Foxtox, face vibrators and sand therapy: Meet 2025’s wellness trends

If last year was all about Ozempic and sauna dipping, Lucy Holden takes a peek at what everyone will be doing this year to shed pounds and get a healthy glow

Another year, another battle to sort the beauty treatments worth getting from the fads (Getty)

Did you try Morpheus8 last year, or did you want to? Maybe you are still cold water swimming, just as everyone moved on to sauna therapy?

Yes, it’s that time of the year again when another set of beauty treatments and health trends promise to change our lives. So, what looks like it might actually work?

The new Morpheus8

Last year, Morpheus8 (up to £2,000) became one of the most in-demand treatments in the world – with everyone from Victoria Beckham to Jennifer Aniston singing its praises. Whether people were using it to rejuvenate the face or body (knees, stomachs or even the vulva), the micro-needling and radiofrequency technique, which promises to contour the skin without fillers, was described as a “game changer”.

“You’ve got to try it,” said my friend C, who is about 50 but looks 40 – although she failed to mention that it actually hurts... But this year heralds a new era of micro skin lift that comes without a week of downtime recovery. The one on everyone’s lips is DermEvolve, which promises results by bringing the blood to the surface of your skin without the pain.

“When you pierce the skin, it hurts obviously,” says Alison Telfer, a former nurse who now owns The Glasshouse Clinic. “But if you suck the skin onto the needle, it’s not painful at all. This is the difference between the two treatments,” she adds. DermEvolve starts at £450.

The nori body wrap

I’m staring at water full of long green-brown tendrils of seaweed. If this were the sea, I might choose a clearer spot to swim but this is a bath in the Kimpton Blythswood Square Hotel in Glasgow. It’s warm and slimy and slightly odd and I can’t help thinking that whilst it’s not massively expensive at £43 for an hour, it would still be free along much of the UK coastline.

Yes, you can go to beach for all your seaweed needs, but why should you when you can have a luxurious treatment instead? (Getty)

However, then comes the treatment. In a separate spa room, I am rubbed all over with ishga Hebridean sea salt scrub and wrapped up in warm towels. A seascape plays, while I am massaged with seaweed body oil.

Studies show that seaweed accelerates skin cell regeneration and provides detoxifying effects. “Seaweed was a big buzzword for wellness in 2024,” says Mark Haywood, editor of spa magazine. “In 2025, the rich polyphenols from seaweed extracts will be found in everything from face creams and body scrubs to gin and chocolates. The ultimate luxury way to remineralise the body is with a seaweed bath, and you can do it at home too.”

High-frequency meno-fat blitz

No one is going to deny that regular exercise and healthy eating are still the best things for health and wellness, mental and physical. Yet isn’t it nice to know there’s a shortcut sometimes? And no we’re not talking about Ozempic or any of the other fat loss injectables increasingly deemed harmful in 2024. I tried a month of one of them and got the worst migraines of my life.

This is where Lipocel comes in. Different from liposuction, this is a non-invasive fat loss treatment inspired by its medical older sister. Telfer explains that previously no fat-loss treatment had the ability to work on the whole body, but this treatment “combines cryolipolysis which kills off pockets of fat, with radiofrequency that tightens the skin”.

“It’s not about grabbable fat, it’s about circumferential fat, the kind that just thickens us as women as we age. It’s brilliant post-Christmas or pre-summer when you might just want an inch off your waistline but not have time to go to the gym all day every day to get there.”

It starts at £2,200 for six treatments.

The blood flow sand bed

Edinburgh is the first city in the UK to get the most exciting kit we’ll see in 2025. An “earth” treatment on the vibrating sand bed at the W Hotel’s Away Spa is based on an ancient Egyptian technique involving heat therapies. Heat increases blood flow and so improves circulation which does us all sort of good.

I lie on a large massage bed covered in rose quartz sand which heats to 40C. Carly Prociani, the therapist in charge, gives me a full body massage with hot stones and then the bed begins to vibrate. At this point, I can actually feel my blood flowing better around my body. It’s slightly weird but totally amazing. “People usually pass this room and think it’s a pool table in here,” said Prociani. “When they hear about the treatment, they’re even more wowed.”

Foxtox

Bella Hadid at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 (Getty)

Think Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner’s sexy-eye appeal. It’s like the cat eye look but slightly uplifted and this treatment involves strategically placed Botox injections around the corners of the eyes to elongate them into a more fox-eye shape. This draws attention to the eye area where the skin, thanks to the “tox” part of this treatment, is now smoothed. The result is a face which looks slightly more heart-shaped which many see as naturally slimming.

Natalie O’Brien, an aesthetics expert based in Glasgow, said people were increasingly looking for simple injectables over surgeries. “It’s all about creating a youthful and captivating eye expression without having to opt for invasive fox eye surgery,” she explains. “More and more of my female clients are looking for treatments that create a fresh, natural look over anything super plumping that makes it clear there’s been work done. It’s a paired-back glamorous look we want in 2025.”

Face vibrators

Toxins are known to build up in certain areas and can gather around the lymph nodes of the face, creating a puffy look which most people interpret as either weight gain, a hangover or exhaustion. Not ideal, but so easily fixed... “Draining” them, simply by encouraging them out of the face with massage and small pressure techniques means they can be processed by the body and you don’t have to book a full head massage now either.

Good vibrations: many makeup artists are opting to have Smile Makers’ product in their kit (Supplied)

The wonderfully named brand Smile Makers is finding its tools are being used by many makeup artists who want to improve circulation to the face for a glowing look. Samantha Marshall, head of the brand, said: “The massaging technique promotes the movement of lymphatic fluid which reduces swelling and puffiness in the face.”

It’s the delivery of oxygen to the skin which produces the glowing look and the “workout” of facial muscles provides a natural contour similar to that seen on face yoga enthusiasts. Cheekbones, suddenly, can be seen.

Professional makeup artist Yvette Evora said she was initially embarrassed to bring out The Surfer (one of the Smile Makers small, intense vibrators) at events but doesn’t think twice now. “At first my clients laughed, but now they request it,” she admits.

Scalp care

Scalp care is the new skincare, according to hair experts everywhere. “Everything we do starts with scalp analysis,” explains Tara Jack, director of the Rainbow Room salon in Glasgow.

Head first: sorting your scalp out is key to healthy locks (Getty)

“Find a shampoo that suits your scalp before you find a conditioner to strengthen and gloss it.” Whilst Aveda use a camera that magnifies the hair by 6,000 times, the Rainbow Rooms look for scalp conditions such as dryness, greasiness or irritation before working out what your hair needs (conditioning, for example).

Ask for something like a Fibre Clinix keratin treatment (a moisturising scalp mask which is left on for 10 minutes) – or check out Centred hair products, which use an inside-out technique which perfectly sums up the way scalp health affects hair health.

Once you’ve sorted your scalp, insure your hair with a strengthening treatment, says Joni Ewart, owner of Glasgow salon The Vault. “K18 is such a super product it’s like hair insurance,” she says.