Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop have endorsed some strange beauty ideas.
Want glowing, youthful skin like Gwyneth Paltrow's? All you need is a whole lot of money — and a willingness to get stung by bees.
Her beauty tips often veer into the same territory. Goop sells and recommends plenty of cosmetics with steep price tags (no surprise considering Paltrow spends a rumored $18,000 a month on her beauty routine). The site is rife with beauty tips based on skimpy — sometimes nonexistent — scientific evidence. And Paltrow herself has used her platform to promote some eyebrow-raising procedures, including the aforementioned bee stings.
Here's a look at some of the absolute worst beauty tips that Paltrow and her brand have tried to push.
BAD TIP #1: Take supplements for beauty.
Supplements aren't as trustworthy as you might think.
Goop sells its own line of supplements for $90 a month. The site also quotes experts who recommend all manner of vitamins, minerals, and herbs. This post alone extols the supposed beautifying effects of of folic acid, vitamin B12, magnesium glycinate, fish oil, ECGC (a green tea extract), n-acetyl cysteine, s-acetyl-glutathione, biotin, zinc, silicon, iron, vitamin B6, leucine, vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, pancreatic enzymes, and lycopene. That's (literally) a lot of pills to swallow.
The major problem with this advice: Many supplements are useless at best and dangerous at worst. They aren't required to undergo any kind of safety or efficacy testing before they hit store shelves. That means you might be shelling out money for something that doesn't change your appearance or your health in any way. Even worse: People get hurt and even die because of supplements — they send about 20,000 Americans to the ER every year.
But if you really want to try a supplement, talk to your doctor and check out this buyer's guide.
BAD TIP #2: Get a threading facial.
Threading is a controversial anti-aging procedure promoted by Goop.
Goop describes threading as an "under-the-radar" face lift "that's sending A-listers flocking to Europe and Asia." That's because it's no longer allowed in the United States.
Allure reports that threading facelifts — in which a doctor uses a barbed thread to lift sagging skin — were approved by the FDA back in 2004. But enough women reported adverse side effects that the procedure lost FDA approval.
Even if you could get it in the states, you might not want to: A 2009 study found the facelifts don't offer lasting results. Also, they cost up to $11,000.
BAD TIP #3: Soak in a "detox" bath.
No, you can't be "detoxed" by a bath.
As a general rule, most products or diets that claim they'll "detox" you are total bunk. Our livers and kidneys do the work of detoxification whether we use Goop-approved products or not.
So while it might feel nice to soak in the "Digital Detox" bath sold on the Goop website, there is little reason to believe that it "draws out toxins associated with excessive exposure to technology."
BAD TIP #4: Use an infrared sauna to sweat out toxins and get beautiful skin.
Infrared saunas have some benefits, but sweating out toxins isn't one of them.
Infrared saunas are a lot like regular saunas: You sit inside a heated room and sweat. But these saunas use infrared light to heat up the body from the inside, rather than heating up the air around it. It's actually the same technology used to keep premature babies warm in hospitals.
Goop promises that sitting in one of these saunas "intensifies the elimination of toxins." That's not really true.
Doctors say infrared saunas don't appear to be harmful, and early research shows that they may help heart health and relieve chronic pain. Sitting in the sauna could certainly make you feel great — but it's not because you're sweating out toxins.
"We do not have data that shows one can sweat out toxins in any meaningful way," Dr. Catherine Forest, of Stanford University's School of Medicine, told the New York Times.
BAD TIP #5: Sprinkle "beauty dust" in your morning smoothie.
This "dust" probably won't help your skin.
Goop's online store hawks this $30 jar of "dust" that's "alchemized to expand your beauty, luster, and glow from within."
The first ingredient in the dust is goji berries — a staple in traditional Chinese medicine and a longtime Paltrow fave. Too bad a 2015 review found "unclear or conflicting" scientific evidence that the berries make skin look younger.
BAD TIP #6: Take up oil pulling for whiter teeth.
Oil pulling is not a proven way to whiten teeth.
"Oil pulling is an ancient Indian practice for both cleansing and whitening teeth that detoxifies," Goop promises. "The oil literally pulls the toxins from your gums and teeth."
Wrong again. The practice of swishing oil around your mouth might be beneficial, but there's really not enough evidence to back up these big claims, according to the American Dental Association.
BAD TIP #7: Use a foam roller to banish cellulite "forever."
Foam rolling can temporarily change the appearance of your skin.
Foam rolling actually can temporarily improve the appearance of cellulite — but don't believe Goop's claim that it can banish dimples "forever."
The Mayo Clinic explains that cellulite happens when fibrous connective tissue pulls down on the layer of fat cells that sits just beneath the skin, creating a dimpled look on the surface of the skin. Foam rolling might cause a small amount of swelling that appears to smooth out cellulite. But the effects won't last more than a few days, Health magazine reports.
"It's a very transient effect...so we don't consider that a viable treatment for cellulite," dermatologist Dr.S. Manjula Jegasothy told Health.
BAD TIP #8: Buy beauty products that have been prayed to.
Some manufacturers pray or chant or sing to their cosmetics before selling them.
One Goop article recommends products made with "intention" — in other words, creams and cleansers that have been chanted to, prayed to, or meditated over by the people who make them. The idea is that "intention" gets infused into the products and makes them somehow better. Maybe that's why de Mamiel — a skincare line mentioned in the article — charges $114 for a 0.7-ounce bottle of oil.
To back up these claims, Goop cites three pieces of "evidence": 1) people bless food; 2) hospital patients who are prayed to do better than those who aren't; and 3) the experiments of Dr. Masaru Emoto, who believed saying nice or mean things to non-living objects could change their physical properties.
Of course, blessing food does nothing to its nutritional value. Also, science shows praying probably won't a big difference in sick people's health. (In one 2006 study, patients who received prayers actually had more complications than ones who didn't.) And finally, Dr. Emoto's experiments are widely considered to be ridiculous.
Sorry, Gwyn: Intention is probably not "the new secret beauty formula."
BAD TIP #9: Get stung by bees!
We know beauty is pain, but this seems excessive.
Paltrow once told the New York Times that she'd undergone something called apitherapy. Basically, it means getting stung by bees on purpose.
"It's a thousands of years old treatment," Paltrow told the Times. "People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It's actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it's painful."
And it could be seriously dangerous. Dr. Clay Jackson, vice president of the board of the American Academy of Pain Management, told Business Insider that people shouldn't try apitherapy as a first resort for health issues.
"Many people are allergic to bee venom and also there have been reported side effects, such as hemorrhagic strokes," he said. "Some people mistakenly assume that because something is natural, it has no side effects, and that is not the case."