Tiara Vinson, a soldier stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is being held at Cumberland County Jail accused of murdering fellow soldier, Kelia Horton. Vinson has been charged with first-degree murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. At present, it is not known how she has entered a plea or retained a lawyer, but she is reportedly being held without bond. The violence also comes after a series of unfortunate and mysterious attacks at multiple U.S. army bases over the course of the past year.

According to police, the shooting occurred outside a home in Fayetteville, NC around 1:30 p.m. on May 7. “The suspect drove up to the residence where the victim was in her car in the driveway and the suspect began shooting,” Fayetteville Police Department Sgt. Jeremy Glass told People. “There were a couple of witnesses that saw it and called it in.” Horton was still alive when law enforcement arrived on the scene but died later at a nearby hospital.

Horton and Vinson worked in different areas on the base, both in active duty, but Horton was a motorpool clerk assigned to the 525th Military Intelligence Brigade and Vinson is a parachute rigger assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group. However, Glass says the shooting wasn’t a random incident: “They had a mutual male friend in common,” he explained. “It wasn’t an unknown person just going out and shooting another unknown person.”

Although they have not completely disclosed motive, Vinson reportedly had a former romantic relationship with a man who was in a relationship with Horton at the time of her death. The shooting took place outside of the man’s home. “A verbal altercation took place between the two of them, and our allegation is that the defendant, at that point, began firing into the car,” Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West told local NBC affiliate station, WRAL. Refinery29 reached out to local law enforcement as well as the Fort Bragg station, but they had not responded at the time of publishing.

Horton’s death is one in a series of unrelated deaths on military bases in the last year. The body of Vanessa Guillén was discovered in July after she went missing from Fort Hood in Texas in April 2020. In August of last year, Sgt. Elder Fernandes was found hanging from a tree 25 miles from Fort Hood after he disappeared from the base one week earlier. In fact, Rolling Stone reported unsettling rates of homicides and suicides at both Fort Bragg and Fort Hood. In 2020 alone, there were at least 44 homicides and suicides at Fort Bragg. Twenty-eight occurred at Fort Hood, sparking a congressional investigation.

Horton’s cousin, Jadiah Farris, said that the mother of two was “the sweetest” person, and will be deeply missed. “She would give you the shirt off of her back,” she told WRAL. “There was nothing bad you can say about Kelia.”

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Courtney Stodden, who first made headlines in 2011 when they married The Green Mile actor Doug Hutchison, is now opening up about the abuse they experienced at the hands of their ex-husband and from the media. At the time of their marriage, Hutchinson was 50 and Stodden was just 16, but given legal consent to marry him by their mother. Not much has been reported about Stodden in the last five years, but the former teen star delves deep into the traumatic effects that grooming and bullying have had in their life in a recent Daily Beast interview.

Branded a teen bride, Stodden experienced widespread ridicule after marrying Hutchison. Anderson Cooper reportedly compared them to a stripper on CNN and Dr. Drew even examined their breasts with an ultrasound device in front of a live studio audience — while they were still a minor — to determine if they had any cosmetic work done. Stodden’s divorce from Hutchison was finalized last year. But in the wake of the viral documentary Framing Britney Spears, which captured the cruelty Spears was treated with in the 2000s, the media’s treatment of Stodden — while they were married to an abusive man who was decades older than them as a child — is now under the microscope.

“It took me a really long time to understand what ‘grooming’ even meant,” Stodden told The Daily Beast. “But as I grew into a woman, I started realizing what happened to me… I was over the relationship and wanted to move on, but when he left, I was terrified to be on my own. I didn’t know how to be on my own. I still don’t have a license. I depended so much on him and he knew that, so when he left it was almost a manipulative way of going, ‘Okay, let’s see if you can survive without me here.'” And Stodden has, but not without their share of difficulties.

Stodden recalls severe verbal abuse and gaslighting at the hands of Hutchison, realizing years later just how much of a “master groomer” he was. “He told me everything a young girl would want to hear from somebody she’s craving love from, and when I got married to him, he changed. And he knew he had me right where he wanted me,” they said.

And while being groomed, the media treated Stodden as the punchline — at best. “I have a lot of trauma from that entire chapter in my life,” they said. “And that’s the time where you’re developing — your brain’s developing, you’re becoming a woman. And as I’m forming, I am being mocked, overtly sexualized, abused — not only in my home, but internationally — and it really did a number on my self-confidence and my sense of worthiness, which I struggle with today.”

Stodden’s story recalls the experiences of many other teen stars. Recently, the media has been forced to reckon with its treatment of young celebs in the early-2000s, including Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan. While still underage, they were put in positions where they were pressured to be both hypersexual and role models for young girls; to be worldly, yet naive; to embody conflicting ends of a patriarchal spectrum that forgets that they’re children, but is simultaneously dismissive if they stand up for themselves. Only now is this culture of manipulation being thoroughly reexamined and seen for what it truly is. And while Stodden may have come forward, they still don’t feel like they’re out of the woods.

“I still feel like I’m stuck. Even though I’m out of that relationship, I still feel heavy,” they explained. “I don’t feel light. I don’t feel like things are so much better. I hope that eventually I’ll be able to find genuine happiness and shed the traumas of my past, but I just feel very pessimistic.”

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Miley Cyrus was spotted in New York City over the weekend rocking a hairstyle that would no doubt get Cyndi Lauper’s ’80s seal of approval. The artist was photographed looking every bit the rock star as she exited the Bowery Hotel in Manhattan wearing stacked necklaces, oversized sunglasses, and a tuxedo blazer with her hair pulled up into a mullet-esque ponytail. The sides were neatly slicked back, while her short top layers were styled upwards in a tousled, rock n’ roll vibe.

The singer sported the same hairstyle when she appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. Performing her single “Plastic Hearts,” Cyrus also brought out TikTok-famous Australian artist The Kid LAROI to sing his song “Without You,” which reached new viral heights in April when Cyrus did a duet of the track on TikTok.

On social media, we usually see Cyrus with a shorter blonde mullet, which makes us think that she added some hair extensions to work her hair into this bouncy ponytail. The retro aesthetic, a kind of hybrid of a mullet and a shag cut sometimes called a “shullet,” seems to be happening right now. The look has gained momentum over the last year as many people leaned into the ’70s style during lockdown, Cyrus included.

As for the edgy ponytail, we fully expect to see this tousled take on the look everywhere as the weather starts to warm up and everyone who has been rocking the mullet or choppy shag cuts wants to beat the heat. 

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If you have long nails and you’ve been leaving the undersides bare, Selena Gomez is about to turn your world upside down. For the artist’s appearance at Global Citizen’s Vax Live concert over the weekend, celebrity nail pro Tom Bachik designed a manicure that made a statement in the most understated way.

Yesterday, Bachik — who does the nails of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Margot Robbie, and Selma Blair — shared a photo to Instagram of the creative design. “French twist with a flipside,” he called it, crediting the three classic OPI nail polishes he used: Big Apple Red, Alpine Snow, and Black Onyx. The glossy black and white come together to create a graphic deep-French tip, while the candy-apple red peeks out from the backside of Gomez’s nails, achieving the nail-art equivalent to the red bottom of a Christian Louboutin stiletto.

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The red-bottom manicure complemented the dress Gomez wore for her hosting duties during Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, put on by international advocacy organization Global Citizen. The goal of the event, which featured special guests like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, was to inspire vaccine confidence and encourage people to make the COVID-19 vaccine available to everyone.

This spring, the exaggerated-French manicure has been the inspiration for so many celebrity nail-art designs. Kourtney Kardashian and her daughter Penelope recently sported matching leopard-print French tips, and Kylie Jenner played with her own version of the look using rainbow-bright polish and a ‘70s-inspired, abstract swirl pattern. But to her credit, Gomez seems to be the first to adapt the classic French with a pop of red on the “flipside.”

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Once again, we’re being reminded of just how much power Facebook wields when it comes to the public discourse. On Wednesday, Facebook’s own independent oversight board ruled that the company can continue to block former President Donald Trump from its platform. But the court-like panel also stated that Facebook must review the decision within six months. This peculiar process has frustrated many who feel that the platform has continuously failed to regulate how politicians like Trump can influence mass audiences with lies and conspiracies. It begs the question: How does Facebook still have this much control?

Facebook released a statement responding to the decision, saying that it believed suspending Trump’s account following the violent insurrection in Washington, D.C., in January was necessary. “We’re pleased the board has recognized that the unprecedented circumstances justified the exceptional measure we took,” reads the statement, released by Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs and Communications. He noted that the board did not specify what it thought was an appropriate duration for the suspension. Rather, it put the decision back in the hands of Facebook. “The board criticized the open-ended nature of the suspension, calling it an ‘indeterminate and standardless penalty,’” Clegg continued. 

In the meantime, Trump’s accounts will remain suspended while Facebook revisits the decision. The decision also applies to Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Across both platforms, Trump had nearly 60 million followers before his accounts were suspended “indefinitely.”

The independent board, which is made up of a panel of around 20 former political leaders, journalists, and human rights activists, was assembled about a year ago for the purpose of deliberating the company’s content decisions. According to The New York Times, the idea was conceived by Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who wanted the independent body to act like a Supreme Court so that the public could have a way to appeal decisions made by the company when removing content that violates its policies. At the time, Zuckerberg said that neither he nor the company wanted to have the final say on speech.

According to CNN, the board could have made the decision itself. But in choosing to put the choice back in the hands of Facebook, it once again reminded the public of Zuckerberg’s powerful role in influencing not just public discourse, but political movements. It also reminds us of just how arbitrary the social media platform’s moderation decisions can be.

There are two concurrent issues here: the purposeful manipulation of social media platforms to spread misinformation and the companies’ reactive approach to addressing it.

Trump, like other politicians, invested major funding in running ad campaigns and using Facebook as a platform to spread misinformation for the furthering of his own personal agendas. One of many examples of Trump and his campaign being allowed to say whatever they wanted on Facebook with no consequence occurred last June. Organizations like PolitiFact and the Associated Press, part of Facebook’s independent network for weeding out falsehoods on the platform, unanimously found Trump’s claims that now-President Joe Biden wanted to “defund” police forces to be false, yet they continued to run freely on Facebook without any kind of warning or label because the platform specifically exempts politicians from its rules against deception.

So far, platforms like Facebook have taken a reactive stance to combat this rampant spread of false information. Like our judicial system, they often wait for acts to be committed before making a plan for how to respond, but by then, significant damage has been done. In the case of Trump, lies about the election, the COVID-19 pandemic, and his opponents spread far beyond Facebook’s ability to control them before the company came out with a plan of action.

And it’s almost impossible to make Facebook act quickly. Facebook, despite being old news in terms of zeitgeisty social platforms, retains a monopolistic hold on the dissemination of information. So much so that the Federal Trade Commission filed a groundbreaking antitrust lawsuit against the company seeking to break it up for manipulative and exploitative practices. More than 40 states have joined in accusing the company of buying up its rivals in an attempt to illegally squash competition. With this artificially heightened position of influence, Facebook isn’t forced to hold politicians like Trump accountable for fear of being left behind by more fast-acting competitors. As a result, its inaction has been felt more deeply. 

Leading up to the election, Facebook shrugged off pressure from Congress by saying it would continue to allow political campaigns to use the site to push targeted advertisements to the electorate while refusing to strictly review the actual messages being sent out. Meanwhile, other social media behemoths like Twitter and Google responded by either banning political advertising or considerably limiting it. 

What does this mean for the future of fact-checking and the truth? Until we can address the monopoly of social media platforms, large companies like Facebook will be able to carry on with little recourse because their position of influence will remain unchallenged. They are enabled to act slowly because no one is threatening to leave them behind. Without alternatives and accountability, Facebook will continue to be in a position of power, both politically and socially — full stop.

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In the latest installment of Vogue’s Beauty Secrets video seies, Lori Harvey took fans through her everyday getting-ready routine and casually dropped the news that she has a skin-care line on the way.

The model, whose stepfather is television host Steve Harvey, is so passionate about skin care that she’s in the process of putting the finishing touches on her own collection of products, which she’s currently beta testing on herself — and the important men in her life.

“I tested all my products, of course, on myself, but I also tested them on my boyfriend,” said Harvey, who has been publicly dating actor Michael B. Jordan for the last several months. “He has become my live test model, so now he’s very into his skin-care routine as well. He tells me all the time that when he’s on set, the makeup artists compliment his skin.”

In fact, Harvey has gotten her stepfather into a consistent skin-care regimen as well. “So if you’re wondering why his skin looks so good lately,” she says, smiling, “it’s because of me.”

Throughout the tutorial, Harvey incorporated products from her own line, including a low-pH cleanser that was inspired by her own sensitive skin and her struggle to find products that didn’t leave it feeling stripped of moisture. She also teased what she calls the “perfect eye cream,” created with her mom’s advice that “prevention is better than correction” in mind.

While the model credits her mom for her philosophy on beauty, she also mentioned makeup artist Pat McGrath as an inspiration. “She taught me so much,” said Harvey. “There’s a lack of Black women in the beauty space, and in the skin-care space, so she definitely inspired me to create my own brand.”

So far, there’s no official release date for Harvey’s skin-care collection, but let’s just say we are very ready to test out the “perfect eye cream” that also happens to be Michael B. Jordan-approved.

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The Colombian economy has been devastated as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. An economic downturn over the course of a year has led to a rise in poverty and an unemployment rate of over 14%. Now, the Colombian government — which has long been accused of rampant corruption — has introduced a new tax reform bill that will impose new income taxes on the country’s working and middle classes.

As a result, thousands of Colombians responded by taking to the streets in a united, nationwide protest. Then, when absolutely no one asked, Justin Bieber entered the chat. And rather than take some time to, you know, read up on what’s going on in the South American nation and use his platform to share information, resources, or perhaps make a donation, he decided to offer prayers in an extremely vague and empty Instagram post.

“Not exactly sure of the ins and outs of what is going on but can clearly see that there is chaos in Colombia right now! Keep the people of Colombia in your prayers,” he captioned an Instagram post yesterday which, against a dark-gray background, simply asked people to pray for the people of Colombia.

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A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)

Bieber’s post immediately drew the ire of the internet, with many fans implying that it was performative at best and deeply misguided at worst. Rather than use his audience of millions to educate, or link to a fundraiser, or literally anything other than the words “please pray,” the 27-year-old pop singer simply shared an emoji of the Colombian flag along with seven words.

Since it seems Bieber could not be moved to educate himself before making an empty gesture on social media, here’s a refresher of what is happening in Colombia: The tax reform bill, at least prior to the protests forcing President Iván Duque to announce that he would withdraw the legislation, would have imposed a 19% tax on essential services like water, gas, electricity, and internet as well as products like staple food items, gasoline, and medication for anyone earning more than $656 a month. Several unions that played a large role in organizing the protests said the tax would disproportionately impact the poorest people, who are already struggling with the economic impact of the pandemic. Clashes with law enforcement during the protests, which lasted five days in total, resulted in the deaths of at least 17 people, with 800 others reportedly injured.

Even though the current draft of the bill has been pulled, the government is still insisting that this type of reform is necessary in order to stabilize Colombia’s finances, reports Reuters. “It is the youth, social organizations, and mobilized citizens who have seen deaths and defeated the government,” human rights activist and progressive Colombian Senator Iván Cepeda tweeted. “May the government not present the same reform with makeup. The citizens won’t accept tricks.” 

Bieber’s post is a symptom of a much larger disease: Many celebrities now feel moved to speak out in the face of tragedy or injustice, often just to avoid backlash for staying silent. But this doesn’t actually benefit anyone — it doesn’t educate people, it doesn’t bring awareness, and the only beneficiary of those empty posts is the celebrity who posted them. If Bieber were to have, for lack of a better phrase, done the work, really educated himself, and created a plan to help the affected communities in Colombia, that would be one thing. But to post thoughts and prayers after a year of ongoing tragedy and strife around the world? That ain’t it.

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Right now, all Americans 16 and over are eligible to receive the coronavirus vaccine — something we’ve been looking forward to since the start of the pandemic last year. And now, it looks like the 12-15 age group will be eligible to get their jabs soon, too. But as millions line up to get vaccinated, healthcare workers and public officials are setting their sights on the roughly one-third of U.S. residents who say they’re not sure about the vaccine or don’t want to get it. 

A UCLA survey that interviewed 75,000 people over 10 months found that 38% of respondents were worried about the side effects and 34% didn’t think the vaccine was safe. And among registered voters, one in four Americans said they do not plan to get any coronavirus vaccine.

It leaves many of us wondering: What can we do about it?

Findings from a Pew Research Center poll found that among respondents who said they were unlikely to get a vaccine, half agreed that they were willing to change their minds once there was more information or once other people were vaccinated first.

“No national ad campaign is ever going to be as effective…as people who look like you and come from your community saying: ‘This is important/ It’s the right thing for us,’” Kelly Moore, of the vaccine education group Immunization Action Coalition, told The Washington Post.

While no single message will be successful in convincing every vaccine-hesitant person, studies show that Moore’s claims are correct: A healthy dose of peer pressure is a successful way to get more people on board.

This positive peer pressure has already been leveraged by vaccine experts in the form of “I’m vaccinated” stickers and buttons, or encouraging people to post just-vaccinated pictures online to create a sense of solidarity. But a personal touch of hearing it from a friend or family member might be that much more effective for some.

Since vaccination rates began to plateau, medical experts have started to shift away from their previous goal of achieving rapid herd immunity to just getting as many people vaccinated as they can. Reports now say that herd immunity is farther off than we think — if even attainable with the waning vaccination rates.

However, others don’t see the vaccine reticence quite as dismally. Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee, a professor of economics at MIT, believes that the apprehension is normal. In fact, based on his own research and other findings, he believes that it is less about a hard-set ideological divide as much as it is about typical uncertainty around adopting new things.

“The feedback loop from some people taking it to other people taking it is always a critical part of adoption of new, general technologies,” Banerjee told Business Insider. “There are people who will wait until others take it, before taking it.” With the release of new technology, there are early adopters and there are those who wait to see how it goes. Banerjee believes that vaccination efforts will take on a similar progression. But the good news is that people can be convinced — it just takes a community-wide willingness to push that effort forward.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared a guide for how to speak to family and friends about getting vaccinated. It suggests listening to their questions with empathy, asking open-ended questions, asking for permission before sharing vaccine information, helping them find their own reason to get vaccinated, and doing what you can to help them make and get to a vaccination appointment should they decide to get one. It also touches on debunking myths and concerns around highly unlikely occurrences, like blood clots, or other anti-vax talking points that have become more and more prevalent in the mainstream.

There is currently no published study specifically showing the overall effectiveness of peer pressure as a tactic to get others vaccinated, but statistics do show that this type of information-sharing can at least be an effective way to help others feel more comfortable with the vaccine. It’s up to the individual to actually make the appointment and show up, but a conversation, a post, or a story about your vaccine experience could mean we’re a step — or many steps — closer to returning to normalcy.

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While many of us were more than happy to get vaccinated as soon as a safe option became available to us, there is a considerable portion of the U.S. population that is still opposed to the idea. Yes, the anti-vax movement is still going strong, despite realities like vaccine passports making it difficult to operate without getting jabbed. It’s also causing experts to rethink whether herd immunity is a realistic goal, at least in the foreseeable future.

As of now, about half of adults in the U.S. have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but hesitancy is still widespread. One UCLA survey, which interviewed 75,000 people over the last 10 months, found that 38% of respondents were worried about the side effects and 34% said they didn’t think the vaccine was safe. Among registered voters, one in four Americans says they will not receive any COVID vaccine.

Observing the recent stagnation in vaccination rates across the country, experts are now trying to persuade as many people as possible to get inoculated. But what is going to convince people to get the shot if they are hesitant? Actually, the solution might be simpler than you think.

Public service announcements about how safe and effective the vaccine is are no longer enough. But the UCLA study reported that roughly a third of unvaccinated people said a cash payment would make them more likely to get a shot. Amounts as low as $25 showed promising increases, but respondents were most willing when $50 or $100 was offered. And it looks like some states have already come to this conclusion prior to the study’s release. In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice recently announced that the state would give young people $100 savings bonds if they got vaccinated. Justice said the state needs to stop the virus “dead in its tracks,” adding that if it could do that, “these masks go away, the hospitalizations go away, the death toll and the body bags start to absolutely become minimal.”

Another strong incentive? A return to normalcy. Over half of respondents said the promise that they wouldn’t need to wear a mask or socially distance in public, as long as they were fully vaccinated, considerably increased their willingness to get the vaccine. Some states have adopted this approach using a bit of positive reinforcement (or soft bribery). Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has linked the state’s reopening policies to vaccine progress. If the state reaches a 60% inoculation rate, then restaurants and bars can increase their occupancy. At 70%, Whitmer has promised to lift mask orders for residents who have received both doses. And it seems to be working.

Currently, just over 33% of Michigan residents are fully vaccinated, but the numbers show a steady ascent with 43% having received at least one dose, according to state data. “As I’ve said a couple of times now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re still in the tunnel,” Whitmer said at a press conference last week. “The only way out is forward.”

Still, the UCLA study found that a quarter of unvaccinated respondents say they don’t trust the government’s motives, while 14% say that they don’t believe COVID-19 is a threat to them. This is the segment of the population that is considerably harder to convince, if not impossible. But, as experts have said, the goal now is to reduce the severity of the spread, hospitalization rates, and to get as many people to get vaccinated as possible. This doesn’t require a 100% participation rate — but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

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For last night’s Disney-themed American Idol show, judge Katy Perry came dressed in character as Tinker Bell, which proved to be quite the undertaking to perfect before the cameras started to roll. Not only did she fully commit to the role in costume, with a green minidress and sparkly fairy wings, but she took it up a notch with prosthetic elf ears and bleached eyebrows.

The singer shared a little behind-the-scenes look at the transformation on her Instagram, posting a series of photos from the day, including the eyebrow-bleaching process. “Going to dye my brows back now,” Perry wrote in the caption, indicating that she had no intention of keeping the look for longer than an evening.

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A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry)

While Perry bleached her eyebrows just to play the part of Tinker Bell for a few hours, she actually touched on a shockingly significant trend at the moment, joining a handful of celebrities who have experimented with the disappearing-brow trend lately. For a recent photoshoot, Kim Kardashian bleached her eyebrows (also temporarily) and confessed that she was really into the look. 

It’s not only celebs, either: Pinterest released its trend predictions for 2021 based on search data from its users, and one of the biggest beauty trends was “bleached eyebrows.” Trend or not, this is one adventurous beauty move you might want to leave to the professionals.

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In her internet-breaking cover and photo spread in British Vogue, award-winning singer Billie Eilish gave us a glimpse of something she said we would never see: her tattoo. Styled in a cream-colored corset and trench coat, Eilish showed off a large tattoo on her upper thigh and abdomen. The never-before-seen ink appears to be a dragon or serpent — at least, that’s what her eagle-eyed fans think.

In a 2020 Vanity Fair interview, the singer copped to having a tattoo, but coyly added, “You won’t ever see it.” She kept that promise… partially. Looking at the full-body photo, you can only see a bit of the tattoo peeking out from the lingerie, but it’s not enough to work out exactly what it is. 

This photoshoot, styled by Dena Giannini, is quite the stylistic departure for Eilish. “I’ve literally never done anything in this realm at all,” she told British Vogue. “Y’know, besides when I’m alone and shit.”

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The most popular theory making the rounds on Twitter is that Eilish’s upper-thigh tattoo is a dragon, but for every person that thinks they know, there are countless more who just want Eilish to explain. Still, some fans aren’t convinced that this is Eilish’s only tattoo and believe she has even more that she’s not showing off.

While Eilish didn’t share more about the tattoo in the new interview, she did share the beauty mantra she’s living by as she prepares to turn 20 later this year. “It’s all about what makes you feel good,” she said. “If you want to get surgery, go get surgery. If you want to wear a dress that somebody thinks you look too big wearing, fuck it — if you feel like you look good, you look good.”

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On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced a major step toward a post-pandemic world. According to the CDC, fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in small groups outdoors, nor do they need to wear a mask outdoors while walking, running, hiking, or biking alone. But after spending more than a year in some level of quarantine or lockdown, many have grown accustomed to wearing masks whenever they leave the house. So much so that some are already experiencing anxiety at the thought of circumstantially not wearing one.

Despite what Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro might now imply regarding wearing masks in public, it is still important to follow the CDC mask guidelines. But for those who now have a mix of masked and maskless social situations, experts say that feeling a heightened sense of anxiety is very real.

“I have experienced so much discussion around anxiety, both personally and professionally,” Meaghan Rice, PsyD, LPC, told Refinery29. “We have been living in an extraordinary way for over a year at this point, and a lot of us have completely forgotten what our life was like before the pandemic hit. If we can’t remember what life was like, we can also expect that the quantity of unknowns and/or items beyond our control is overwhelming. Add an extra layer of our safety feeling threatened and it is really just too much.”

On Twitter, people are sharing a myriad of relatable feelings they have experienced in their attempts to safely return to new levels of normalcy. Some share feelings of trepidation at the thought of going out in public maskless even after weeks of being fully vaccinated. The feeling that — even though you’re following recommended guidelines — you’re somehow still breaking the rules, that you forgot something, or that something just feels off are among the most frequently mentioned.

“It makes a lot of sense that people are feeling anxious and unsettled right now,” Shannon O’Neill, PhD, a licensed psychologist and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said in a Q&A on the subject. “Just when we were finally adjusting to a new normal and some predictability and flow, the world is preparing to change all over again. Future uncertainty and a sense of not knowing what to expect can fuel anticipatory anxiety. There is even a diagnosis for this feeling: adjustment disorder.”

In August 2020, the CDC published results of a large web-based survey that polled more than 5,000 adults in the United States about their state of mind in the pandemic. The survey showed that 40.9% said they experienced at least one adverse mental or behavioral health problem because of the pandemic. Symptoms of trauma and stress-related disorders were reported by 26.3% of participants, while symptoms of anxiety and depression by 30.9%. While there hasn’t been a pandemic transition survey published — a downside of going through things real-time — if discussions on social media are any indication, coming out of the pandemic, even if it’s just sussing out situations in which you don’t have to wear a mask, is bringing its own set of challenges.

Not much more than a year ago, casual mask-wearing was not the norm in the U.S. But we’ve adjusted, and now, they’ve become a safety blanket of sorts. Masks have come to represent a sense of protection (and they still do!) whereas not wearing one represented an open disregard for CDC safety guidelines and our understanding of how the virus spreads. Now, our normal is changing yet again, and that can be stressful.

To ease the transition, some experts recommend adjusting to the new guidelines at your own pace. “The advice I give my clients who are experiencing post-mask anxiety is to take things slowly, and to make small, gradual changes. Gradually work up to keeping your mask off for long periods of time,” Kate Rosenblatt, LPC, LMHC, told Refinery29. “By taking these small, incremental steps towards safely exposing ourselves to experiences that trigger feelings of anxiety, can help us develop resilience to facing, and ultimately overcoming this post-mask anxiety.” It may also be helpful to expect to feel some level of weirdness or even anxiety after doing something that had previously been against recommendations, like hanging out maskless with (fully vaccinated) friends from outside your pod. [ADDED THIS AND I’M PRETTY SURE THIS IS OK UNDER THE NEW GUIDELINES RIGHT?]

But if the thought of ditching the mask in some situations causes anxiety or stress to the point of interfering with your life, Rosenblatt says, it might be worth speaking to a trusted mental health care professional. For example, if the level of worry you’re experiencing interferes with sleep, work, or you find yourself withdrawing from friends and family even if you can see them safely.

Currently, there are only a few situations in which the CDC says fully vaccinated people may go maskless. At large gatherings like crowded outdoor environments, it is still necessary to cover your face. But just like we had to learn going into the pandemic, changes like this take time and it will go smoother if we can be kind and patient with ourselves in the process. This is something we’ve never experienced and we will likely all go through waves of thoughts and emotions before it’s over.

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Since coming out as trans late last year, Elliot Page has let the world in on his life in a big way. Overnight, he became one of the most visible people in the trans community and chose to use that platform not only to speak out about the “misinformation and lies” embedded in anti-trans legislation making its way through Congress but also to express the joy and creativity he has found in his life.

“What has happened the most since coming out to people close to me is this massive explosion of creativity,” he told Vanity Fair in a recent interview, adding that he’d been collaborating with friends on screenplays and music. “I think of all the energy and time that was going towards feeling uncomfortable, constantly checking my body, just feeling unwell. And I’ve got a new ability to explore creatively and write, and just how much I’m reading — that’s been really amazing.”

Page spoke with Thomas Page McBee, a trans journalist, and the two discussed their experiences as trans children. “When I was a little kid, absolutely, 100 percent, I was a boy,” said Page, adding that he used to write “fake love letters” and sign them as “Jason.”

“I knew I was a boy when I was a toddler.” When he was told differently by others, Page says it never made sense with who he knew himself to be. “Now I’m finally getting myself back to feeling like who I am, and it’s so beautiful and extraordinary, and there’s a grief to it in a way.”

McBee also went on to describe finding inspiration in trans youth today: “Younger people are just so much more imaginative about what gender can even mean.” Page responded, on the topic of connecting with trans people like McBee, saying that “you’re basically seeing your identity challenged constantly. It’s so much toxic dialogue and rhetoric, and complete denial of trans and gender-nonconforming people’s existence.”

When asked how he’s balancing his newfound joy with the current increase in transphobic politics, Page said that his experience as a public figure has been focused on joy. “I think it’s about: How can I feel grateful for my joy, and embrace my joy, and allow myself to have that joy — but then put that joy and that love into action? How do I figure out a way to integrate those two feelings, in terms of being a public person?”

Since coming out, Page has publicly spoken out against anti-trans legislation addressing the real cost of putting a person’s rights and agency into a political debate as well as the lies and misinformation embedded in the bills popping up in more and more states across the country. “Please don’t rely on news articles that frame this as a ‘trans debate’ or don’t even include perspectives of trans people,” Page urged readers of the interview.

As Page reconnects with the way he saw himself as a child, he had one message for his past self: “I would tell them that they were 100% real. I would tell myself I was exactly who I saw myself as, and felt myself as, and knew myself as.”

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In case you didn’t know, vaccines are all the rage right now…unless you’re a man, apparently. Not only are women outpacing men in getting the coronavirus vaccine, but a recent study shows that fewer adult men are opting for the HPV vaccine as well.

According to Michigan Medicine researchers, using data from National Health Interview Surveys spanning 2010 to 2018, just 16% of men aged 18 to 21 had received even one dose of the human papillomavirus vaccine. Looking at the same age bracket in women, the rate is much higher at 42%. 

At the time the HPV vaccine was approved for women in 2006, preventing cervical cancer was the primary focus. As a result, people were more likely to be told about the series of inoculations by their pediatricians or OB-GYNs. It wasn’t until 2009 that the vaccine efforts were expanded to people with male reproductive organs. Of the nearly 200 different strains of HPV, only nine are known to cause cancers and another six are suspected of causing cancer. Most are harmless.

About 10% of men and 3.6% of women have oral HPV, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the United States, HPV is thought to cause 70% of oropharyngeal cancers, which occur in the throat, tonsils, and back of the tongue. And while cervical cancer is more commonly associated with HPV, oropharyngeal cancer has now surpassed it as the leading cancer caused by HPV. Of those diagnosed, 80% are men.

So, why are considerably fewer men being proactive about their health and getting the vaccine? Some medical professionals believe it, in part, comes down to education.

“18-to-21-year-olds are at this age where they’re making healthcare decisions on their own for the first time,” Michelle M. Chen, MD, a clinical lecturer in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Michigan and author of the study, said of the findings. “They’re in a period of a lot of transition, but young adult men especially, who are less likely to have a primary care doctor, are often not getting health education about things like cancer-prevention vaccines.”

There are still benefits if you receive the vaccine before age 26, although the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends getting it as young as 11 or 12 because recipients are less likely to have already been exposed to the virus. After 26, research shows that the benefits of receiving the vaccine are lower because exposure rates are so high. 

“I don’t think that a lot of people, both providers and patients, are aware that this vaccine is actually a cancer-prevention vaccine for men as well as women,” says Chen. “But HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer can impact anyone — and there’s no good screening for it, which makes vaccination even more important.”

According to the CDC, there is no HPV test for men. And, there are often few if any symptoms should a person contract it. As Chen said, it is important to see it as a preventative treatment against cancer — something that should be encouraged for all genders.

So, I ask you this, to quote a nearly extinct meme: Fellas, is it gay to be immune from HPV?

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Staff at a Miami private school are facing a threat to their employment if they choose to get a coronavirus vaccine. One of the school’s co-founders informed staff “with a very heavy heart” — citing false information — that if they get vaccinated, they will not be welcome in classrooms or around students.

“We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known,” said Centner Academy co-founder Leila Centner in a letter sent to staff. In the letter, Centner referred to the vaccine as “experimental.” She then gave employees an ultimatum: Inform the school if they’ve already been vaccinated so they could be kept distanced from students, or wait until the end of the school year to get inoculated. “If you want to get the vaccine, please wait until the school year ends and you will not be able to return to school until clinical trials are complete,” the letter reads, “(If a position is still available at that time).”

Centner is also requiring faculty and staff to fill out a “confidential” form revealing whether they have already received the vaccine or intend to get it. In the form is a caveat: Employees must “acknowledge the school will take legal measures needed to protect the students if it is determined that I have not answered these questions accurately.”

But what is perhaps most concerning is that in her letter to staff, Centner cited disproven information to justify the school’s new policy, suggesting that “reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.” In a follow-up letter on Monday, Centner claimed that the coronavirus vaccine has a negative impact on fertility and menstruation, writing that vaccinated individuals “may be transmitting something” to unvaccinated people. “Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person,” Centner wrote. 

Centner doubled down on this in a statement to Refinery29. “Anecdotally, tens of thousands of women all over the world have recently been reporting adverse reproductive issues simply from being in close proximity with those who have received any one of the COVID-19 injections, e.g., irregular menses, bleeding, miscarriages, post-menopausal hemorrhaging, and amenorrhea (complete loss of menstruation),” she wrote.

More than 140 million people in the U.S. have received one of the coronavirus vaccines, reports The New York Times. At present, none of the approved COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. have been linked to infertility, miscarriages, or any other adverse effects on women’s reproductive health. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourages pregnant people to get the vaccine after observing “no safety concerns” among 35,000 women who were vaccinated during their third trimester.

This anti-vaccination stance is reportedly not unusual for the Centner Academy and its founders. Support for “medical freedom from mandated vaccines” is prominently advertised on the Academy’s website. The school has also posted guidance to help parents file for exemptions to other state-required vaccinations. 

Co-founders David and Leila Centner identify themselves as “health freedom advocates.” Both donated heavily to the Republican Party and the Trump reelection campaign, reports The Times. In January, they invited prominent anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to speak at the school, which returned to in-person teaching back in September.

As educators, these two are directly harming their staff and the people who attend their school. This is a prime example of just how pervasive vaccine misinformation can be — and the real-life consequences that come with it.

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An exciting new product innovation will soon be hitting the market: Degree just released the world’s first “adaptive deodorant,” Degree Inclusive, specifically designed for people living with visual and motor disabilities.

One in four Americans lives with a disability, yet products are still largely manufactured without considering the needs of the community. The deodorant — which was developed through consulting people living with disabilities, occupational therapists, engineers, and expert consultants around the world — was created with the goal of making application easier and more accessible for those living with mobility limitations or a visual impairment.

Unilever, Degree’s parent company, started its engineering process by considering the various challenges people with disabilities face when using a traditional stick deodorant, then reimagining the design. “Degree Inclusive challenges what a deodorant product should be,” explains Aline Santos Farhat, EVP of Global Marketing and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Unilever. “It’s a breakthrough, accessible design that genuinely serves the needs of people with disabilities.”

The Degree Inclusive deodorant features a number of innovative ergonomic details: a hooked handle for one-handed use, magnetic closures to make it easier to remove and replace the cap, enhanced grip placement, a braille label for users with vision impairment, and a larger roll-on applicator, which means fewer swipes are needed. Prior to launch, the product was beta tested in partnership with The Chicago Lighthouse, Open Style Lab, and Muscular Dystrophy Association. Degree invited 200 people with disabilities to test out the deodorant and give their honest feedback to make sure no consideration was forgotten.

While undeniably a step in the right direction, Degree Inclusive shows that the beauty industry still has a ways to go in terms of inclusivity. The offerings have improved in recent years, thanks to brands like Fenty Beauty, which popularized an expansive range of skin-tone shades; Dove, which has thrown its support behind the CROWN Act; and independent brands, like Billie, making waves in the acne positivity and body-hair space. However, while all of those moves are extremely important, people with disabilities have largely been left out of the conversation. We look forward to seeing how the field evolves, with more major companies, like Unilever, thinking about product engineering for all.

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Best Actor nominee Steven Yeun attended last night’s Academy Awards ceremony wearing a classic tuxedo and taking inspiration from a classic Asian film for his glam. The Minari actor made history as the first Asian American to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor — and his dapper hairstyle pays tribute to his heritage.

According to hairdresser Anh Co Tran, who is responsible for creating Yeun’s Oscars style, the hair takes direct inspiration from Wong Kar-wai’s romantic drama In The Mood For Love, specifically the starring character of Chow Mo-wan, portrayed by Tony Leung. It’s a fitting homage as both Yeun and Leung received critical acclaim for their roles, Yeun with an Oscar nomination and Leung earning a Best Actor award at Cannes. In The Mood For Love, which came out in 2000, is set in British Hong Kong in 1962, which totally explains why the hair has such a timeless, throwback feel to it. 

Tran completed the look with the help of Dyson hot tools and a few sculpting products by Milbon. To prep, he applied a Weightless Replenishing Mist and a single pump of Luminous Softening Oil all over Yeun’s hair to provide the key combination of moisture and heat protection. Next, he roughly dried his hair halfway using Dyson’s Supersonic hair dryer. Once partially dried, Tran added the concentrator nozzle to smooth and straighten Yeun’s hair up and away from his face. After creating this base, he took the Corrale straightener to smooth just the ends of Yeun’s hair. He styled the dry hair with Milbon’s Wave Enhancing Mousse, Molding Wax, and a small amount of Wet Shine Gel Cream to provide both texture and shine. Finally, to make sure that Yeun’s hair stayed perfectly-coiffed through the evening, Tran set it with Strong Hold Hairspray.

Here’s hoping Yeun’s debonair hairstyle is the start of many ’60s throwback styles to come. After all, they are timeless for a reason.

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Hailey Bieber, who’s never been shy about doling out beauty tips, just shared an in-depth list of the skin-care products she’s currently using every night before going to bed. In the video posted on her new YouTube channel, the model tells us the most effective skin-care step she picked up during quarantine, what she does when she’s breaking out, and why looking like a glazed donut is the ultimate aspiration for hydrated skin.

Bieber has relatable skin concerns: sensitivity and dryness with the occasional pimple or two. Her entire routine focuses on gentle products, intense hydration, and the pursuit of that elusive glow. As far as celebrity skin-care routines go, Bieber’s sits in the decently affordable column, though not without its splurge picks. In total, if you decided to go out and purchase every product she used — which she conveniently listed in her video description — all eight would run you about $470.

Before calling it a night, the first thing Bieber does is wash her face — in fact, she double cleanses, a practice she picked up during lockdown. “I’m going to start with an oil cleanser, because I have a lot of makeup on and I don’t use makeup wipes,” she says, removing her makeup with Mara Beauty Algae Enzyme Cleansing Oil, which retails for about $58. “It’s honestly made the biggest difference in my skin.” Bieber follows up the initial cleanse with HoliFrog Tashmoo Water Lily Nourishing Milky Wash ($38), revealing that she tends to avoid overly foaming cleansers in favor of more milky ones to avoid drying out her skin.

Next, Bieber followed up with one of the more expensive items in her routine, the Biba Los Angeles Plant Stem Cell Peptide Serum. “I think it’s one of the best things you can put on your skin,” she said, massaging and patting the serum into her face. Bieber followed up with the brand’s Cream Barrier moisturizer while her skin was still a bit damp. “Find yourself a moisturizer that helps you look like a glazed donut at the end of the day,” she said. (The Biba products retail for $85 and $95, respectively.) Then, because the model has drier skin, she tops the moisturizer with Furtuna Skin Due Alberi Biphase Moisturizing Oil, the priciest product in her arsenal at $128.

Bieber’s nightly routine focuses on catering to skin in need of some extra moisture, but the doesn’t mean that she doesn’t spot treat her pimples. Using a prescription treatment from her dermatologist, Bieber dabs the tiniest amount on a couple of spots before covering them with Star Face Pimple Stickers. “They totally help heal a pimple… and they look cute,” she said of the bright-yellow star acne patches, which are $14.99 per pack.

Last but not least, the model finishes off her evening routine with the relatively affordable bareMinerals Ageless Phyto-Retinol Eye Cream, dabbing it both under her eye and on her lids. The last product is hands-down the most budget-friendly at right around five dollars: the Aquaphor Healing Ointment, which she “legitimately cannot go to bed without” using as a lip balm.

In the end, Bieber achieves her glazed-donut goals — and we have eight product recommendations to seriously consider.

At Refinery29, we’re here to help you navigate this overwhelming world of stuff. All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy something we link to on our site, Refinery29 may earn commission.

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Maude Apatow is a brunette no longer. The actress recently went from a warm, golden brown to fiery red — and the transformation is next level.

Apatow first revealed her new look on Instagram last week in a promotional ad for Ferragamo heels. However, fans really took notice two days later, when the actress posted a gallery of sun-soaked portraits where her glossy red hair was front and center, captioning it only with a fitting flower and sparkle emoji. The fresh hair color is a vibrant shade of red with what appears to be a mix of chunky, face-framing highlights that add an element of shine. 

For the redhead transformation, Apatow credits New York City-based colorist Jenna Perry, whose other celebrity clients which include Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa. Perry, a redhead herself, is a seasoned pro when it comes to taking dark hair to a warm red — and Apatow’s hair could not look healthier.

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A post shared by Maude Apatow (@maudeapatow)

While we’ve never seen Apatow with hair like this, we can’t help but wonder why the red feels eerily familiar. And then it hit us: Her new look totally reminds us of her mom, actress Leslie Mann who showed her total support of the transformation by commenting heart eyes on her daughter’s Instagram post. 

Based on past interviews, it seems like Mann encourages both her daughters to have fun with their hair and makeup. That is, so long as they don’t overpluck their eyebrows, a regret she has from personal experience. But other than that, it seems like anything is game in hair and makeup.

Between Apatow’s new hair and the gorgeous, floral dress she wore in the photo, we are feeling major spring fever.

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As millions of people get vaccinated every day, there have been innumerable conspiracy theories about the coronavirus vaccine itself. Some are seemingly innocuous — often coming from fringe “health experts” on platforms like Clubhouse — while others, like this latest one published in the New York Post, are causing escalated concerns. Specifically, the Post ran an article that led many to question: Can the COVID-19 vaccine give you herpes?

According to the article published this morning, scientists in Israel allegedly identified six cases of patients developing a skin rash known as herpes zoster, also known as shingles, after receiving the Pfizer vaccine. For my fellow hypochondriacs, let’s get this out of the way early on: this is not HSV-1, which causes cold sores, and it’s not HSV-2, which is usually responsible for genital herpes — not that there is anything wrong or uncommon with either of those. But this is America, and just the word herpes strikes fear in anyone reading it because, as a society, we have an obsessive fixation around the stigma that they carry. 

But let’s back up to the vaccine herpes study. For context, these results were out of a study involving 491 patients which makes six people about 1.2% of those observed. “We cannot say the vaccine is the cause at this point,” Dr. Victoria Furer, the lead author of the study told the Jerusalem Post. And, according to the study, each person who experienced this reaction had preexisting mild cases of autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. 

“This is a signal that deserves attention. There is biological plausibility and it needs to be studied more,” Amesh Adalja, MD, and senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told Refinery29. “But what I object to is the headline. People don’t know that it’s herpes zoster. Chickenpox is a herpes virus. It’s a viral family.” It’s our clickbait culture, Adalja says, that promotes this type of headline, rather than saying outright that it was shingles. Herpes may be a buzzword, but the majority of people are unaware that shingles, chickenpox, and even mononucleosis are all under the herpes category.

At present, it is unclear what caused these patients to experience shingles, but it appears to be triggered, at least in part, by a decrease in immunity, reports WebMD. Outbreaks of shingles have often been linked to stress, stressful life events, and depressive symptoms, all of which have become increasingly prevalent during the pandemic.

“Other than the people who had serious prior allergic reactions, to date, no other incidents of other medical events that exceed the normal background rate of those events in the community have been found,” William Schaffner, a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center told WebMD, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Shingles occurs when the varicella-zoster virus, the same one that causes chickenpox, is reactivated after lying dormant in the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. Anyone who has had chickenpox is technically at risk for developing shingles. The CDC estimates that more than 99% of Americans born before 1980 have had chickenpox, which means a lot of people are at risk of getting shingles regardless of the coronavirus vaccine. 

But this didn’t stop the conspiracy that vaccines were causing shingles from growing online. “Read the article and see what it says and not the headline alone. Think about the fact that not everything that happens after a vaccine is caused by the vaccine,” Adalja said. “They’re talking about six cases post-vaccine out of how many? What’s the denominator? Also, people should think about whether they are even at risk for shingles. Many people have been vaccinated against shingles and chickenpox. That’s important to remember as well.”

While studying anomalies and documenting everything in the name of posterity and research is important, it is imperative that we put forward our best critical thinking as well. Using an alarming headline during a pandemic by tapping into a stigmatized fear many have is irresponsible. That’s why it’s important to read everything before, let’s say, tweeting about vaccines giving you herpes.

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