A few weeks ago I was approached by Philip Stein to talk about their Health Bracelets. Reading on their website I learned Philip Stein claims their bracelets act as a sort of antenna that “channels the frequencies naturally found in the environment toward our bodies to promote overall well being.”
I can hear you rolling your eyes! I rolled my eyes too. I mean it sounds pretty new agey. Except that the online reviews have been surprisingly positive. Philip Stein has sold thousands with almost no returns.
Dozens of people have written online reviews talk about how it helped calm them, made them feel more energetic and sleep more deeply. The company kindly offered one to my friend, a LA based actor (if you saw you’d say ‘oh yeah…that guy) who was in town for MBFW, unfortunately he was swamped (as was I) and I never got the bracelet to him. So I started wearing it.
A few reviewers described a tingling feeling in their fingers when they first put it on. I felt that too. I DID notice one thing. When I ate things that were bad for me, candy, soda etc, I felt REALLY bad right away. Queasy, indigestion, etc., and I found myself craving foods that were good for me. Fruit vegetables, wanting water rather than juice.
But all in all my head felt clearer, my thoughts more succinct.
Are the Philip Stein Health bracelets supported by science? According to their webpage:
“We are working with research institutes around the world to scientifically demonstrate the ways in which our proprietary Natural Frequency Technology positively affects the human body. Preliminary studies have been very promising. Results from double blind studies at the Neurokinetics Institute in Canada and at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida suggest improved balance, ocular focus and a reduced feeling of lightheadedness when standing up abruptly – all wellbeing indicators.”
Of course I can’t help but notice there are no links to the studies or dates the studies took place.
However I can tell you I’ve read dozens of reviews who say they felt, better less stressed, and like me experience an odd “lighter” feeling as though I’d set some heavy down or taken off an heavy article of clothing.
If nothing else the bracelets are super stylish and durable. They are not cheap but they do come with a 30 return policy. But the company insists they have had very few returns and I can tell you from my experience I can see why.
Read more abut Philip Stein Health Bracelets here.
I am very disappointed you would post such nonsense. This is overpriced snake oil.
Disappointed? I think it would be disappointing if we told everyone they had to go and buy one. I think Cameron gave it a fair and honest review and just shared her experience with wearing it. Sorry you feel that way.
Really? In the last hundred years nurses, chiropractors and dentists were considered nonsense and ‘snake oil’. I have never seen anyone on this site tell anyone what to buy but I have appreciated their sharing of opinions. You can not tell me that, in any believable fashion, you have purchased each and every item Bridgete and Cameron blogged: and if you have, then you should trust them. If you haven’t you need to pull back and realize this is the same a a scarf – it’s not going to suit 100% of the people 100% of the time.
I’m not writing about other products or medical history, my concerns address this bogus bracelet.
I only wrote about my own personal experiences using the bracelet not an scientific assessment. I did take care to point out that the double blind studies PS claims back up their bracelet don’t have links or dates listed. PS does offer a 30 day money back guarantee (60 days for the sleep bracelet) and has received many favourable online reviews. And finally Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, a physician in a Vienna hospital, discovered that fatal infections were spread among patients by doctors who failed to wash their hands between examinations. He was died in an institution because people insisted he was crazy!
I only wrote about my own personal experiences using the bracelet not an scientific assessment. I did take care to point out that the double blind studies PS claims back up their bracelet don’t have links or dates listed. PS does offer a 30 day money back guarantee (60 days for the sleep bracelet) and has received many favourable online reviews. And finally Dr. Ignaz Semmelweiss, a physician in a Vienna hospital, discovered that fatal infections were spread among patients by doctors who failed to wash their hands between examinations. He was died in an institution because people insisted he was crazy!
To evaluate a scientific hypothesis, ask:
A) Is there a plausible mechanism?
B) Can it be tested (with replication in independent laboratories), with statistically significant outcomes?
Hand-washing by physicians would answer both those questions with YES. The answer for Philip Stein’s bracelets would be NO.
If a people believe something will make them feel better it may well make them feel better, that is known as the placebo effect. But you can get “authentic” Placebo Bands for only $4, instead of $300, without the nonsense pseudoscience or giving money to a huckster.
Laura, so you have tried and tested this…right? Right? Nice way to be hypercritical without cause. If ‘a people’ had something valid to offer this conversation other than your hypotheses maybe ‘a people’ would be given credence. All I’ve seen is rudeness from you and unless you work for the manufacturer and this is some weird back end marketing technique – failed btw – all you seem is rude, lacking in knowledge and, once again, rude.
How exactly is explaining how science works rude?
[BTW, scientific results are published so that we do not have to replicate every experiment ourselves. ]
I would argue that posting that I am ‘lacking in knowledge’ is rude, along with unwarranted based on my posting.
Okay, woah, ladies, let’s take a breather and think about what we are arguing about. @marewarchild:disqus I appreciate you coming to defense of this blog and what @Aragon131:disqus wrote, but let’s stay away from the personal attacks. I understand where you are coming from, and I appreciate what you are trying to do!! @Laura- I’m not entirely sure why this post got you so passionate, and I’m still confused. Why do you care so much? Placebo or not, who really cares? There are a lot of alternative therapies that are probably bunk, or that people don’t agree with. Regardless of whether this is modern-day snake oil, so what? If someone uses it, purchases it on their own free will, and feel that it helps them, is it really that bad? All Cameron did was willingly test out the bracelet and write about it. If it was positive for her, that was her experience. In fact, I felt she wrote it with a skeptical viewpoint, regardless of the positive experience she had.
If someone isn’t feeling well and are out of options they are willing to do just about anything. I in fact was quite ill in my 20’s and if someone told me that stringing dead chicken feet on a string and wearing around my neck would have helped I would have tried it. In fact, I did turn to a lot of alternative therapies to get better that many would have questioned. If someone buys this bracelet, it’s their money and their choice. My interest in someone’s choice to do that is little, at best.
But this isn’t the reason I decided to jump in. I just wanted to stop the arguing over something so absolutely stupid. I think we’re all better than stooping to the level of personal attacks or arguing over a product. It’s a bracelet, it’s supposed to help make you feel better. Some have had positive experiences, others have not. Let’s move on.
Yes, and you’re being FORCED, with a gun to your head I tell you, to go out and buy one RIGHT THIS SECOND.
The post is a glowing promotion of nonsense: “However I can tell you I’ve read dozens of reviews who say they felt, better less stressed, and like me experience an odd “lighter” feeling as though I’d set some heavy down or taken off an heavy article of clothing.” As I said, Snake Oil.
Well done Cameron! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.
Those are super cute! As someone who has never felt the effects of energy-giving bracelets (I wear two Alex and Ani bracelets for instance), they probably wouldn’t work for me, sadly. Although I’d probably still get one because, cute!
I will try to keep this simple. There is no such thing as “Natural Frequency Technology”.
Frequency measures cycles of a repeating event, i.e. how frequently they happen. ‘Frequencies” are not a thing that can be ’embedded’ in anything, this is a big red flag that someone is out to bamboozle you. There is a long tradition of hucksters using jargon including ‘frequency’, ‘energy’, or ‘vibrations’ to sell bogus health products. They pop up faster than the FTC can crack down on them (although a class action suit was filed against Philip Stein in California). Philip Stein’s ‘Sleep Bracelet’, ‘Teslar Watch’, and ‘Wine Wand’ are part of that great history of quackery well-designed to part people from their hard-earned cash.