In this send:
Courtney Applebaum, AGNP-C, Daxxify, PRF, Alexis Page, tinned fish, microplastics, Ray Peat, NEAT, microneedling, Les Roches Rouge, Aufguss, Nolita Dirtbag, cold plunge…
Hi, welcome back to High Touch after hours. A good time to talk all things aesthetics and longevity, don’t you think? It’s been a month of me doing stuff to my face—Daxxify and PRF at LA’s famed Contrapposto and microneedling with PRP at one of the NY chain clinics you keep hearing about, and a visit to the clout sauna (all very par for the course). Plus we hear from Sami Reiss about implementing a strict sardine regimen into his diet. Sami has been on the “dark nutrition” beat for years before it earned itself a NYT trend story, so he’s exactly the person I would take seriously about this kind of stunt.
All of that below the fold, but first, what’s happening in this little “dark biology” world of ours.
A touch of High Touch
I stopped by Lore this week—and write about it below—where I got an early preview of an excellent USM Furniture link-up between the bathing club, New Balance, and modular home goods brand: a cold plunge with attached deck built from the iconic chrome pipes and solid panels. Lore activated the plunge at a NY marathon event over the weekend while at the same time previewing a DSM x NB shoe, which cites Dover Street Market as a third collaborator, which is yet to launch. The sports-lifestyle-recovery synapses are firing.
I was sent a WHOOP recently and realized on opening the box that I would never wear one. Even my Oura is becoming a visual hindrance. Anyway, I think wearables know their gadgety look needs to evolve—there’s one highly compelling-to-me expression of which I can tell you about on Friday. WHOOP, in the meantime, has collaborated with British designer Samuel Ross on a couple of bands that, while still techy, I guess lend that oomph of a cool creative agency. Also, a few “technical puffer” jackets, “performance bras,” and other apparel to round out the collection.
New biometrics-to-prescriptions membership Aerwell launches. It’s like…peptides plus DEXA plus VO2 Max testing plus hormone therapy plus IV drips plus Botox? Lots of things that make sense in these pages, but which make even more sense in Las Vegas, where the subscription is launching first, in partnership with Everhaus, a physical wellness club also from founder Justin Hibbert.
Light touch
Facial balancing at Contrapposto
“The Row of aesthetics” they say, which I’ll reluctantly corroborate now that I’ve visited. It’s a sort of desperate superlative, but it telegraphs a few true things: first off, that the space was designed by Courtney Applebaum, who also did The Row’s Melrose Place store. So there’s a décoratif streak that runs through both, and it’s a lovely clinic to spend time in. I think what the phrase is supposed to shorthand is a restrained approach, where fashion half of this equation lends embellishment sparingly, and the cosmetic end, represented by Contrapposto founder and AGNP-C Casey Axelrod-Welk, is conservative with injectables.