an interview in May, Sarita Choudhury, who stars in And Just Like That , said she indulged in weekly sessions with her acupuncturist. As one of the Western Hemisphere's more widely known forms of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture's stateside popularity reaches back to the 1970s when a US journalist trailing president Richard Nixon's 1971 delegation to Beijing reported on having received the treatment there. In the ensuing decades, acupuncture coursed through the channels of medicine from alternative to the mainstream, seemingly effective for all manner of ills and conditions including migraines, digestive issues, infertility and insomnia, as well as general pain management. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and NBA star LeBron James incorporated acupuncture into their injury recovery protocols. Wellness and lifestyle website Goop has referred to the treatment in more than 60 articles. Read more: Are eyelash extensions a beauty must or a risky trend? Experts weigh in Little wonder that as popular interest and curiosity has spread, some people would look to acupuncture for facial rejuvenation. Interest in cosmetic acupuncture also aligns with the nascent #notox movement, which rejects Botox in favour of natural alternatives promising similar results – especially among Gen Z consumers. Online, Google searches for 'cosmetic acupuncture' have increased by 248% in the past two years. As of January, the average number of views for notox-related content on TikTok had increased 223% in the past year, according to the trend forecasting agency Trendalytics. Part of cosmetic acupuncture's outlier status lies in its holistic nature. Typically, treatments target points on the body, as well as on the face, to address issues such as poor sleep and digestion, stress, PMS – culprits that can factor into the skin's appearance. 'Its greatest benefit is that it's not just skin deep,' said Stefanie DiLibero of Gotham Wellness in the Manhattan borough of New York City. There, clients undergo a full health intake before their multistep treatments, which include full-body acupuncture, microcurrent stimulation and manual lymphatic drainage. DeLibero said 90% of her patients came for cosmetic acupuncture but welcomed the all-in-one perks. Still, there's a strong emphasis on 'cosmetic', as many salons build in treatments one would see on an aesthetician's menu: lymphatic drainage massages, hydrating face masks and red light therapy to stimulate collagen production. At Ora, a wellness spa with two locations in Manhattan, founder Kim Ross said that even teenagers with complexion concerns such as acne came in for its acupuncture facial, which also includes body acupuncture, gua sha and LED therapy. Since Ora's opening in 2021, the facial has become one of the its most popular offerings. Regardless of age or generation, nearly everyone is chasing that elusive 'glow', Ross said. Claudia Baettig, an acupuncturist who works at Prosper LA in Los Angeles, is seeing women come in as early as their 20s for facial treatments. 'A lot of their peers are already doing Botox and injectables, and they want something preventative,' she said. Or they want to avoid Botox altogether. 'I'm just so scared of getting filler and then regretting it,' said Michelle Desouza, who lives in Brooklyn and is the founder of Same Skin, a culture and wellness community for women. She scheduled her first cosmetic acupuncture session with DiLibero at Gotham Wellness when she was just entering her 30s. She wanted to look rejuvenated but 'not look like everyone else', she said, referring to the ubiquitous 'Instagram face', the neutered look (sometimes facilitated by face-tuning filters and actual aesthetic treatments) that, often as not, looks artificial-intelligence generated. Read more: Layering fragrances is now a popular way to personalise your scent, here's how Desouza, now 36, said she was an exception among her friends, many of whom had gone the way of Botox. While someone who has gotten Botox can still receive cosmetic acupuncture, Baettig noted that it was like buying into 'two opposing schools of thought'. Botox prevents muscle contraction, while acupuncture performs the opposite. 'We're stimulating,' she said. 'We want to increase circulation to the muscles.' Does cosmetic acupuncture actually work? Success can be hard to measure because the objective is often subjective and varying. Baettig said clients tended to have an instant glow after one session, but she warned them not to expect the same results as one would with injectables. 'But you do see a subtle reduction of fine lines and wrinkles,' she said. 'You do see a brighter complexion, typically after anywhere from six to 10 treatments.' At Prosper LA, where a single cosmetic acupuncture session costs US$195 to US$225 (approximately RM825 to RM952), and at other skin care salons, including Ora, where the signature facial is US$475 (RM2,010), a series of treatments could easily put one in the same beauty budget range as injectables. But potential holistic benefits like serenity and a relaxed mood are foreign to most serums, peels and Botox sessions. 'It's a way for me to centre and calm myself,' said Abrams, whose acupuncturist did manage to see her for a treatment without the six-week wait. – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
NZ Herald
7 days ago
- Health
- NZ Herald
That's a lot of needles in your face: The rise of ‘notox' beauty treatments
Cosmetic acupuncture is said to increase circulation, boost collagen production and improve skin tone. Photo / Getty Images In the age of #notox, can cosmetic acupuncture be the new Botox? Amy Abrams, who owns and operates New York City's Manhattan Vintage Show, has been getting regular cosmetic acupuncture facials for five years. 'I've been going every four to six weeks,' she said, a routine she sees as part
New York Times
07-08-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
That's a Lot of Needles in Your Face
Amy Abrams, who owns and operates the Manhattan Vintage Show, has been getting regular cosmetic acupuncture facials for five years. 'I've been going every four to six weeks,' she said, a routine she sees as part of a 'self-care commitment' to looking and feeling her best. Lanshin, a beauty spa in Brooklyn that draws from traditional Chinese medicine practices, is her go-to, but recently, Ms. Abrams, 52, found appointments with her acupuncturist difficult to come by. 'She didn't have anything for six weeks,' Ms. Abrams said. 'I mean, that's great for her, but wow.' When it comes to achieving youthful-looking, rejuvenated skin, do all roads eventually lead to needles? It seems so, given the multitude of ways to poke one's face, from Botox injections and plumping fillers to microneedling facials and even P.R.P. (platelet-rich plasma) and salmon sperm DNA injections, all sought out for the promise of a glowier, more supple visage. Pity the needle-phobic! Cosmetic acupuncture (a.k.a. facial acupuncture), the injection-free outlier of the bunch, uses needles approximately one-fifth the diameter of typical hypodermic needles and is said to increase circulation, boost collagen production and improve skin tone. Long-favored by wellness moguls like Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow, it has grown in popularity as more people turn to holistic skin care methods. In an interview in May, Sarita Choudhury, who stars in 'And Just Like That …,' said she indulged in weekly sessions with her acupuncturist. As one of the Western Hemisphere's more widely known forms of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture's stateside popularity reaches back to the 1970s when an American journalist trailing President Richard M. Nixon's 1971 delegation to Beijing reported on having received the treatment there. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What Happened to the Stigma of Wearing Fur?
A few weeks before the Manhattan Vintage Show opened this month, its owner, Amy Abrams, was predicting a 'fur-a-palooza,' with vendors fielding an uptick in demand for fur. 'It's happening now,' she said. The racks of fox, mink and Mongolian at booths, including the Igala NYC and the Jennie Walker Archive, which was selling a sable coat for $2,495, were swarmed by shoppers, many already wearing fur. One shopper, Lulu Dinh of Jersey City, N.J., bought her chinchilla coat years ago from 1st Dibs. With a collection of about 10 furs acquired over the years, she wasn't in the market for anything new. 'I already have the best,' she said. The Manhattan Vintage fur-a-palooza was not an isolated incident. As temperatures in New York plunged into the teens and 20s in January, women and men all over town were busting their furs out of storage in what felt like an abrupt reversal in social attitudes. After decades of coordinated campaigning, involving protests and even personal attacks outside stores and fashion shows, at workplaces and people's homes, the anti-fur movement, led by organizations like PETA, seemed to have finally shifted the tides in their favor. Many brands, and customers, decided being fur-free was a better look. It happened slowly — Calvin Klein banned fur in 1994; Ralph Lauren in 2006 — and then all at once. After Gucci announced in 2017 that it would eliminate real fur in its collections, the big luxury fashion houses followed: Michael Kors, Burberry, Prada, Versace, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and more. Since introducing her label in 2001, Stella McCartney has been a fiercely vocal animal and cruelty-free advocate. Fendi, which was founded in 1925 as a fur and leather shop in Rome, and is owned by LVMH, remains one of the last luxury holdouts. By 2021, Kering, Gucci's parent company, which also owns Balenciaga, Saint Laurent and McQueen, had issued a group-wide ban on fur. So did Hudson's Bay, the Toronto retail company that owns Saks Fifth Avenue and started as a fur-trading business in 1670. Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Neiman Marcus stopped selling new furs. In 2023, California put into effect a law banning the sale of new fur products. The fur industry had been shrinking for years. According to the Fur Free Alliance, global fur production is down 85 percent in the last decade. Roughly 20 million animals were killed as part of the fur trade in 2023 versus 140 million in 2014. The number of fur farms in the European Union fell to 1,088 in 2023 from 4,350 in 2018. (A major exception is shearling. Many 'fur-free' fashion houses and retailers continue to use and sell sheepskin and cowhide, considered byproducts of the food chain. Then, of course, there's plain old leather, which never seemed to draw as much ire and therefore never really went away.) For years, in much of the United States and Europe, wearing real fur has felt taboo. Except, suddenly, some people don't seem to care — especially if the wearer can assert the mantle of 'vintage,' as no animals were freshly killed and upcycling old clothes is more virtuous than buying new. Even if, in some cases, vintage doesn't always mean affordable. The 1st Dibs site reported a 14 percent increase in fur sales in 2024 over 2023. Notable purchases included a 1997 Gucci fox fur chubby that sold last year for $30,257.41. Rihanna was photographed wearing a vintage John Galliano mink in December. Last month, Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber were spotted in Aspen in a variety of fur coats. Kendall Jenner wore a vintage Balenciaga fox fur from 2011, but it was difficult to distinguish the other furs — real or faux? — without confirmation. The Jenners' representative and Ms. Bieber's stylist did not respond to requests for clarification. Whitney Robinson, 42, a hospitality entrepreneur and editor in New York, also spent his December holiday in Aspen in a full-length coyote coat he described as 'part Joe Namath, part Salvador Dalí.' He bought the coat two years ago from Crowley Vintage in Brooklyn. 'The reaction depends on where you are,' Mr. Robinson said. 'In St. Moritz, fur is everywhere — maybe it's a Milanese thing — so no one bats an eye. Aspen was the same this year. Everyone loved it. A guy in his 20s at the Vail airport gave me a thumbs up and said he loved my kit.' The full-length Yves Saint Laurent mink that Mary Connelly, 34, a lawyer who lives in the East Village in New York, wore to the Metropolitan Museum of Art one afternoon last month belonged to her mother. She bought it in Chicago in the 1970s when she was a flight attendant. 'This was her big purchase,' Ms. Connelly said. 'She was on a payment plan. It has her name embroidered in it.' She noted that it was her mother's idea to pass it down. 'She said: 'I'm seeing a lot of girls wearing vintage furs. Do you want mine?'' Carly Mark, the designer of the fashion line/art project Puppets and Puppets, recently moved from New York to Paris. 'Everyone is wearing fur here too,' she said. After years of using faux fur, Ms. Mark starting working with recut, upcycled fur in her runway collections last year. 'What I learned from that process is that I really like fur,' she said, speaking specifically about vintage. 'It's beautiful, and it already exists.' That said, she received significant anti-fur backlash online after her fall 2024 Puppets and Puppets show. 'I think people are really misunderstanding vintage fur versus faux fur,' Ms. Mark said. Vintage, in her eyes, is the superior sustainable option. She cited plastics and microplastics in faux fur fibers, often made from petroleum-based materials, as 'worse for the environment in the big picture.' Marie Laffort, a fashion stylist and owner of Ancien vintage on the Lower East Side in New York, is 'confused by the whole debate,' she said. Ms. Laffort sold her collection of vintage furs 10 years ago. 'Now it seems no one is bothered,' she said. 'In with the old' seems to be the philosophy fueling the fur resurgence. Heirlooms, vintage furs or furs that are at least a handful of years old are good to go. Fur has been part of popular TikTok aesthetics, such as 'Mob Wife,' with its decadent amalgam of fur coats, leather and leopard prints, and adjacent to 'Old Money' and 'Rich Girls,' which are rife with wealth signifiers. Is it a coincidence that the conspicuousness of fur dovetails with the new political order and its nostalgia for Reagan-era culture? Perhaps no one loved a fur coat more than Ivana Trump. 'Vintage fur may be one of the few things still finding fans across the ideological spectrum,' Anthony Barzilay Freund, the editorial director of 1st Dibs, said. 'For conservatives, the coats can be worn unapologetically as they stride into what they envision to be a post-PC world. For liberals, they're an enduring symbol of their commitment to retro chic recycling.' The popularity of the fur look has not gone unnoticed by the animal rights groups. PETA is pleased with the proliferation of faux fur but considers those choosing vintage fur to be misguided if well-intentioned. 'These are people who would usually never dream of buying new fur because they don't want to support a violent, cruel industry,' said Ashley Byrne, PETA's director of outreach communications. 'It's still endorsing the idea that it's acceptable to crush animals' bones in traps or electrocute them or gas them.' Animal rights groups see vintage fur as a dangerous trend. 'If someone sees a person wearing used fur and they don't know it's used, they could very well go buy new fur,' said PJ Smith, the director of fashion policy for the Humane Society of the United States. Mark Oaten is the chief executive of the International Fur Federation, a fur trade organization, and as such, his allegiances lie squarely with real fur. He's based in Britain, home to perhaps the most advanced animal rights movement in the world. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, founded in 1824, is the oldest animal welfare organization in the world. England and Wales were the first countries to ban fur farming back in 2000. Fur has been verboten there for decades, and yet Mr. Oaten has witnessed a new embrace of vintage fur among people in their 30s and 40s. 'I think that when animal rights groups tip into lecturing people and trying to ban things that mainstream people want, that has become the problem,' he said. Mr. Oaten suspects that a backlash against the activism is benefiting fur sales. If not scientific in terms of data, the feeling is certainly in the air.
