Do Slenderizing Body Wraps Really Work?
Our intrepid writer gets the skinny
Dirty Dancing is on, and I'm groovin' to "She's Like the Wind," wrapped in linen bandages like I'm planning to play Queen Nefertiti in the big skit-show at the movie's end. I'm rehearsing Grail Springs's Inches Off Mineral Detox Wrap, which on the Canadian spa's website promises to take off at least 15 inches in 45 minutes. I'm doubtful. If it were this easy, we'd all look like Halle Berry.
The Suddenly Slender wrap Grail Springs uses was developed by Victoria Morton in 1969, borrowing an idea from nomads who bathe in mineral springs for health and rejuvenation. With no background in chemistry, she hit the books to develop the formula, and her wraps are now offered at more than 200 body-wrap shops and spas worldwide. Most recently, princesses of Jordan and Saudi Arabia have purchased franchise rights for the wraps in those countries. It's also popular with Hollywood. "Kelly Preston gets wraps, so does Amy Irving. Our shops are jammed before the Oscars," Morton says.
Although Morton claims wraps cured her arthritis and proudly tells me about the all-time record—a size 26 American woman who lost more than 100 inches—marketing director Mac Dougherty is far more cautious, reading me a list of things the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not let Suddenly Slender say: "We cannot say that you'll lose inches or go down dress sizes; we can't talk about toxins, 'interstitial spaces,' or that the wrap gets rid of water retention, breaks down fat, or flushes impurities." Health claims like these would relocate the wrap from the realm of beauty to the FDA-regulated world of medical devices. "We have to say people will 'look thinner' rather than 'are thinner,'" Dougherty adds, assuring me that while the formula is proprietary, the ingredients are inorganic minerals that occur naturally in the body.
