Myoplastic facial massage, fascia manipulation, Environ, microcurrent, ultrasound, iontophoresis, scalp gua sha, corneocytes, chemical peels, CO2 Lift Pro, Dr. Evan Rieder, injectables, peptides, SkinPen, Biojuve, exosomes, micriobiome skincare, Cecily J. Braden, Traditional Chinese Medicine…

Welcome back to High Touch. What a night! Something about this newsletter is vaguely athletics-adjacent, right? Anyway, good enough timing for today’s feature on Raquel Medina-Cleghorn, New York’s number-one sports fan (she’s selling soccer jerseys out of her studio this weekend) and its best facialist, according to me. I’ve been going to Raquel for years, since she first opened up her space RAQUEL new york in Tribeca, and count on her to be my magic bullet whenever I feel like I need to pick my face up off the floor. I know I’m mogging out the door when she snaps on her microcurrent gloves for some cheekbone sculpting.

More from Raquel down below—plus a whole section at the end on the techy, biohacky-grade skincare products she uses at the studio—but first, word on the High Touch streets this week.

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Laura Reilly: How do you describe what you do, and how did you arrive at this place?

Raquel Medina-Cleghorn: I am a facialist, and I focus on a combination of technology and holistic manual modalities—different types of massage, lymphatic drainage—all with the intention of supporting skin health and delivering long-term skin health to people. There’s obviously the cosmetic component. People want to fight wrinkles, fight aging, look better, all that. But ultimately, my goal is to ensure that their skin is as healthy as it can be, because that’s what’s going to deliver those results. I’ve arrived here [via] all the education and training I’ve received over the seven years I’ve been doing this.

LR: Can you describe some of that?

RMC: From the jump, it was esthetic school, which is the most basic level of skin education you can get. And then there was the facialist I worked for before; I trained with her and learned her techniques. From there, I was introduced to skincare lines that, like Environ, have really incredible education. Learning more about all of the different cascades of the skin, how the skin works, how ingredients work. And then diving into different technologies: How do they work in the skin? Why are they beneficial? How often should they be used? Training I’ve taken includes manual lymphatic drainage; I’ve done something called myoplastic facial massage, which incorporates a lot of decompression to the tissue. I just registered for a fascia manipulation course. Different hands-on techniques that bring in different elements of supportive skin health, and tissue manipulation, and tissue health.

LR: Walk me through an appointment with a new client. What are you looking for when they come in, and how do you assess their needs?

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Kayla Barnes-Lentz, HIPAA, fasting glucose, visceral fat, WaterRower, Lp(a), Nokia, MethylAge, osteopenia, grip strength, “fish paradox,” Brazil nuts, turkey tail, hydrogen peroxide mouthwash…

Welcome back to HT. You’ve reached part II of this biometric double-header. In yesterday’s send, we toured Zoï’s teak wood Japandi womb of a facility and did dozens of clinical examinations on me. Invasive but somehow relaxing? As promised, today I am sharing the results of those tests in questionable detail. But, before that, a couple of High Touch-y things found around the house:

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A month after my visit to Zoï Paris, I had a follow-up Zoom call from back in New York to review my lab results with Dr. Grimonet. It took us about an hour to go through all of the lab findings and her recommendations for addressing any weak spots and personal goals. Again, this was the first time I’d ever really taken a clinical look at my body in any depth, beyond being told “looks fine, you’re good” after my annual physicals.

I’m sharing the main bits here, along with some relevant / representative lab scans. I get a lot out of others’ specifics— is a big one for me, and I keep up with Bryan Johnson through the ether, but even just hearing from candid randos on the biohacking and supplement subreddits—as it introduces new ways for me to think about health “on paper.”

It’s kind of funny what great lengths Zoï went for my discretion—assigning me the pseudonym Océane Raynaud in external labs, upholding my medical privacy rights under Europe’s version of HIPAA—only for me to release the data to the tens of thousands of you reading this. The first of many ironies to emerge from the gulf between being measured and receiving one’s measurements.

Here’s what I learned about myself:

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Ritz Paris, Frama, Sala Hars, ultrasound, blood pressure, ear thermometer, AGE reader, glycation, electrocardiogram, green anise broth, retinal OCT, NewTom 7G, DEXA, CO₂ bath, Japanese tea…

Welcome back to High Touch. Exciting to no longer be in “launch week” programming, and instead just be. Today I’m sharing the first of a two-parter on my experience at one of the world’s most beautiful biometric testing clinics, Zoï in Paris. Self-measuring is an integral part of longevity (in 2026 terms), so it only made sense for me to crack this journey open here—both in relaying what the labs and imaging felt like (that’s today), as well as what was actually sussed out, down to the individual markers (coming tomorrow). But first, a few things inboxed, screenshotted, whisper-networked since our last send:

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Zoï Vendôme is only two blocks from the Ritz Paris, which meant I had to walk past early-rising tourist couples staking out its entrance hoping to catch celebrities coming and going, as if part of a low-cost sightseeing date. I happened to see Paloma Elsesser exiting while en route that morning in October, implicating myself in their hobby. A few bends later, I approached Zoï’s address and held up a code I’d been issued via my app to the digital check-in, prompting the doors to swing open onto a Kubrick-ian hallway, illuminated by soft-box lighting and flanked with smooth wood walls. I was jet lagged and carrying several flasks of my own pee in a Row Marlo 12 bag.

I had first visited this space in the spring as a guest of Frama, who is an official partner for the on-site onsen, supplying it with towels, toiletries, and an additional layer of design-y credibility. I was back now for Zoï’s core offering: biometric testing covering 150 biomarkers across 32 individual examinations including lab tests, instrument readings, and advanced imaging devices.

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Platelet-rich fibrin, Emsculpt, Dr. Yael Halaas, Dr. Macrene Alexiades, PRF, Yale, cannulas, Helen Phelan, Shou Sugi Ban House, Dimes Deli, Lyma Laser, Remedy Place, the RICE method…

Welcome back to High Touch. It’s the final day of our launch week takeover and the inaugural edition of In Vivo, a monthly column about the procedures, practices, and products my circles and I are testing. Literally, what the group chats are doing.

Below, you’ll hear from me about Emsculpting my ass and PRFing my face. heals her boyfriend from a visible facial injury in a week. got married yesterday (!!!) and shares what beauty prep looks like for the modern bride. But first, some things we’ve seen, heard, or otherwise happened upon this week.

Face

PRF with Dr. Macrene Alexiades

It stands for platelet-rich fibrin, and it’s basically a dermal filler derived from your own blood. I had one of the most successful appointments of my cosmetic career with the delightful Dr. Macrene, an insanely accoladed dermatologist / scientist / Yale professor, etc, whose background as an ARTIST became extremely apparent in the way she surveyed my face and balanced all of my minor asymmetries and early signs of aging. They draw blood, put it in a centrifuge, and inject the fibrin matrix with a tiny needle you can barely feel (not like a filler cannula at all). I could see the results while still sitting in the chair, but your body’s own injected material will continue to promote growth factors in the areas over weeks. A friend I saw the next day told me I looked prettier, imperceptibly, “like I was ovulating.” But actually, this is me in luteal. The highest compliment!!

– Laura Reilly

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Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, Equinox, NAD+, food journaling, weight training, PCOS, breastfeeding, saffron, ubiquinol, perimenopause, alcohol tolerance, synchronized swimming, Lilly Direct…

Welcome back. It’s still High Touch week. Today we’re hearing from a cross-section of New Yorkers who’ve taken or are taking GLPs; brand-name Ozempic and Zepbound to gray-market product via “peptide guy.” One in eight Americans is on a weight-loss medication, and soon we’ll look back and find it hard to believe there was ever any stigma around them at all. (But, to be clear, at this point in time there still very much is.)

Below, I speak to three of my friends about their diverse reasonings for taking the peptide—”being thin” as its own end, as a treatment for PCOS, to lose the baby weight and find themself again…everyone has their reasons. But first, a few things we’ve seen, heard, pined for this week:

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Niko Zucchero, 32

How would you describe your relationship to food, eating, and your body before you started GLPs? What specifically led you to explore them?

I was an emotional eater and had insane food noise, and I was overweight for what I wanted for myself. All of that’s gone.

When and how did you start taking GLPs? I.e. who was your provider, what was the cost, what form(s) did you take?

I tried semaglutide and I was micro dosing it; this was early 2023 but was difficult to reliably get. I took it for a few months and noticed results but nothing major. In August of 2024 I started Trizepitide with a med spa paying $250-$350 weekly—Alchemy43 was my med spa, I chose them because a friend recommended and they had locations NYC and LA. After three months of this, I’d lost 20-ish pounds. Then a friend introduced me to her “peptide guy” and I’ve been with him ever since: it’s $175 per vial which lasts 2-4 weeks depending on my dose at the time, and he has every other peptide you could want; I’ve tried NAD+ injections and a copper-peptide blend, I liked both but didn’t like intramuscular injections with the NAD, and didn’t like the daily injections with the copper blend. I’ll probably circle back to a copper blend now that he has more options available.

What was your initial reaction? How soon did you begin noticing the effects? Did you experience any side effects?

When I switched to Trizepitide and increased dosing on schedule I really started to see results, I lost ~50lbs over the course of a year, quite rapidly in the first six months. (Starting to regularly work out helped.) My side effects have been mild, a bit of car sickness feeling or nausea if I ate too much. Possibly some hair thinning, not enough to stop.

What impact have GLPs had on your health and wellbeing—including any data you've tracked? Positive or negative.

Being thin has helped my wellbeing, sorry it’s tea.

What’s your current GLP protocol? Has it evolved over time?

I’ve taken breaks, and I’m currently more interested in maintenance, or a boost post-holiday / vacation. I’m no longer looking for drastic results, just quieting food noise and maintaining.

Have you noticed GLPs interacting with anything else in your life—other medications, supplements, exercise, alcohol, sleep, mood?

Well, I now take 11 different supplements + a green powder every morning because I am aware that consistently eating only once a day is not going to do everything.

Supplements as of now: NMN 500mg liposomal, probiotic, saffron, liposomal vitamin C 1000mg, B-complex, fiber, astaxanthin 4mg, zinc 15mg + bisglycinate copper 2mg, magnesium glycinate, ubiquinol 10mg, omega-3 (rTG, enteric coated).

Subject to change? I’ve been thinking about adding iron and a collagen powder but I can’t find one I love. My mood is great, being thin puts me in a good mood. I basically don’t drink at all now and I don’t want to be flabby so I also workout.

What do your circles think about your GLP use, if it’s something you’ve shared with them?

I’ve convinced so many people to get on it and try it. I'm screaming it from the rooftops.

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Peptides, BTL, Restylane, PDGF, medical tourism, liposculpture, COVID vaccine, topical Ghk-Cu, vaginal health, Dr. Levine, TM, cellulite, TikTok, GLPs, anti-inflammatory diets…

Welcome back to High Touch. A couple weeks ago I popped into the West Village office of Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank, cosmetic dermatologist and chief medical officer and founder of PFRANKMD and author of “The Pro-Aging Playbook”. He’d topped my list as someone to speak with for launch week after his name was passed to me multiple times during background interviews with professionals when researching this new vertical.

For people who feel the way about a list of aesthetic services the way others do when reading the martini menu at The Grill or a price list at a Prada sample sale—me, to all—Dr. Frank’s website is a dopaminergic blast of anticipation. Tools I know first hand like Morpheus8, Vbeam, and Clear & Brilliant jump out amid tons I haven’t tried or even heard of: Ellacor, AviClear, Aerolase NeoElite Laser (would make beautiful names for a girl), etc. There’s a whole section just for longevity interventions…Niagen IV Therapy, Pelvic Strengthening, even ExoMind, which, to paint a picture, uses magnetic energy to treat depression and is FDA-cleared!

Dr. Frank is a prime example of keeping a stacked deck while playing a conservative hand. More from him on the cosmetic-cultural paradigm shift underway and, more practically, what works and what’s probably a scam, below. But first, some things we saw, heard, chewed on this week.

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Laura Reilly: How long has longevity been a part of your practice?

Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank: Since I started. I have felt that, in a sad way, wellness and beauty used to sit on the opposite sides of the cafeteria when they were always the same thing. Dermatology is no better profession to understand this concept. Generally, beautiful skin is a reflection of the health of the skin. And you can’t see that with our liver, and our brain, and all these things, because [skin] is the largest organ, but it’s all visual.

I’ve always had this idea of “pro-aging,” not “anti-aging.” I started that about 10 years ago, and then in 2019 I wrote my book “The Pro-Aging Playbook.” It was really all about how beauty starts from within, and the things that I’m trained to do are icing on the cake. There’s only so much I can do. I’m having conversations with patients about getting surgery all the time. I don’t dissuade people—if they don’t want it, they don’t want it.

LR: Are you having a conversation with your patients about their lifestyle?

PJF: Eating habits, drinking habits, what their goals are. I talk to them about all of these things. The difficulty right now, which I like the most, is reeducating people, because there’s so much nonsense out there. The regenerative medicine stuff, the peptide gray market, the supplement market, these are all super exciting things in the future. But people don’t want to wait for data. They want to jump on bandwagons. But it’s teaching the ethos of pro-aging and living inside-out.

I went to school to become a dermatologist, and it was as simple as just being involved in skincare—being involved in the health of the skin, the beauty of the skin aesthetically. Now I look at it as: I want to empower people to feel comfortable about aging. Unfortunately, everyone comes in with very specific complaints and feeling that they’re going through it alone. I tell people, “You are special, but you are not uncommon.”

The first thing is to help empower people to feel good about the process. What they don’t realize is that we are all spoiled. A hundred years ago or 150 years ago, life expectancy was half of what it is right now. We’re actually doing quite well, and it’s a blessing to get old and see the wrinkles on our face. We weren’t meant to watch ourselves age. So it’s natural as visual creatures to want the inside and the outside to match. Now we have the technology, and we’re learning a lot about lifestyle things to hopefully help us not only have longevity, but also to have a better health span. There are a lot of technologies and things out now that are combined with that, like peptides, like the BTL products. Using technology that works on the inside, not just on the outside.

LR: You’ve had your practice for 25 years—what did longevity look like then? What kinds of interventions were you recommending?

PJF: I was trying to get patients to let me treat their rashes and do occasional Botox. Lasers were very rudimentary. I took out government loans, and I thought I had the most cutting edge practice, because I had a hair-removal laser, a vascular laser, a pigmented lesion laser. That was it. I always told people, because they’d come in with complaints—“this wrinkle bothers me, this bothers me”—I told them, the healthier we can get your skin, the better you’re going to feel about the way you look.

The first cutting-edge technology that is probably the most impactful thing of my career was Fraxel, which was a non-ablative, no-open-skin way to target sun damage and rejuvenate the skin. That was the ultimate pro-aging device. I do have patients that don’t care about their sun spots, broken capillaries, and things like that, but they do when I tell them it’s those things that are the precursors to wrinkles and loss of elasticity and need for a facelift. I can get your skin healthier, there’s a trickle effect of so many other things.

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TCM, Muay Thai, birth control, hypothyroid, collagen maxxing, intermittent hypoxia, Papa John’s, NAD+, mogging, Aajonus Vonderplanitz, Ray Peat, red Coke, Clavicular, Blue Zones, Carnivore MD, creatine, sauerkraut, EMF exposure, EVOO, Zaid Dahhaj, raw dairy, sleep, non-anabolic steroids, ruminant meat…

Welcome to High Touch! On day four of our launch week takeover, we’re hearing from Substack’s health and wellness new guard—lots to learn there, a million rabbit holes in which to dip an ancestral carrot—but before we get into that, a few things we spotted, tested, heard this week.

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Laura Reilly

Hi Lily, Sami, and Chris,

Thank you all so much for agreeing to participate in this roundtable for High Touch, Magasin’s coming-soon newsletter about aesthetics and longevity.

I’ve said this to each of you individually, but your respective publications represent, to me, the new wave of health and wellness media and are some of the few voices adequately reflecting the real conversations being had on the matter out in the wild. I’m (maybe selfishly) excited to learn more about how you navigate that, and to see some of these topics through your eyes.

So—to start us off...Can everyone introduce themselves and their respective platforms, with some context as to how you arrived at doing what you do?

Hey! I'm Chris. I'm a longtime magazine editor (spent a decade-ish at GQ) and now I'm the EIC of SSENSE, Canada's no. 1 ecommerce platform for buying Lemaire and such. I also host the podcast SuperHuman.

I started my Substack because, like everyone in their mid thirties, I got addicted to working out (Muay Thai) and wanted an excuse to talk to other people about their wellness practices, and maybe even launder a lifelong interest in TCM into the zeitgeist. The name HEAVIES is what someone at my gym called the big kettlebells, and I thought it was a funny name for a newsletter, so here we are.

Fantastic—thank you for hosting us, Laura!

I initially launched as a way to make sense of the ever-evolving world of Health Twitter and related forums. It felt like there were so many insights that simply weren’t being translated for the audiences that could really benefit from them (ie, girls in their 20s who were wanting to get off birth control but unsure how; or people demonizing carbs and generally undereating while also experiencing hypothyroid symptoms1). As I was putting together the pieces in my own healing journey, I felt the urge to share—creating a space for honest explorations of underrepresented / ”alternative health” approaches, along with an open forum for conversation. The name came to me in a dream.

Outside of the newsletter, I work as a copywriter + creative consultant for brands / founders in the health and wellness space. I currently live in Chicago, after 5+ years in NYC.

Hey all, hey Lily, hey Chris, thanks Laura for doing this.

I’m Sami Reiss, I’ve been writing on Substack for three years after a stint of another newsletter, freelance magazine work and working in sports leagues. It began as a feature in my other newsletter a decade ago then a series of columns on Inverse and GQ. It evolved from pure lifting into wellness into something else now… no hard mission but letters now focus on edge of health protocols—raw dairy2, red milk3, collagen maxxing, intermittent hypoxia4, real sicko shit—but framed to an analog tilt: in context of maxxing out the subtle big rocks of groceries and sleep and light environment and movement / lifting / cardio first. The genesis is I started lifting hard in high school because of hardcore music (spec. the back photo of the Age of Quarrel), and got quickly into shakes, PPL splits and macros; I got into the demon obscure shit after an assignment a few years ago and began n=1ing hard on basically everything I cover now years ago. I’ve simplified a bunch since then but do the odd / regular demon intervention / experiment. The name super health… because health isn’t enough…. I am from Ottawa Ontario and live in NYC.

Laura

Yayy we’re all here! Thank you for clocking in and being here everyone.

Jumping in—

The word “health” shows up across each of your newsletters. What does health entail in 2026—what practices fit into that framework?

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Agent Nateur, VRéserve, Veronique Gabai, creative visualization, “The Fat Flush Plan,” glutathione, Abraham-Hicks, cherry juice, margaritas, The Fairmont, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dr. Ellen Manos, Lanserhof, Ava Inness…

Welcome back to High Touch. I first met at a dinner in Paris. I invited her to be in this newsletter while she was in New York, then we spoke over Google Meet a few days later when she was back home in Monaco. She sent me the selfie below from Cannes. To me, Kelly is the ultimate what does she know that I don’t person. How does she do it? In our inaugural High Touch Questionnaire—as comprehensive a survey as I was able to dream up, running through bullet points from sleep hygiene and substance use to plastic surgeons and smart-home devices—I got my answer to those top-level questions, in a fastidious and specific fashion.

Kelly is a bit of a granola mom, albeit impressively disciplined and fully leveraged within that framework considering the demands of her job. She’ll tell you as much herself below, plus things like who her facialist in London is and the functional medicine doctor she shares with Gwyneth Paltrow. You can even watch our full call in the video at the very end of this page. (Kelly’s on-screen grace! My weird lighting!) But first, a few things seen, heard, spotted since our last send:

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At-Home Products

Skincare

I’ve always felt that the closer you stay to nature, the better. Keep things as simple as possible. Certainly in today’s world, where we’re being marketed every single possible thing. I see it with my daughter. It’s a different time to grow up. She has TikTok and she knows everything about every product. I guess I’ve just found the balance of wanting to keep things simple, feel good, and look good.

I’ve always been on the natural side. I’ve always loved it. I remember my mother cleaning the house with certain products. I just thought, “How is this possible? This can’t be good for you.” When I was a kid, I thought, “Oh, I can’t wait to have my own home and use natural products and things.” I’ve always felt that way, even with perfume—I just did a perfume—I couldn’t wear a lot of them. All of these things can be done in a way that’s a bit more natural.

I love to try things and I’m sent things, or my friends will do a line [of products]. There’s always something to try, but I end up with pieces of the puzzle—finding things from each brand that work for me. I tend to like simple things like Agent Nateur. She has one called the Holi Trinity which is vitamin C, an oil, and a hyaluronic spray. Living Libations, really natural good stuff. I like the rose thing that they do: a rose cleanser, a rose emollient serum, a COQ10 serum, and a face spray. Then this line my friend who has bees is making, it’s called VRéserve. I like the Weleda products, the Skin Food is obviously really good. Another one that’s lovely is out of the UK. It’s called Sweet Bee Organics.

Haircare + scalp health

Hair care is more about the brushes. I love the Jäneke brushes and combs. I don't use that much on my hair. I use David Mallet shampoo and conditioner, they’re so good and his salon is so great.

Bodycare

For my body, I love coconut oil.

Hands / feet / nails

I love magnesium cream for feet, or Skin Food. Lately I've gone natural with my nails. This summer I'm going to have to do something. There's a Chanel ballet pink and that really dark, beautiful red that they do, Rouge Noir. Hermès has a nice hand cream, Chanel too. I use a gua sha. I use it mainly if my jaw is tight, or even my neck if it's sore. I use it more as a little massage tool.

Oral health

I like Curaprox toothbrushes, the ones that are different colors. For toothpaste, sometimes I make my own with coconut oil, oregano oil, stuff like that. When I'm traveling, Living Libations makes really good natural toothpastes. Weleda makes a good salt toothpaste.

Fragrance

I recently did a perfume with Veronique Gabai. [Laura note: Kelly also just collaborated with Cayumas on a line of Friulane slippers.] I wanted something rose, and I partnered with a friend of mine who I've known for 15 years who worked at Estée Lauder and did all the perfumes for the brands. And she comes from Antibes, not far from where I'm living. I told her I wanted to be as natural as humanly possible, she already kind of does that anyway with her brand. It's called Rose Première. I'm really excited about it. People are really liking it, so I'm super happy.

At-Home Supplements

Multis / vitamins / minerals

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Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich, under eye filler, Restylane, Ali Sheets, PA-C, RealSelf, Cephalexin, Hydrocodone, baby shampoo, bromelain, The Row, gua sha, Omnilux, dry January…

Welcome to High Touch. Today we’re talking about my plastic surgery—the questionable cosmetic decisions I made that brought me there, the doc I went to, the acute and long-term healing process, lots of progress pics—but before we get into that, a few things spotted, tested, heard in the High Touch universe this week:

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I got lower blepharoplasty plus fat transfer and CO2 laser in January of 2024, at a point when my under eyes were worse-than-baseline.

Some backstory: 8 or so years prior, when I first started working at InStyle, a plastic surgeon’s PR (Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich) offered me free under-eye filler in exchange for using him as an expert source in upcoming coverage. This kind of thing happens all the time. I had genetically hollow and dark eye bags, so I accepted. All was par for the course—the change was subtle and I kind of forgot I had even done anything after a while.

In 2022, the Restylane he had injected over half a decade earlier became encapsulated, i.e. hardened and bulging under the skin. This can happen after a virus like a flu (or even one you don’t otherwise notice) passes through you, which I suspected to be the case: A dot of filler I had added to my jaw to even out the line between my chin and cheek (called the sulcus) at an injector’s office more recently (Ali Sheets, PA-C, when she was at Center Aesthetic) had also suddenly hardened and bulged out. Neither of my past injectors had done anything improper, it’s just the complex nature of filler, which the industry is only starting to recognize after many years of heralding it as low-risk and short-lived.

I ended up having to get the stubborn filler in all three sites dissolved over something like five sessions. Hyaluronidase is super traumatic to the area, and the whole ordeal left the skin under my eyes really baggy and thin. Some months later, I took a selfie on an overcast day and was so alarmed that I decided I had to do something about it. Realistically, the aging process also played a role.

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A lot has happened since I announced High Touch earlier this year. First, a vitriolic cross-platform comment war (I got doxxed! It was crazy) and a drone of essays from self-fashioned cultural commentators. I got to be the internet’s Rorschach test for a fortnight. But then…every major publication got their peptide coverage in. A dozen Substacks centered on new-guard wellness emerged. Celebrities and public figures reclaimed the narratives around their regimens in droves. This isn’t the same landscape it was even a few months ago.

We’re launching High Touch with a week of programming that crosses a variety of themes and formats I created this newsletter to explore. Gird your inboxes. No spoilers, it’s all coming starting tomorrow.

Today, though, a collection of concepts and vantage points that together form a High Touch manifesto:

• What I’m calling Selfspan: just as “healthspan” refined our aspirations for our lifespans—not just living longer, but being of sound body and mind for those years—selfspan affirms the desire to identify with the person in the mirror over that time, too. It means whatever it means to you.

• This newsletter is here to document the world around us, not shape it. You’ll never see us saying “do this,” ever. This is both practical—physiologies differ wildly, everyone draws their own line in the sand—but also, it’s just of no benefit or detriment to this newsletter whether a reader picks up Botox or not.

• Relatedly, no moralizing. Planet Fitness said it best when they proclaimed to be a “judgement-free zone.” (Half joking.) However people want to be healthy or look hot or live to 1,000 years old, honestly, let them. Longevity—selfspan—as a personal goal is not mutually exclusive with other human qualities.

• Research is a gradient. Not everything featured here will be based on meta-analyses or RCTs. Not everything will be FDA-approved or on-label. Not everything will be “white market.” Our network of nearly 50 fact checkers will orient the content we publish within the greater scientific literature and link out to further relevant reading. Our ever-expanding professional network is around to lend their insights to the slipperier subjects. And for those conversations along the fringe, the more interest the public shows in a topic, the more research stands to emerge around it.

• It’s called High Touch for a reason. A lot of what we cover here is expensive, exclusive, niche. This comes with a perspective that those paying the high cost of emerging tech are bankrolling the road to eventual lower mass pricing. I’m not saying they always will, but life-changing health implications can emerge from blurring the elective-essential divide. Think about botox for migraines, red-light therapy for wound healing…I’d bet we’ll be seeing hyperbaric oxygen therapy prescribed post-surgery en masse within a decade. Still, this trickle down is secondary to the fact that people can spend their money how they wish.

In keeping with High Touch’s central tenet of agency, I’ve made it really easy for those who want to be here to enjoy all of the work we’re publishing, and for those who don’t to opt out without losing access to Magasin’s core content—biweekly fashion and interiors shopping sends (and beyond). You can do that through this button ↓ that lets you toggle on/off your HT and Magasin subscriptions separately.

Manage your subscription

Also important to state is that High Touch is a paywalled product. Free subs will still get a preview of each feature, plus our industry news cull (for now), but you’ll need to sign up for a paid subscription to read the bulk of our work. $8 a month, $80 a year. Founding plan for $800 just to see what happens (it could only make our content better). That link above leads you to your subscription tier, too.

Until tomorrow x

In the beginning, there was health! Then came wellness. And self care. Today, we’ve arrived at another inflection point in the way we think about our bodies from the inside out. Once fringe, the apertures of longevity, aesthetics, biohacking, maxxing and otherwise “beyond the gloss” pursuits are widening to include more of us every day. We are entering the high touch era.

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In January alone, I’ve done Botox, Emface, IPL, scheduled Moxi / broadband light, seen my orthodontist, cardiologist, GP, OBGYN, ophthalmologist, dermatologist, plastic surgeon, trainer, and pilates instructor. I’ve renewed my health insurance and medspa membership. I’ve drawn blood three times and given two urine samples. My current skincare routine is 6-8 steps, my daily supplement stack is 17 pills (20 on Mondays) and a peptide taken subQ, and I’ve engaged at least 5 high-tech tools from my home device library (red light, SAD light, PEMF, etc). I’ve tracked every meal, macro, and relevant micronutrient. All of this, and I consider myself pretty healthy and not hypochondriac. I am n=1, but I am not alone here.

GLP-1 use doubled in a year. Peptides went mainstream. Aesthetic procedures are up 40% from pre-pandemic levels. My group chats are planning out cos-medical tourism itineraries in Korea and swapping Tixel providers and talking NAD+. I’m willing to bet yours are, too. Gossip matters when it’s building what could become a $130 billion industry by 2030. This is the scene we will be tracking through exclusive personal interviews, medical advisories, first-hand journeys, anonymous tips, community tableaus…

After more than a year in development, I’m excited to soon introduce you to Magasin’s newest and most ambitious vertical: High Touch, coming this spring.