Edition 66
Is everyone doing peptides without you?
Some things I did this week: went to a lunch for Simone Perele’s new Bodies range of chic shapewear (lovely); hosted an Autumn/Winter 26 trends panel at the new Chatswood Chase (fun); tried dying my own hair because I never have time for the salon and my greys are out of control (disaster). I did, however, work with celebrity-fave stylist Michael Brennan on a shoot and we agreed that the side part is well and truly back, which the Oscars also backed up. Speaking of, the Late Night Snacking Trivia Game obsession round this week is the 2026 Awards season, and everyone except Timothee Chalamet should jump on and prove how closely you were paying attention.
On to the links…
Everyone’s a grey-market peptide junkie now
I’m linking to two articles here, which indicates a moderate amount of cultural attention, but I actually find it bizarre that we aren’t talking more about how mainstream it’s become to buy grey-market peptides from China and inject them in your kitchen at home like regular steroid bros. Like, is this not the most curious lifestyle development that no one could have predicted even just a few years ago? (I’m not judging, just fascinated by how quickly our baseline for wellness and aesthetics is constantly shifting.) If you’re curious about what might be currently sitting in your neighbour’s vegetable crisper, the heavy hitters are: the classic GLP-1s (Ozempic/Wegovy); Retatrutide (the ‘triple agonist’ being touted as the next-gen weight loss holy grail); the ‘Wolverine Stack’ (BPC-157 and TB-500 for recovery); GHK-Cu, a copper peptide for skin anti-ageing; and NAD+ (technically a coenzyme, but very peptide-adjacent in the longevity bro-sphere). Kinda puts all those 11-step Korean skincare routines we freaked out about a few years ago into perspective.
The Peptide Boom Is Getting Out of Hand, the Atlantic
The Latest Injectable Peptides Trend on Social Media is Worrying Health Experts, ABC
Connected: from The Cut’s “The Women DIY-ing Their Weight-Loss Drugs”—
As shortages of GLP-1s have resolved and off-label usage has become increasingly common, a class of casual users like Miriam has emerged — not obese, not diabetic, not even overweight, and, often, not on the radar of doctors. Some of the people I spoke to said they worked with a health-care professional to determine how much they should take and for how long, but many did not and instead DIY’d and improvised their dosage with advice cobbled together from online commenters and their real-life friends. They know this is not the approved way to use a GLP-1 and that what they’re doing is risky. But they also know enough people who are doing the same thing to not be that worried about it.
Also connected: The rise of the supplement stack
If you’re not DIYing your peptides, you’re probably taking a bunch of supplements. On social it seems that the era of the bathroom shelfie and the luxury fashion haul has been usurped by something new and harder to swallow: the supplement stack. We’ve moved from bragging about our skincare routines to broadcasting the dizzying array of powders and capsules we gulp down before breakfast, with some people apparently taking up to 70 (70!) without necessarily seeing a benefit.
Would You Spend $1,000 a Month on Supplements? WSJ
Someone check on Grandma, she’s in a 4am Facebook hole again
The Washington Post published a story called “Are boomers the real iPad babies?”, and nothing truer has ever been written in this world. I have a friend who recently came to the conclusion that the reason her mother was getting progressively angrier with the world is because she wakes up at 4am and doomscrolls for three hours before anyone else is even up. Someone who looks very similar to my own mother, but definitely isn’t because she’ll likely read this newsletter, will sit at a table with her grandchildren while simultaneously scrolling her phone looking at videos of them. Forget the teens (who have largely ignored or got around their own ban anyway)—is what we actually need some boomer social media parameters? Or even just a Words With Friends downtime schedule?
Despite countless studies about teenage screen time use, the impact of phone addiction during retirement — which coincides with the typical age of cognitive decline — has yet to be fully understood. Research doesn’t yet tell us what it means for individuals. Or for their families.
One Washington woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so she could freely vent about her in-laws in a national newspaper, said her husband’s parents visit just a handful of times per year. During those visits, they spend much of the time scrolling Facebook and reading news apps and online shopping for their grandbabies — but very little time playing with them.
“If Grandma can’t even read ‘Goodnight Moon’ without taking a call, what is she telling her grandkids? Is the other person or device more important than you?”
Fittingly, Esquire also ran a story this week called It’s Now Lame to Be on Your Phone All the Time.
Just a very good house that I’m completely obsessed with (and it comes with turndowns and room service)
During the pandemic, my kids got an Oculus VR headset and even though it made me motion sick, sometimes I’d put it on to just lie on the sofa because I was really into the spacey, desert house you got to hang out in its version of a home screen. It was calming and dreamy and there was no Zoom or home schooling—or for that matter, children—there. Anyway, a real life version of that desert dreamhouse has just opened in the form of a new six-bedroom villa residence at Amangiri in Utah, set within nine acres of pristine landscape and with its own spa, gym and 36-metre pool and access to all the Aman resort facilities and services, now open for bookings, or to own if you’re the luckiest of ducks who has ever lived. Adding to the vision board immediately.
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Below the paywall:
Beware the micro-cheater
The millennial girlboss is back, but she’s more chill this time
Banksy has been uncovered
Open AI wants to faciliate your robot sexting
Miuccia Prada has always been more interesting than anyone else in fashion
Why straight men have lame senses of humour compared to our own, elite ones
The Oscars gift bags were insane
Polyamory is not for everyone, but everyone has an opinion on it
How the ‘doodle dog took over
Everyone’s jobs suck right now, not just yours. Maybe that might make you feel better, or maybe it might make you feel worse
What is ‘rawdogging boredom’?
Where we fall on the World Happiness Report
Apres ski partying is being replaced by something much more boring
