All the weird wellness tips Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop has promoted

Vagina steaming anyone?

5 years ago

Gwyneth Paltrow’s new docu-series The Goop Lab is finally out on Netflix. The show promises Gwyneth and the Goop team looking at “psychedelics, energy work and other challenging wellness topics.”

Aka a bunch of ‘wellness’ bullshit. The reviews have come in and they are savage, with the Guardian calling it “ignorant” and a “mess”.

This new series isn’t the first time Gwyneth and her Goop team have come under fire. Since the brand began in 2008 it has always been criticised for advertising and suggesting a bunch of controversial, dangerous, weird and down right out of touch ‘advice’ and products.

Here are the most controversial things Gwyneth Paltrow and the Goop team have suggested:

When they told women to shove a jade egg up their vaginas

In 2017 Goop published an interview with Shiva Rose, a healer and beauty guru. Shiva suggested women should insert an egg-shaped stone of nephrite jade into their vaginas.

She said putting the stone in your vagina would increase orgasm, create kidney strength, intensify life force and tighten and tone your vagina (as if we needed the pressure of toning another muscle.)

Dr. Jen Gunter quickly dismissed these claims and called them a “hot mess”. She said placing the egg in your vagina could cause pelvic problems and could increase the risk of toxic shock syndrome, which can be fatal.

Goop were fined $145,000 for “unsubstantiated” marketing claims. The chief financial officer for Goop denied they mislead customers. He said: “Goop provides a forum for practitioners to present their views and experiences with various products like the jade egg. The law, though, sometimes views statements like this as advertising claims, which are subject to various legal requirements…

“The Task Force assisted us in applying those laws to the content we published, and we appreciate their guidance in this matter as we move from a pioneer in this space to an established wellness authority.”

Goop are still selling their own jade egg for £60.

Promoting a 24-karat gold sex toy

I’m not here to hate on sex toys. What I am here to hate on is the idea women need to spend over £10,000 in order to get an orgasm.

In the sex issue of Goop, Gwyneth and her team recommended a $15,000 gold dildo. Yeah I don’t know what to say.

This toy isn’t dangerous, it’s just wildly out of touch with the vast majority of people’s spending. And frankly if you need to spend that much on a sex toy, maybe you should find yourself a new man.

Is this how relaxed you’ll feel after using the toy? via Instagram @goop

Letting bees sting her to get rid of scars

In an interview with the New York Times Gwyneth said she gets a treatment called apitherapy. Which is essentially letting bees sting you to get rid of scars and inflammation. Well beauty is pain and all that.

Her controversial beauty treatment was brought up again in 2018 when a woman in Spain died after getting apitherapy.

And on a post on Goop in 2019 bee venom is recommended as part of a process of recovering from Lyme disease.

Steaming your vagina with mugwort

Nothing called wort should be going anywhere near a vagina. Goop posted this spa treatment on their website and said the treatment balances female hormone levels.

The treatment works by infrared and mugwort being steamed into the vagina. They described it as: “You sit on what is essentially a mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al. It is an energetic release—not just a steam douche—that balances female hormone levels.”

Dr. Draion Burch discounted the claims and said the vagina is self cleaning. Dr Jen Gunter also commented it would be impossible for the steam to reach your uterus and she suggested the Goop team need a anatomy lesson. She said: “The people who push V-steams also need a little anatomy lesson … steam isn’t going to get into your uterus from your vagina unless you are using an attachment with some kind of pressure and MOST DEFINITELY NEVER EVER DO THAT.”

Gwyneth Paltrow has personally defended Goop’s decision to promote vagina steaming. She said in an interview with The Cut that vagina steaming is part of Korean medicine and she’s found it a real benefit. Oh and it also gets Goop’s page views up. She said: “It’s been in Korean medicine for thousands of years and there are real healing properties. If I find benefit to it and it’s getting a lot of page views, it’s a win-win.”

Goop claimed your bra could cause breast cancer

In 2017 they released an article speculating the underwire in bras could be linked to breast cancer. Dr. David Gorski, a breast cancer surgeon, dismissed their claim by saying there was no scientific evidence to support this theory.

He wrote: “According to this study, there was no increased risk of breast cancer due to wearing a bra, a result that, to breast cancer specialists, was about as surprising as the observation that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, water is wet, and gasoline flammable.”

via Instagram @goop

When they suggested getting coffees enemas

Goop started promoting a DIY coffee enema kit in 2018 for £100. If you don’t know what a coffee enema is, it’s essentially shooting coffee up your arse to clean it and remove toxins.

They claimed the enema could relieve depression, confusion, allergies and severe pain. The enema kit came under fire because it is potentially dangerous. Some reports, unrelated to the Goop kit, have said people administering their own coffee enemas have left them with infection and severe pain. Ouch.

When she thought we all wanted to know what her vagina smelt like

Not controversial but I couldn’t leave this one out. Goop have recently released a candle called ‘This smells like my vagina’ for $75 and it has actually sold out.

According to the website the candle is made from “geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and ambrette seed”.

via Goop

When she suggested using a patch of space suit to help with anxiety

In 2017 Goop promoted Body Vibe Stickers, which were claimed to be made out of the same material as NASA space suits. The purpose of these over priced fabrics was to stick them to your arm to “rebalance energy frequency” in the body.

The material is said to be able to help with rebalancing because it monitors astronauts’ vitals. Goop described the theory behind it as: “Human bodies operate at an ideal energetic frequency, but everyday stresses and anxiety can throw off our internal balance, depleting our energy reserves and weakening our immune systems.”

One of the former NASA scientists described the stickers as “a load of B.S”. After NASA dismissed the healing power of the stickers, Goop told The Telegraph they went back to the original company who sold the stickers and removed the claim from their website. They said they have “gone back to the company to inquire about the claim and removed the claim from our site until we get additional verification.”

Goop claimed negativity changes the structure of water

Yeah so water has feelings if didn’t you know? Goop posted about the work of Masuru Emoto who claimed negativity can effect the structures of water and molecules change depending on the words said around it.

They claimed in a study done by Emoto when water was placed in vials labelled ‘I hate you’, they no longer crystallised and produced grey lumps but placed in vial labelled ‘I love you’, it flourished and produced “gleaming, perfectly hexagonal crystals.”

However the findings have been widely discredited by the scientific community.

All her wildly expensive products and wellness sessions

Throughout the years Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop have promoted some seriously expensive products from $125,000 18k dumbbells to a $244 tooth paste squeezer (yeah that’s a thing?) Gwyneth continues to sell stupidly out of touch products that no one needs.

She’s also recently launched the Goop Health Summits, which cost an eye-watering £1,000 per ticket or £8,000 for a weekend package. The summits have panel discussions, alternative medicine, fitness classes and wellness experiences but many of the attendees left the summit feeling disappointed.

Goop responded to the claims the London summit had been negatively recieved. They said to The Cut: “The overwhelming response to our London Summit was incredibly positive. It should be noted that the actual value of the weekend package was over $8000.

“The cost included a hotel suite (valued at $1600) and a gift bag valued at $3000, among other items. During the event, Gwyneth opened the day, conducted three fireside chats (almost half the day’s panels) and hosted a workout and Q & A the next day.”