Strong As An Ox
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Number 1 Ranked Health & Wellness Substack: Newsletter covers fitness, health, and mindset, all grounded in the fundamentals of physiology.
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Training, biohacking, skincare, cooking and science. 7 publications, newest posts first.
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BowTied Biohacking
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Leveraging chemistry for unparalleled self-improvement. All things health, fitness, lifestyle, and performance enhancement.
Skincare Stacy Newsletter
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Successfully navigating the business of science
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Handy Advice from a Small Animal Veterinarian (co-starring Bear the Labrador)
This site is here to help anybody looking for skincare, anti-aging, and beauty advice.
Teaching you to eat the best food of your life, by cooking at home.
Latest in Health & Fitness
4% vs. 10% Benzoyl Peroxide: A Complete Guide
If you’re dealing with acne, there’s a good chance you’ve come across PanOxyl. The brand has two popular benzoyl peroxide cleansers, one with 4% and another with 10%, and choosing between them isn’t always as straightforward as…
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The Best Skincare Routine for Combination Skin: AM + PM Guide
If you have combination skin, putting together a routine can be a little tricky. A product might feel great on one part of your face and wrong somewhere else. That doesn’t mean you need a complicated routine or a separate product…
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Hot Fudge Sauce
If you’re like me, and nostaligic… Hershey’s chocolate syrup was on hand as a kid. You pop up the cap and out flows a a liquid cascade that would put Wonka’s chocolate waterfall to shame. But that was always the problem If you’re…
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25–30% Off Your Skincare Favorites: The Best Labor Day Beauty Sales of 2026
Quick update on the Labor Day beauty sales I shared with you already. A few more deals have gone live since then, and some of the ones I mentioned before are wrapping up soon, so I wanted to get you an updated list before the…
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Up to 30% Off Your Skincare Favorites: The Best Labor Day Beauty Sales of 2026
Labor Day is coming up, which means a lot of the beauty sales are already starting. There are some pretty good skincare deals this year, including discounts on products I already use and recommend. Some are already live and…
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Summer Sundae
In most respects I’m a purists on desserts. Ice cream is the ultimate frontier of taste, texture and temperature. Especially in high heat which is where my life is now 9 months out of the year. For this release I wanted to share…
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How to Use Adapalene Gel With Moisturizer
If you’re using adapalene for acne, adding a good moisturizer to your routine can make a big difference in how well your skin handles it. Adapalene can cause dryness, redness, and irritation, especially when you first start using…
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Adapalene vs. Retinol: A Complete Guide
If you’re trying to choose between adapalene and retinol, the first thing to think about is what you actually want to improve in your skin. Both are retinoids, but they’re usually used for different reasons. Adapalene is best…
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Why I Believe in "Eating Your Skincare"
Paid partnership with SpoiledChild . Every time I share my skincare routine, the focus is usually on the products I apply to my skin. Serums, moisturizers, sunscreen, and beauty devices all play an important role, but one of the…
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Why More People Edit Photos Before Changing Their Look
Paid partnership with FaceApp . Thinking about changing your hairstyle, coloring your hair, trying facial hair, or experimenting with a different makeup look can be exciting. It can also feel like a gamble, especially when some…
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The Ultimate Tβ4 & TB-500 Guide
The content of this guide is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before using any compound discussed here. We do not condone…
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The Secret to Softer, Healthier Skin Starts in the Shower
Paid partnership with Dove . Body care is one of those parts of a skincare routine that’s easy to overlook. Many of us spend time researching cleansers, serums, moisturizers, and sunscreen for our face, but pay far less attention…
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Vilon: Olympic PED or Underrated Anti Aging Peptide?
Disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and research purposes only. It is NOT medical advice. Do not attempt anything you read without medical supervision. If you wanted everyone tired, inflamed, and begging for a…
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Q&A #58
Welcome back to another Q&A. For the next 48 hours, drop your questions in the comments and we’ll answer them. Apologies for lagging behind, guys. Will do one of these weekly for a while to make up for it. Appreciate your…
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The Shower That Helped Me Feel Like Myself Again
Paid partnership with Dove . There are moments in life that don’t seem like they should matter that much. Getting ready to leave the house is one of them. Most days, you don’t think twice about taking a shower, putting on your…
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Tretinoin and Azelaic Acid: A Complete Guide
If you’ve been prescribed tretinoin or recently added azelaic acid to your routine, you’ve probably wondered whether it’s safe to use them together. The short answer is yes, but it depends on how you introduce them. Both…
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How to SHRED Fat in Target Spots & Eliminate Stubborn Fat
This ones for everyone that can’t get rid of that lower belly fat no matter how hard they diet and how much weight they lose. I feel your pain. There’s that one spot that, no matter how much you seem to suffer, it won’t budge.…
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How to Get a Six Pack by End of Summer
There are 68 days left in summer. That is about 10 weeks . If your midsection still looks soft when the season ends, it won’t be because of your genetics. It will be because you didn’t pay attention to the secrets we’re about to…
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The Complete Guide to Fighting Acne
A lot of acne advice focuses on products. If you’ve ever searched for the best cleanser, serum, or spot treatment, you’ve probably noticed that everyone seems to recommend something different. The problem is that those…
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Changes to Federal Funding II
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Today we will discuss the bad parts of the OMB Proposed Rule changes. The full links are available in the previous post. As Shrike alluded to in the last post, there may be some serious problems…
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Changes to Federal Funding I
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Today we will discuss potentially sweeping changes to government contracts in general and NIH funding in particular. While these changes may not last more than a few years, they aim to reshape how…
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Wedge Salad Revisited
There’s something about iceberg lettuce in the summer that just hits right. Hot temps outside… the cold, crisp crunch of the lettuce straight out of the fridge and the blank canvas of the lettuce offers limitless opportunities.…
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A Tale of Two Sauces (II)
I love a good peppercorn sauce. My mouth starts watering at the thought of steak au poivre. Outside of bearnaise and bordelaise… peppercorn sauce is right at the top of the list for perfect steak sauce accompaniments. Until…
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A Tale of Two Sauces
Just as the famous Dickens novel begins with an opening line of extreme contrasts, I want to show you two classic steak sauces that are complete opposites . Well, one is not-so-classic… but I turn it into a riff on a classic.…
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Pasta Giapponese 🇯🇵 🍝
It has been a while and, in the midst of some big life changes, I’m still behind the stove cooking and now tasked with opening another restaurant which has been a consuming but fun challenge as opening day approaches. Given the…
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Q&A #57
Welcome back to another Q&A! For the next 48 hours, drop your questions in the comments and we’ll answer them. Please attempt to do some basic searching (Grok, Perplexity, etc.) before asking your question. Paid subscribers may…
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You Missed the Gym Today. Now What?
Most guys treat a missed gym day like a binary event where they either trained or they didn’t, the day was either anabolic or catabolic, productive or wasted. This is a terrible mental model and it’s costing you EVERYTHING.…
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FREE: The Complete DHT Esters eBook
DHT esters just hit the underground market for the first time in history. Thousands of men are about to pin these compounds with close to zero reliable information, and the majority of UGL listings are straight up fake. Wrong…
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DHT Esters For Penis Growth
This article is not medical advice, is not a protocol recommendation, and exists for informational and educational purposes only. We are not telling you to inject DHT esters to grow your penis. DHT esters are prescription…
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Everything You Need to Know About Thiamine: The Bioenergetic Master Switch
Most people have never thought about Vitamin B1 for even one second of their lives, and that might be the single biggest gap in their entire health stack. Thiamine costs pennies per day, has no known toxic dose, and fixes…
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Pinealon: Best Dose Timing for the ULTIMATE Brain and Athletic PED
Pinealon (Glu-Asp-Arg) is a tripeptide discovered by Vladimir Khavinson’s lab in St. Petersburg over 40 years of bioregulator research. It doesn’t work like a normal peptide. Instead of binding cell surface receptors, it…
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"Tren-Like Gains!" - The 50-Year Myth That DHT Isn't Anabolic Just Got Demolished by Pharmacokinetics
Disclaimer: This is educational content based on published research. This is not medical advice. This article is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Consult a physician before making any changes to your health…
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Craken Spices & Chef Knife CLOSE OUT Sale
Wishing you all Christmas Holiday Greetings! 🎄 2025 wraps up in ~2 weeks and I can honestly say that this year has flown by quicker than any year I can remember. My employment changed and I’ve taken over a more demanding…
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I Built The Thing I Always Wanted To Buy
My goal’s always been simple: give you ridiculously more value than I ask. The problem: words eventually hit their ceiling . Essays are nice; but actual progress comes from systems—from programs you can run, tools you can use, a…
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Pump Science Tokens
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Today we will continue the discussion about Pump.Science launch. Here we will look at the competitors in more detail. Science competitions switched from ‘whose data are best’ to ‘who can get the…
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Pump Science Launch
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Today we will discuss a new initiative in Decentralized Science: Pump Science’s impending launch, and what it is. This launch breaks new ground in many ways. It combines biotech funding with…
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Summer Grilling 2025!
Wishing everyone in the USA a Happy Belated July 4th Independence Day 🎇 I would think it’s impossible to talk of summer cooking without grilling or bbq coming up. These are also as American as Apple Pie and Baseball. There’s no…
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My Favorite Summer Sandwich
Summer is in full swing and over here in Asia I have recently become very homesick for certain foods. The (2) at the top of the list are: Sandwiches Salad While I’m in heaven for all things noodles, dim sum, clay pot rice and…
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The Growth Equation
Let’s establish something right off the bat: Building muscle isn’t as complicated as most people think. In fact, the process is surprisingly simple, at least in theory . Your body needs three things to grow: Stimulus. Recovery.…
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The Best Chili Chicken EVER
Greetings to you all! Since moving to Hong Kong it’s become clear to me that my love for noodles, wontons, dumplings, dim sum and Chinese BBQ is insatiable 😂 But… if you ask me my favorite comfort food to emerge in the last 1+…
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Systems: Secret to Success?
If I had a time machine and could go back in time and give myself one piece of advice without somehow creating a butterfly effect & altering my timeline (AKA still have my wife and son) it would be what I’m talking about in this…
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University Power Structures
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Today we continue the previous discussion on university power structures, and nuances to the power structures that are missed by many would-be reformers of higher ed. Skip to the end if you just…
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Universities vs the Federal Government
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Higher education continues to get roiled by disputes, loss of federal funding and lawsuits due to differences between universities (especially Ivies) and the Trump administration. While the…
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Spring Lamb
This weekend puts lamb front-and-center on the dinner table for many people with the Easter holidays having arrived. Lamb is one of my favorite meats to eat and still seems to be largely misunderstood which is a shame. Easter…
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Podcast 4: Living & Dining in Hong Kong
Today I’m dropping only the 4th(?) podcast I’ve recorded since starting this newsletter. Previously I’ve had chats with Bryan Flannery (The Godfather of dry-aging beef) on all things beef plus a couple with BowtiedWineGuy on…
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Measles in the US
Welcome to Science with Shrike! Measles is capturing news cycles as the current epidemic in Texas spreads. Given RFK, Jr’s prior comments on vaccines, and post-COVID interest in every spreading infectious disease, this…
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NIH caps indirect costs at 15%
Welcome to Science with Shrike! NIH’s evening announcement that it is cutting all indirect cost rates down to 15% is a massive shock to the biomedical science community, and the universities that fund the research. Today we’ll…
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10 Steps To Elite Health and Fitness eBook
I made an absolutely terrible mistake… What I wanted to do was create a little PDF highlighting the main movers and shakers to focus on to achieve a high level of health and fitness. What I did was get entirely too hyper-fixated…
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