Tracee Ellis Ross is clearly ageing backwards, after all Diana Ross's apple doesn't fall far from the tree. However, beyond what some may call a youthful appearance also lies a youthful soul and great humour. Tracee had us in stitches when she posted a video on her Instagram mainfeed practicing wood therapy on her body, while rocking a sheet mask on her face (which later on was recycled and neatly placed over her chest instead).
On the video, the actress is wearing a yellow house sundress, with her hair slicked back, sheet mask on and body glowing – in short, she had her self care attire on. Although she seems pretty heavy handed with it, wood therapy does appear to be quite a heavy duty activity in order to really see results. One thing for certain, those first few seconds of the video made us all stop scrolling and ask ourselves: “what on earth is she doing?”
Massaging her body with wood. Durrrr… Why aren't you?
The comments were flooded with link requests, asking the Black-ish star to drop her best Amazon recommendations for a set of their own. It's clear that our queen of body care and wellness has put 400,000+ people onto wood therapy, or at the very least that is how many people who've (literally) liked what they saw. “It's the eagerness & determination for me 😩😂 but 👸🏿 all you need is a little Hula Healing in ya' life! ⭕️🥳✨️You are hilarious & beauty-FULL!” says a user in the comments. Others comment their excitement to get on the wood therapy train: “*adds wood therapy tools to Amazon cart*” says another IG user.
As intriguing as Tracee made it all look, what exactly is wood therapy and how does it benefit your skin?
What is wood therapy?
Wood therapy (also known as Maderoterapia), is an ancient massage technique that, as the name suggests, involves the use of specialised wooden tools, such as rollers, sculpting circulation, and wooden cups to perform a deep tissue massage, and stimulate circulation on different areas of the body. The wooden tools are designed to mimic the shape and contours of the human body to ease movement and also so that you can apply targeted pressure.
What are the benefits of wood therapy?
Wood therapy is known to promote lympathic drainage – drains excess water, proteins, fats and toxics from body tissues down thin tubes to the lymph nodes, – and reduce the look of cellulite. Applying gentle pressure as you move the tools around your body using a combination of rhythmic movements, will help break down localised fat deposits, improve blood circulation and encourage the removal of toxins from the body. There is also anecdotal evidence suggesting that wood therapy can also help release muscle tension, improve the overall appearance and texture of the skin as well as alleviate stress.
Tracee might be onto something here.
Wood therapy is starting to gain quite a bit of buzz in the wellness and holistic health scene, and we're not saying it's all because of Tracee… All we're saying is that aunty has made a great case for it. Just look at her…
It's natural, non-invasive, it's affordable (you only need to buy the tools once), and it feels pretty damn good. Aunty Tracee Ellis Ross comes through with the good stuff yet again…
This article was originally published on Glamour UK.
