I’ve tried a lot weird things for the sake of beauty, from using a lip-vacuum device in attempt to fake a plumper pout to dousing my lackluster locks with a bottle of IPA beer to restore some shine after a bleach job gone wrong. One thing I never imagined doing, however, is spreading warm candle wax on my body with the hopes of achieving supple skin, but alas, here I am.

Before you assume that this skincare-candle hybrid is a product of kink culture or a sexy Valentine’s Day gimmick, hear me out, because apparently skincare candles are the latest thing in the beauty and wellness space. I’m guessing you’re either intrigued or horrified at this point, so I’ll go ahead and get on with my Neom Organics Skin Treatment Candle Review.

To offer some much-needed context here, I’ve been a huge fan of Neom’s luxe candle range for some quite some time now, but I have to admit — when I stumbled upon their Skin Treatment Candle, I was a little hesitant — not to mention kind of confused. But, in the name of beauty (and my job, of course) I figured I had to give it a try for myself. Spoiler alert: it’s not scary, painful, or kinky (unless you want it to be, that is) at all.

In fact, it’s the ultimate me-time selfcare product I’ve been subconsciously dreaming into existence for the past year (I mean, let’s face it: we all could use a little extra TLC after the dumpster fire of a year that was 2020.)

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Basically, you simply light the candle as you normally would, wait 10 or 15 minutes for the skincare-grade wax to soften and pool into a liquid, and then you’re ready to drizzle this yummy skin-enhancing wax-to-oil formula all over your skin — just don’t forget to blow out the flame. Clearly, Neom’s Skincare Treatment Candle isn’t formulated with any old candle wax. The soybean oil base is infused with not only twenty-four different de-stressing essential oils, but also a slew of nourishing skincare ingredients, including jojoba oil, cocoa butter, almond oil and rapeseed oil.

Courtesy of Neom Organics.

Neom Organics Intensive Skin Treatment Candle

It probably goes without saying, but this candle also happen to smell like straight-up heaven on earth — i.e. lavender, jasmine and Brazilian rosewood.

Full disclosure: while I was ever-so-slightly concerned about getting burned, rest assured, it wasn’t an issue. In fact, this is one of the most relaxing nights to myself I’ve had in a hot (pun intended) minute. Neom recommends that you make a night of it too — draw a warm bath, pour a glass of wine, and get ready to have the literal softest skin ever after massage in the moisturizing oil and breathe in the relaxing blend of anxiety-erasing aromas.

Neom offers two versions of their Skincare Treatment Candle: the Scent to De-Stress and the Scent to Sleep. I tried the de-stress version, and as someone with an apparent inability to fully unwind, I found that it really did the trick.

Courtesy of Neom Organics.

Neom Organics Perfect Night’s Sleep Skin Treatment Candle

For all of the restless night owls out there, it’s time to give this sleepy time candle a try. Not only does it smell and feel amazing on the skin, but it also helps you wind down and prepare for some solid shut eye with the help of English lavender, calming sweet basil, and jasmine.

Buy: Neom Perfect Night’s Sleep Candle $46

The number one reason seniors seek medical health care is frailty, which is a very general term. In this first article we’ll look at the definition of frailty, how it affects us as we age and one important symptom we should look out for.

What Frailty Means to the General Public

To most people, frailty pertains to a person who is weakening, less able to take care of their own needs. The dictionary agrees and simply says that frailty is a condition of being weak and delicate.

In reality, though, frailty begins much earlier than our senior years, and the medical community has a much more extensive, complex definition.

What Frailty Means to the Medical Community

According to the Review Annales de Gerontologie authors Jean-Pierre Michel, Pierre-Olivier Lang and Dina Zekry: 

“Frailty is an extended process of increasing vulnerability, predisposing [one] to functional decline and ultimately leading to death. Different presentations of frailty are encountered by the clinician, as a result of the combination of factors such (as) age, gender, lifestyle, socio-economic background, co-morbidities, and affective, cognitive or sensory impairments.”

In other words, frailty is a condition, a medical syndrome or a group of symptoms that collectively characterize it as a disease. But some elderly never get frail.

How Does Frailty Affect Old Age?

Frailty appears as an age-related physiologic vulnerability resulting from an impaired homeostatic reserve. Homeostatic here means the tendency of the body to remain stable as it compensates for environmental changes.

The body is a marvelous machine, always repairing itself. But as our body becomes less able to withstand stress, it becomes unstable, leading to a higher risk of frailty-related complications.

These include falls, functional decline, poly-medication, an increased risk of hospitalization, cross infection, institutionalization and eventually, death.

One is pre-frail when one has sufficient physiological reserves for acute diseases, injury or stress. The patient recovers completely.

One is frail, though, when one does not recover completely after any new acute disease, injury or stress. I have recurring back problems and using this definition I worry I could be diagnosed as frail.

What My Doctor Prescribed

My doctor suggested that I was losing too much muscle mass. He prescribed drinking a protein shake before any type of exercise, and lifting weights. He was especially concerned about my legs.

I paid attention to the problem but decided that more walking would do the trick. Also, I ditched the protein powder. I was wrong. After three months, he measured and I came up short.

Dr. Emhof wanted to see me again in another three months to measure my progress. Each time he used a body composition monitor to measure muscle mass throughout my body.

So in three months, I was back and had made only a little progress. He stressed weight training again – five reps of 15 or more – about a 15-minute workout at least two times a week. Begrudgingly, I joined a gym for the first time in 20 years.

What Leads to Loss of Muscle Mass?

Loss of muscle mass begins early. As we engage in lesser activity, this leads to a loss of as much as 3% to 5% of muscle mass each decade after age 30. This lessens our strength and mobility.

Remember the term homeostasis? Our body’s damage repair processes start out really good, but as time goes by, the damages accumulate. The repair process wanes. As a lot of things go wrong, everything begins to double and the body cannot repair itself.

According to medical science, our muscles grow and strengthen until about age 30, but then the process reverses itself. We begin to lose muscle mass and function, losing some muscle mass even if we remain active.

What Does Loss of Muscle Mass Lead to?

The medical term describing loss of muscle mass is sarcopenia. This process typically happens faster around the age of 75, though it can begin as early as 65. Loss of muscle mass is a characteristic of frailty.

Also around the age of 75, a person’s overall health can spiral downward, leading to weakness and loss of stamina. Physical inactivity increases and muscle mass declines faster. This is mostly prevalent in those of us who are inactive, but it can affect active adults, too.

This causes other symptoms, such a reduction of the nerve cells that normally send signals to our brain to begin movement. There can also be a decrease in hormones, such as testosterone.

Loss of muscle mass can lead to the body’s inability to turn protein into energy, and even more important, an inability to get enough protein and calories a day to build body mass. We notice this when an individual stops eating and begins to lose weight.

In the next segment of this post, we’ll talk more about muscle mass, what to look for, and how to reverse its loss. We will also talk about how doctor’s measure frailty.

Do you worry about being frail and losing your strength and balance as you get older? Is the loss of muscle mass something that is affecting you in your 60s? Please share your observations in the comments below.