Blogger, podcaster, and entrepreneur Lauryn Bosstick has long appealed to followers wanting to upgrade their lives and health routines. Her line of wellness essentials (under The Skinny Confidential brand) has brought us $99 facial massage tools (adequately named “Pink Balls“), female-focused facial razors, and driving gloves (AKA the item you think you didn’t need until Bosstick convinces you that, in fact, you do). But her latest drop (and first subscription product) has wellness girlies in a chokehold. The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape has gone so viral it’s trending on TikTok, and the brand is struggling to keep it in stock. It’s official: Mouth taping was the it-routine that no one saw coming.
So does mouth taping deserve a spot in your wellness routine, or is it just another waste of money TikTok is telling you to spend? Is The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape worth the price tag (and waitlist), or is it just a cute design in the signature shade of pink? As always, we did the testing and research, so you don’t have to. Ahead, a refresher on mouth taping and our wellness editor’s honest review of The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape.
Includes 30 mouth tapes in a compact tin to keep on your nightstand.
What is mouth taping, and why do it?
For a full mouth-taping deep dive, check out this article. For readers who are confused (and slightly horrified) about why people are willingly taping their mouths, “mouth tape” is exactly what it sounds like: taping your mouth closed while you sleep. The goal is to avoid mouth breathing and encourage nasal breathing for a wide range of benefits, such as increased oxygen uptake and circulation, lower risk of allergies, improved sleep, supporting craniofacial development, and more. “Mouth taping can reduce or eliminate snoring and apnea for many people, increase oxygen intake and circulation so you have more energy when you wake up, help your diaphragm work properly, which relaxes your body for less stress, help reduce inflammation, boost immune system, and reduce bad breath, tooth decay, and dry mouth,” Alex Neist, founder and CEO of Hostage Tape, explained. The Skinny Confidential website claims benefits such as a defined jawline, brighter eyes, more energy after waking, and a reduction in snoring and bad breath.
As for the how, an article published in The Irish Health Repository by Dr. Alan Ruth, a behavioral medicine practitioner, cited nose breathing results in 10-20 percent more oxygen uptake. This could lead to both better sleep as well as more energy after waking up. As for how nasal breathing can change facial structure and reap dental benefits, it comes down to poor versus proper tongue posture and working different muscles during mouth breathing and nasal breathing.
Our Wellness Editor’s honest review
I have to preface this by saying even before Bosstick launched her Instagram-friendly pink tape, I was long bought into taping my mouth at night. For a little over a year now, I have consistently taped my mouth before bed (using various brands). The first time I tried it, I was terrified of waking up in the middle of the night in a panic and feeling like I couldn’t breathe (I sometimes get stuffy), but that was never a problem for me. When I had my mouth taped, my nasal breathing was extremely clear. Besides my boyfriend waking up next to me in a jump scare, I immediately noticed a lot of other benefits.
Within a couple of days, I was waking up with noticeably more energy, even on nights when I got less sleep. But it wasn’t just a feeling: I saw a significant improvement in my Oura ring sleep scores, specifically staying in a deeper sleep for longer during the night. Since then, I have gone without mouth tape a few nights (either from forgetting it while traveling or choosing to sleep without it when I had a bad stuffy nose), and every time I half-wake up throughout the night, noticing my mouth wide open and my sleep suffers every time. I have also noticed a very slight difference in my jawline being more defined, but nothing too drastic.
Before The Skinny Confidential, I tried out four different brands and options. I tried mouth tape that was big thick strips that covered the entire mouth, thin strips that went over just the middle of the lip, and—after seeing this hack on TikTok—I bought a $5 roll of kinesiology tape on Amazon and cut off pieces to use every night (way more affordable than mouth tape and lasts for months). My biggest frustration with the mouth tape brands was that I would often wake up and find them crumpled against my pillow after falling off in the middle of the night. I’m a glazed-donut-skincare kind of girl, so I love to dowse myself in all the creams, oils, and lip balms before bed. Most of the tape didn’t stay on with skincare. The kinesiology tape actually worked pretty well, and I still think it is a good (much more affordable) option, but it would sometimes get stringy around the edges, occasionally fall off, and I couldn’t talk at all (which, honestly, I am fine with—I could use a break from talking lol, but a factor if that would bother you).
I went into testing The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape wanting to tell you it’s not worth it and to stick with the $5 kinesiology tape—I really did. But I have super bad news: Bosstick’s newest product is really worth the hype. This tape did not budge once, and I tested it with my oiliest of all facial oils. It provided ideal coverage that it didn’t feel like it was going to slip around, without making me feel like I had straight duct tape on my mouth and contoured to the face perfectly. The small hole in the middle was enough to breathe or talk through, which makes it an amazing option for people who want to try mouth-taping, but the general concept of not being able to mouth-breathe or talk at all freaks them out. The only downfall is that it hurts taking it off in the morning, I’m not going to lie. But to me, that’s a small price to pay to make sure it doesn’t slip off throughout the night (especially if you’re a glazed-donut-skincare girlie like me).
And I’m not even going to talk about how cute it is because this is a very serious health review, but seriously, let’s give a moment to the cheeky pink, lip shape, and adorable tin they come in (a very chic solution to the problem that I never had anywhere to store my mouth tape pre-The Skinny Confidential, so I would throw it in a Ziploc bag when traveling and hectically scattered them in my bedside table drawer).
My genuine rec is that good old-fashioned kinesiology tape from Amazon is a great option if you want to try mouth-taping without investing too much to see if you like it or if you’re looking for a budget-friendly option. But if you know you love mouth taping, are freaked out about not being able to talk or breathe through the mouth at all, or want to upgrade to a tape that won’t slip, The Skinny Confidential Mouth Tape is “that girl.”
Includes 30 mouth tapes in a compact tin to keep on your nightstand.
