Your FYP is full of red light masks, beef tallow girlies, vibration plates, and someone telling you that you need to be drinking more protein. But how much of it is actually doing something and how much of it is just selling you a problem you didn’t have?
On What We Said, best friends and cohosts Jaci Marie Smith and Chelsey Jade Curtis go through every major wellness trend of 2026 and give their honest verdict on what’s worth your time and money, what’s a total scam, and what falls somewhere in the messy middle.
One important caveat before diving in: “Every person is so uniquely individual in what their body, their mind, their spirit, what you’re craving, what you need,” Smith says. “There really is not one size fits all with any wellness.” With that said, here’s where they landed.
Hydrafacials
✗ Skip it
“A hydrafacial feels like I just did a face mask at home,” Curtis says. “It’s not like I’m coming out and I’m like so plump and like I literally look like a brand new baby.” Both hosts agree that an exfoliating peel or something with extractions is a way better use of your money.
Beef tallow on your face
✗ Skip it
This one has completely taken over TikTok but the reviews from actual skin professionals tell a different story. “The girls who come into me who use beef tallow on their face have the driest skin I’ve ever seen in my life,” Smith says about what her esthetician told her. A family member had the same experience after jumping on the trend. “She was using beef tallow all the time and she’s like, ‘Oh, my skin’s never been worse.’” Beef tallow isn’t inherently bad, but if you’re just slapping it on without the right prep underneath, you might be making things worse.
Skin taping
✗ Skip it
Those silicone patches you put on your face at night to prevent wrinkles? Curtis tried them during pregnancy when she wasn’t getting Botox and the verdict was clear. “The lift was way too much. What I actually had to put into getting a probably not that crazy result was too much,” she says. “It wasn’t worth the time and money to me.” If you don’t enjoy the ritual of it, you’re never going to keep up with it. And if you’re not consistent, what’s the point?
Ear seeds
✗ Skip it
Short and sweet from Curtis: “They hurt my ear so bad.” Moving on.
Anything labeled ‘detox’
✗ Skip it
Both hosts flagged “detox” as a wellness buzz word that doesn’t really mean anything specific. “What do you mean by detox?” Curtis asks. Your liver is already doing that job for free.
Red light therapy
✓ Worth it (with a catch)
“When I do my red light therapy mask consistently, I do feel like I see a difference,” Curtis says. The key word is consistently. “It’s one of those things where if you’re doing it here and there, you’re not going to see results,” Smith points out. “You have to be very consistent.”
Drinking more water
✓ Worth it
Curtis says her eye floaters disappeared once she started staying properly hydrated. “So many ailments that I had thought were like chronic things that I was dealing with, I’m just dehydrated,” she says. Smith tells a similar story about a trip where she was pounding water and electrolytes and suddenly felt incredible, only to realize she’d been running on empty her entire normal life.
The one tip they both swear by? Twenty ounces of H2O before your morning caffeine. Costs nothing, takes two minutes, and both of them say it’s been a total game changer for energy, skin, and basically everything.
Lifting weights
✓ Worth it
Short, sweet, and universally agreed upon. Their trainer Caitlyn says the “strength training plus Pilates combo” is the move for women specifically. No notes.
Lymphatic drainage massage
✓ Worth it
“I feel like it genuinely feels so good for your health and it’s kind of an instant thing too,” Curtis says. “You go once, you’re feeling amazing.” Smith agrees that massage in general is always worth the money. If you’ve never tried a lymphatic drainage specific massage, both hosts say you’re missing out.
Sleepy girl mocktail
✓ Worth it
Chances are you’ve already heard about magnesium for sleep, but the girlies are leveling it up by mixing it with tart cherry juice for the ultimate bedtime mocktail. Smith says it “knocks you out.” Zero caffeine, zero effort, and you wake up feeling like you slept for twelve hours.
Legs up the wall
✓ Worth it
“You literally instantly feel the blood that has been just pounding into your feet and your legs all day from standing up instantly just release,” Curtis says. All you need is ten minutes and a wall. Curtis does it while her kids are falling asleep, which is honestly kind of genius because you’re already just laying there anyway.
Not eating after 8 p.m.
✓ Worth it
Both hosts agree they feel noticeably better when dinner happens at 5:30 or 6 and they stop eating for the night. “When I stay up too late and then I get hungry again and I eat like a bowl of cereal and it’s like 10:30, I’m always kind of just like, I don’t feel as good going to bed,” Smith says.
Warm drinks over iced everything
✓ Worth it
Curtis has been on a warm drink journey and she’s fully converted. “There is just something herbalistic about it. Something calming to the gut. Something that doesn’t activate you,” she says. Smith connects it to how we instinctively reach for soup and tea when we’re sick or postpartum. “If you’re putting ice cold things in there all day, duh, it does something,” Curtis adds. You don’t have to break up with your iced matcha, but maybe stop making your insides feel like they live in an igloo 24/7.
Vibration plates
⚠️ It’s complicated
Smith looks up the benefits and they include circulation, muscle activation, bone density, and balance through rapid muscle contractions. “Okay, that seems different than going on a walk,” she says. Curtis isn’t mad at them either. If you love your vibration plate, keep doing your thing. Just maybe don’t expect it to replace an actual workout.
Protein everything
⚠️ It’s complicated
Here’s the thing, protein is great. Nobody is arguing that. But Curtis thinks the obsession has gotten a little out of hand. “Fiber is much more neglected than protein,” she says. “Very rarely are people coming to the hospital like years of protein deficiency. Protein’s everywhere.” You can get protein from fast food, from snacks, from basically breathing in 2026. Fiber on the other hand? Most people aren’t even thinking about it, and it’s the one that actually keeps everything running the way it should (think: regular poops, less bloating, happy gut).
The placebo effect
⚠️ Let people enjoy things
Both hosts land on this: if something isn’t hurting you and it makes you feel good, does it really matter if the science is bulletproof? “If you feel healthy and energized doing a routine or using a greens powder that you like and it tastes delicious to you and it gives you a pep in your step, keep doing it,” Smith says. Marie adds that debunking has its place when an industry is taking advantage of people, but for harmless rituals that make your day better, “why do we have to go and yuck people’s yums?”
The real takeaway from the whole episode? Most of the best wellness practices are free. Walking, sleeping, hydrating, eating whole foods, and having good relationships. Everything else is just a bonus tool in your belt. Or as Curtis put it after looking at a photo of a nearly 100-year-old Italian woman making pasta on her balcony: “I don’t know if she got to 98 by red light masks and beef tallow.”
Listen to the full episode on What We Said with Jaci Marie and Chelsey Jade, available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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