Uncensored Free Speech Platform

“Going Natural” in the Age of Facial Optimization
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.

Log In

Email *

Password *

Remember Me

Forgot Your Password?

Log In

New to The Nation? Subscribe
Print subscriber? Activate your online access

Skip to content Skip to footer

“Going Natural” in the Age of Facial Optimization

Magazine

Newsletters

Subscribe

Log In

Search

Subscribe

Donate

Magazine

Latest

Archive

Podcasts

Newsletters

Sections

Politics

World

Economy

Culture

Books & the Arts

The Nation

About

Events

Contact Us

Advertise

Current Issue

The Weekend Read

/ February 7, 2026

“Going Natural” in the Age of Facial Optimization

The medspa industry is moving more quickly than we can keep up with. Meanwhile, women are being told that if we don’t too, we will lose our cosmetic capital.

Emmeline Clein

Share

Copy Link

Facebook

X (Twitter)

Bluesky Pocket

Email

Ad Policy

(Shutterstock)

I’m sitting, alone, in another woman’s body heat. She’s gone, but she left her sweat and her scent: antiseptic, fetid perfume. I won’t be lonely long. She’ll be here soon: another woman, one who could change my life—or at least my face. The former might actually follow the latter, if the women in my phone are to be believed.

I am familiar with this feeling. Breadcrumb trails of heat lead to pain that’s called minor, pressure that’s called surprising. Rooms like this—the salon where my scalp scalds as my curls burn away or the aesthetician’s office where I lie as vulnerable as I might in a hospital bed—are drenched in anxiety’s musk, scented with antibacterial spray. The women who leave me their warmth are like older sisters, evidence files, guinea pigs, role models, comrades, and competition, licking their envelopes closed at the checkout counter, grinning at the girls who hurt them, healed them, and made them beautiful.

The chair is plush, its knobs and levers obscured like the vials, needles, and chemicals stored somewhere out of sight. On the plasma screen affixed to the pastel-pink wall, a slideshow plays. Disembodied features float across my field of vision. Segments of faces appear in before-and-after pairs. Pinched lips engorge. Furrowed foreheads flatten.

I’m waiting, wondering whether to be pricked with a needle and bleed money. This is an investment in myself—the influencer whose videos kept appearing in my feed like fate, or a recurring nightmare, or a compulsive thought told me. She’d told her followers, actually, but staring straight into her eyes through the blue light of my phone in my darkened bedroom, it felt like she was speaking directly to me.

When the woman in the lab coat enters the room, enthusiasm slithers into intimacy. I am at a chain medical spa with a millennial aesthetic that sits somewhere between a Sweetgreen, a third-wave espresso-shop, and The Wing. Here at “Plump,” the speciality is facial injectables, and I’m here for a consultation with a cosmetic injector. I tell her I’m not sure what I want, but I have features my vision hangs on in the mirror, and bones to pick with my bone structure. She tells me I’m beautiful, but she’d love to help me feel better. She asks what my pain points are.

She means, of course, emotional pain. In rooms where physical pain begets beauty, I don’t need …

Trump hints Guthrie disappearance could be solved soon: ‘We have some clues’
Equal justice apparently isn't equal anymore.

President Donald Trump suggested on Friday evening that authorities may be closing in on a suspect in connection with Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. 

The president told reporters on Air Force One that a “solution” could be coming in the case, roughly one week after Today show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother mysteriously went missing from her Arizona home. Trump said the Justice Department or FBI could be providing key updates on the apparent abduction “reasonably soon,” seven days into a closely watched search for the 84-year-old woman. 

“I’m not talking about a search. I’m talking about a solution. We have some things, I think, that will maybe come out reasonably soon from DOJ or FBI, or whoever that could be. A lot has taken place in the last couple of hours. A lot of things have happened with regard to that horrible situation in the last couple of hours,” the president said.

FBI ANNOUNCES $50,000 REWARD FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO NANCY GUTHRIE’S RECOVERY

When pressed if he was referring to a suspect, the president replied, “Yeah, could be definitive,” adding that investigators are following some “very strong” clues. Authorities have not yet identified any suspects or persons of interest in the case.

“I think we could have some answers coming up fairly soon,” Trump said.

The president’s comments follow a development in the case that occurred earlier on Friday, when KOLD reported receiving another apparent ransom note, which could be tied to ransom messages sent to that media outlet and two others earlier this week, which investigators are continuing to probe.

The IP address used to send Friday’s email message was not the same as the one used on the previous media ransom note, but it appears the sender used the same type of secure server to try to hide their location and identity. The previous three ransom messages to the media appeared to be the same, Heith Janke, the FBI chief in Phoenix, said in a press briefing earlier this week. They included a demand for money with an initial Thursday evening deadline and a second deadline for Monday if the first one wasn’t met.

“The FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department are aware of a new message regarding Nancy Guthrie. Investigators are actively inspecting the information provided in the message for its authenticity,” the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, which is leading the investigation alongside the FBI, said in a statement responding to the latest alleged ransom note. 

A separate ransom note has …

Trump says nuclear talks in Oman were 'very good,' claims Iran wants a deal 'very badly'
Notice what's missing.

The indirect nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran mediated by Oman were "very good," according to President Donald Trump.
"Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly. We'll have to see what that deal is. But I think Iran looks like they want to make a deal very badly, as they should. Last time they decided maybe not to do it, but I think they probably feel differently," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday.
The president added that the U.S. had a "big Armada" heading towards Iran, something he has spoken about in the past.
When he was pressed on how long the U.S. would be willing to wait to make a deal with Iran, the president indicated some flexibility, saying that he believes the two nations can reach an agreement.
TRUMP WARNS IRAN, DELAYS STRIKES AS RED LINE DEBATE ECHOES OBAMA’S SYRIA MOMENT
"It can be reached. Well, we have to get in position. We have plenty of time. If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while, and we're in no rush. We have very good [talks] with Iran," Trump said.
"They know the consequences if they don't make a deal. The consequences are very steep. So we'll see what happens. But they had a very good meeting with a very high representative of Iran," the president added.
American and Iranian representatives held separate meetings with Omani officials on Friday amid flaring tensions between Washington and Tehran. Oman's Foreign Ministry said that the meetings were "focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations."
IRANIAN OFFICIAL SAYS NUCLEAR TALKS WILL CONTINUE AFTER US, TEHRAN NEGOTIATIONS HAD ‘A GOOD START’ IN OMAN
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that indirect nuclear talks were "a good start" and that there was a "consensus" that the negotiations would continue.
"After a long period without dialogue, our viewpoints were conveyed, and our concerns were expressed. Our interests, the rights of the Iranian people, and all matters that needed to be stated were presented in a very positive atmosphere, and the other side’s views were also heard," Araghchi said.
"It was a good start, but its continuation depends on consultations in our respective capitals and deciding on how to proceed," he added.
IRAN SEIZES OIL TANKERS, THREATENS 'MASSACRE' IN STRAIT OF HORMUZ HOURS BEFORE US TALKS
While both sides expressed optimism about a possible deal, the U.S. moved to impose fresh sanctions on Iran after the talks. The State Department announced that the U.S. was sanctioning "15 entities, two individuals and 14 shadow fleet vessels …

A MAGA push to erase a Dem House seat is triggering accusations of fraud and violence in Utah
Confidence requires clarity.

National Republicans are throwing money and bodies at a down-ballot initiative to try to wrest back a congressional seat in Utah. Their efforts could blow up in their face.

With a looming February 15 deadline, Republicans have seen only half the number of verified signatures they need to move things forward. And the effort, which has the backing of President Donald Trump and support from multiple MAGA groups, has devolved into chaos.

Local county clerks are flagging hundreds of potentially fraudulent submissions. People have reportedly been repeatedly misled into signing the petition by signature-gatherers, with some telling local news outlets that they were told it was an anti-ICE petition. Those signature-gatherers have reported being assaulted by hecklers and their signature packets stolen or destroyed.

In the Beehive State, where politics are often seen by outsiders as cartoonishly friendly, this effort has turned so tumultuous that Republican Gov. Spencer Cox — who earned national attention for his pleas for civility after conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated in the state — called on Utahns to “resolve [their] disagreements peacefully.”

While the GOP groups insist they’ll have the numbers needed, they’re still far short — which would represent a major failure in a ruby-red state.

The effort aims to overturn a new judge-ordered congressional map that hands Democrats one safe blue seat by attempting to repeal an anti-gerrymandering law that would allow the Republican-controlled legislature to reinstall a more favorable map ahead of the 2028 elections. It has garnered support from Trump and his allies, who had already spent $4.3 million on the effort as of November — and have only ramped up since.

The signature-gathering initiative represents an early test of Republicans’ ground-game efforts in a midterm year where they face strong headwinds in the polls.

Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr, have signaled support to the Utah initiative, with Trump recently encouraging his Truth Social followers to support the “very important effort” to ”KEEP UTAH RED.”

Turning Point Action — the 501(c)(4) founded by the late Charlie Kirk, who was killed in the state last summer — is “all in” on the effort, its COO said, and is canvassing the state with a half-dozen events over the next week. A fleet of about 700 paid workers, many of them from out of state, have been hired to gather signatures, bankrolled by Securing American Greatness Inc., a 501(c)(4) previously run by former Trump White House official Taylor Budowich. And MAGA celebrity Scott Presler parachuted in last month for a series of events.

But so far, those efforts don’t appear to be paying off. As of Friday, the initiative had garnered just over 76,000 verified signatures, …

Man arrested for allegedly threatening to kill JD Vance was in possession of child sexual abuse materials: DOJ
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.

A man who was arrested for allegedly threatening to kill Vice President JD Vance was also found with child sexual abuse materials, according to the Justice Department (DOJ).
Shannon Mathre, 33, of Toledo, Ohio, was arrested on Friday on suspicion of threatening to kill Vance during the vice president's visit to Northwest Ohio in January, the DOJ said. 
Mathre is accused of saying, "I am going to find out where he (the vice president) is going to be and use my M14 automatic gun and kill him." The DOJ did not give specific details about when or where the threat was made. However, Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release that, "You can hide behind a screen, but you cannot hide from this Department of Justice," suggesting the threat could have been made online.
"Our attorneys are vigorously prosecuting this disgusting threat against Vice President Vance," Bondi said.
SECRET SERVICE AWARE OF UMASS LOWELL-FUNDED RADIO DJ’S DIRECTIVE TO ‘KILL JD VANCE’
The U.S. Secret Service arrested Mathre on Feb. 6. A federal grand jury has since returned an indictment charging Mathre with making the threat against Vance.
While investigating the threats, federal agents found "multiple digital files of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM)" in Mathre's possession, according to prosecutors. Subsequently, the grand jury also charged that "from about Dec. 31, 2025, to Jan. 21, 2026," Mathre engaged in the receipt and distribution of CSAM.
CALIFORNIA MAN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY MAKING ONLINE DEATH THREATS AGAINST JD VANCE DURING DISNEYLAND VISIT
"While arresting this man for allegedly threatening to murder the Vice President of the United States, a serious crime in and of itself, federal law enforcement discovered that he was also in possession of child sexual abuse materials," said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. "Thank you to federal, state and local partners in working together to bring justice twofold to this depraved individual."
David Toepfer, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said "violent threats" such as the one made against Vance would "not be tolerated." He vowed that those who make these threats "will face swift justice and prosecution."
Mathre made his initial court appearance on Feb. 6, before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, the DOJ said, adding that he remains in custody until his detention hearing, which is set to take place on Feb. 11.
If found guilty, Mathre faces up to five years in prison and a maximum statutory fine of $250,000 for the threat against Vance, according to the DOJ. Additionally, if found …

DeSantis celebrates end of 'witch hunt' as Trump DOJ reportedly drops Hope Florida Foundation complaint
Ask who never gets charged.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated how the Department of Justice reportedly decided to dismiss a complaint into the Hope Florida scandal that rocked the former presidential candidate and became a talking point for DeSantis critics.
The Floridian reported that President Donald Trump’s DOJ looked into the controversy in late 2025, but a source within the agency told the local outlet that there is "no predicate to open up an intake on this" and that "no further action is anticipated."
"The witch hunt against the Hope Florida Foundation was orchestrated by left-wing media and their RINO allies," DeSantis said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital in response to the report. "As we’ve said from day one, all agency actions were appropriate and legally sound."
"The Hope Florida initiative continues to be the most successful conservative anti-poverty initiative of any state in the country," DeSantis added.
TRUMP-BACKED DONALDS VOWS TO MAINTAIN DESANTIS 'TRAJECTORY,' TAKE FLORIDA TO 'WHOLE NEW LEVEL'
The Justice Department has not publicly confirmed the complaint has been dropped. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The controversy originated after Centene, a major health insurance company focused on government-sponsored programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, agreed to return $67 million to Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration to settle allegations that it overbilled Medicaid. After the settlement was finalized in September 2024, $10 million of the recovered funds was directed to the Hope Florida Foundation.
The Hope Florida Foundation then distributed the $10 million as two $5 million grants to 501(c)(4) organizations: Save Our Society from Drugs and Secure Florida’s Future, Inc.
Of the funds distributed, $8.5 million ultimately flowed to Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee known for its efforts to defeat Florida Amendment 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana through a constitutional change. Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife who has been floated as a potential candidate for governor herself, has consistently expressed opposition to the legalization of marijuana.
Critics argue that the funds that wound up at Keep Florida Clean, which existed due to a government settlement, should never have been funneled into a political action committee for political campaigning. 
The funds were originally unearthed by Florida state Republican Rep. Alex Andrade, who told Fox News Digital in June that DeSantis’ then-chief of staff turned attorney general, James Uthmeier, was allegedly the lead culprit of the …

How Year-Plus Standoff for Election Data Culminated in FBI’s Raid in Georgia
Law enforcement shouldn't be political.

The FBI raid of the election office in Georgia’s largest county may have surprised many Americans. But it was building for more than a year.

It began as a state-county standoff regarding 2020 election data and escalated last fall to include the U.S. Justice Department.  

Here are three keys to understanding what led to the FBI raid.  

1. What’s Unusual About the 2020 Ballots in Fulton? 

In January, the Election Oversight Group, a Georgia organization, issued a 236-page report about the 2020 ballot count in Fulton County.  

This week, the report gained national attention when the Election Integrity Network released a three-page summary in the context of the FBI raid.  

The Election Oversight report says 148,319 absentee ballots were counted for the 2020 General Election from Fulton County. However, just 125,784 voters were recorded as casting an absentee ballot. That would mean the county counted 22,000 more ballots than people who were recorded to have voted. 

A staffer with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office responded that its data doesn’t back up the assertion about 125,784 voters recorded.

Report-of-Investigation-Fulton-2020-V2.0Download

The Election Oversight report also notes that 74,000 absentee ballots were reportedly cast when polls closed on Nov. 3, 2020. Four days later, 148,000 absentee ballots were announced. The report says that only 16,032 ballot images have their corresponding unique “fingerprint” authentication file, while another 132,286 ballot image authentications files were deleted.  

“The information in this report documents in one place, in a comprehensive manner and exacting detail, the complete mess of an election that took place in Georgia in November 2020,” Cleta Mitchell, chairwoman of the Election Integrity Network, told The Daily Signal. 

“While Fulton County is ground zero for essentially ignoring as many legal requirements as they possibly could, Fulton County is hardly alone in its election malfeasance,” Mitchell added.  

Raffensperger’s office declined to comment on the FBI raid until more details are available. Previously, his office addressed similar issues.  

For instance, ballot images aren’t counted as votes, but are electronic pictures of ballots made during vote tabulation, officials from Raffensperger’s office said at a May 2024 State Election Board meeting. 

Separately, Raffensperger’s office concluded allegations against county election officials of fraudulent counting and counterfeit ballots were false, in a March 2023 report. His office was assisted by the FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.  

Georgia ranks fifth nationally in The Heritage Foundation’s Election Integrity Scorecard.  

2. What Was the State Investigating? 

The State Election Board issued its first subpoena in November 2024, alleging the documents were missing for thousands of votes in the recount of the 2020 presidential election. The letter to Fulton County noted “unexplained anomalies in vote tabulation and storage related to the 2020 election.”  

“Our subpoenas are still open. The board’s official stance was to take custody of those documents,” Janice Johnston, vice chairwoman of the State …

Trump skips trip to Newsom’s California for Super Bowl as politics take center stage
Who benefits from this decision?

President Donald Trump will not attend the Super Bowl in California on Sunday, instead likely opting to watch the game from Florida. 

The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots are set to face off this weekend at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. Trump has said the event is “too far away” to attend in person, as he did last year. The president also expressed dissatisfaction over rapper Bad Bunny performing at the half-time show and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Green Day playing in a special ceremony before the game, calling them “a terrible choice” during an interview with the New York Post. 

Bad Bunny has opposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics amid controversy over the agency’s operations in Minnesota, including during recent remarks at the Grammys when he said, “We’re not savage, we’re not animals…We are humans, and we are Americans.” The rapper’s call to “ICE out,” as well as plans for the halftime show to be entirely in his native Spanish language, have earned him criticism from Trump and other GOP figures. 

TRUMP SKIPPING SUPER BOWL OVER BAD BUNNY AND GREEN DAY PERFORMANCES: ‘I’M ANTI-THEM’

Turning Point USA is holding a competing Super Bowl halftime show for conservatives, headlined by singer Kid Rock, who is a friend of Trump’s and has faced some scrutiny in recent days due to lyrics he wrote in 2001 about liking underage girls. The White House said Thursday that Trump “would much prefer a Kid Rock Performance over Bad Bunny.” 

Trump’s move to skip a California trip means he’ll avoid setting foot in a state run by arch-nemesis Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a likely 2028 presidential contender who has criticized the Trump administration at nearly every turn. 

But the president will still have a presence as part of game day events on television. A segment of an NBC interview with Trump in the Oval Office is expected to be aired on Sunday during the pre-game show. And a commercial about the “Trump accounts,” which provides Americans with financial incentives to have children, is also set to air during the pre-game broadcast. The accounts were created in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed into law last year. Children born between 2025 and 2028 are eligible for a one-time $1,000 contribution from the Treasury Department for parents who sign up for the accounts. More than 1 million families have already signed up, according to the White House. 

The president attended last year’s Super Bowl featuring the Philadelphia Eagles and …

Don’t Cry for The Washington Post, It Helped Destroy Media
This framing isn't accidental.

In December of 2016, The Washington Post reported that Russian hackers had penetrated the U.S. electricity grid through a Vermont utility company, leaving millions without heat.

This was serious stuff. President Barack Obama, the paper ominously noted, was concerned that Moscow might also “disrupt the counting of votes on Election Day, potentially leading to a wider conflict.”

As it turned out, the piece had some journalistic lapses, namely that it had failed to report that the laptop in question wasn’t connected to the grid, so there was no way Russian malware could have crashed the system.

The Post never bothered retracting the piece, instead appending one of its anodyne “editor’s notes” and reporting on the subsequent, completely pointless investigation it had sparked with a bad story.

Everyone makes mistakes. In the old days, journalists would probably have been more judicious moving forward. The Post, which had only a month earlier walked back a similarly alarmist piece about Vladimir Putin’s weak agitprop, went in a different direction, becoming a clearing house for the Russia-collusion panic that enveloped American politics. Indeed, in 2018, the paper won Pulitzer Prizes for National Reporting on the fictional claim that Trump had colluded with Putin to overturn democracy.

This week, The Washington Post laid off a third of its entire staff, 300 people. Judging from the reaction of media elites, you may have thought democracy had actually died.

I generally don’t celebrate when people lose their job. As most of us know firsthand, being laid off can be a brutal experience. Indeed, when an outfit such as the Post cuts back its workforce, good people will typically lose their jobs while the worst offenders stay on.

But the unmitigated arrogance and sense of entitlement exuded by journalists, who seem to believe they have a God-given right to work no matter how much money they lose their employer or how poorly they do the job, speaks to the problem more.

Over the past decade, the Post has been one of the leading culprits in the collapse of public trust in journalism. The once-venerable outlet has spent the past 10 years participating in virtually every dishonest left-wing operation, including giving legitimacy to the Brett Kavanaugh group rape accusations, delegitimizing the Hunter Biden laptop story, spreading the Gaza “genocide” lie, covering up Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, sliming the Covington children, and countless others.

You could write a book listing the Post pieces that were so biased as to be basically fictional.

The Washington Post has also been one of the worst offenders of the unsound journalistic practice in which reporters hand-pick useful partisan “experts” or “scholars” to act as opinion-writing proxies.

One memorable example carried the headline: “Vote to oust McCarthy is a warning sign for democracy, scholars say.” (Italics flagging a major incongruity are mine.)

To understand the activist mission of the Post, note that it fired 13 climate change reporters and one reporter whose only job was covering “race disparity.”

Let’s not forget, either, that contemporary “fact-checking” ruse, wherein left-wing …

Body believed to be Lil Jon’s son D.J. Young is found in pond near Atlanta
How is this acceptable?

MILTON, Georgia (AP) — A person believed to be the son of rapper Lil Jon has been found dead in a pond north of Atlanta, police said Friday.

Nathan Smith, known professionally as D.J. Young Slade, left his home in Milton “under unusual circumstances” early Tuesday morning, police said.

Lil Jon said in a statement posted to his Instagram page that he and Smith’s mother, Nicole Smith, are “extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son.”

EPSTEIN FILES IMPLODE BRITISH POLITICS WITH ‘BIGGEST SCANDAL’ IN ‘OVER ONE CENTURY’

“Nathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet,” the statement reads. “He was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted — he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.”

Nathan Smith, 27, “ran out of his house and has been missing since,” police said in a missing person poster they circulated on social media.

He “left on foot and does not possess a phone,” police said. “He may be disoriented and in need of assistance. Family and friends are concerned for his safety.”

Milton police immediately began searching for Smith, police said. After being unable to locate him, police and other agencies expanded the search include a pond near Smith’s residence. Shortly before noon Friday, Cherokee County Fire Department divers found a body in the pond.

PATRIOTS AND SEAHAWKS TO SPORT ‘USA 250’ PATCHES AT SUPER BOWL FOR SEMIQUINCENTENNIAL

“The individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office,” police said in a statement. The medical examiner did not respond to inquiries about the case on Friday.

“Based on the investigation to date, there is no indication of foul play,” police said. “However, the Milton Police Department Criminal Investigations Division will continue to treat this as an open and active investigation.”

Police said no further details would be released until the cause and manner of death are determined by the medical examiner.

Milton is a suburban town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Atlanta.

HUGO GURDON: AMERICAN DECLINE, OR A REBOUND?

Lil Jon, born Jonathan Smith, is an Atlanta rapper and producer who was a central figure in the crunk subgenre of hip-hop. He’s known for songs including 2002’s “Get Low” with his group the East Side Boyz and 2013’s “Turn Down For What” with DJ Snake.

He also has a daughter, Nahara, who was born in 2024.