Happy's Head Trip

$17.50 ($22 postpaid)
The Happy Company, 31055 Huntwood Avenue
Hayward, CA 94544, 510/476-5900
www.thehappycompany.com

Imagine a circle of fingertips starting at the crown of your head and slowly easing down to its base while applying the perfect amount of pressure. Blissful!

The Head Trip's ten legs, capped with little spheres, sprawl out into a circle that encompasses your head. You can adjust the tension by bending the legs into positions to suit your head. Legend has it that this bizarre and charmed contraption resembling something between a copper spider and a toilet plunger was the brainchild of an Aussie inventor who grew tired of scratching his wife's head.

I must confess that I don't know how the device impacts the pressure points and nerve endings on the head. I don't know if it eases headaches or helps to expel dandruff. All I know is that it makes your head tingle divinely and reminds you to breath deeply. You can use it on yourself, but it's all the more pleasurable when someone does the tingling for you. I can't do this thing justice by trying to explain it--just trust me, it really is a head trip.

--Cherine Badawi

Ultralight Sports Toothbrush

$3.29 (package of four; toothgel $.41) at outdoor
stores or from Securitas, Inc.,
1721 Summit Avenue
Richmond, VA 23230-4515. 800/705-4545
804/864-0967, www.ultralight-sport.com

When you pass 50 you start thinking about your teeth, if you have any left. Last issue I reviewed a wondrous oral hygiene machine that blasts plaque with a powerful but benign spray. It cost $400 and weighed more than my overstuffed briefcase. If you can find a bigger "toothbrush" please tell me.

Now I'm back with the Ultralight Sports Toothbrush, 1.25 inches long, 1.33 grams heavy, made of "FDA approved material." If you can find a smaller toothbrush I'll eat it. The Ultralight fits on the end of your finger and is (presumably) designed for people traveling light. Really, really light. It works, sort of, but it wanted to slide around on my fingertip and I found I had to hold it in place with an adjoining finger. This is the perfect toothbrush to pack for a swim meet or a nudist convention. You can also buy a 2.5oz. resealable packet of mint fluoride tooth gel to go with it.

--DB

Nukkles

$16 a pair ($19.95 postpaid)
Body Time Wellness, PO Box 9, Chester,
NJ 07930. 866/826-3984, 908/879-7762
www.bodytimewellness.com

Cup your hands, pointing down, mold some colorful plastic over four fingers, and you've got the basic idea for Nukkles, a massage tool so ridiculously simple that first I thought it really shouldn't work,--and then wondered why I hadn't thought of it myself because I could sell a bajillion of them.

I have a house full of massage tools and a wife congenitally dependent on backrubs. Unfortunately (she claims) her modest hand strength limits reciprocity, Maybe Nukkles will change that.

I don't think Nukkles will ever replace our $150 vibrating "Thumper," but you can't carry Thumper in your pocket and the Nukkles only cost $16 a pair. Not cheap for what amounts to a little Lexan, but worth it.

Ana and Olivia, aged 15 and 10, both liked the Nukkles a lot, although Olivia claimed at first that they tickled. Giggles turned to sighs as I followed the recommended circular pattern of massage. I got a 10-minute treatment from my weak-handed wife; well above the average duration. Since each Nukkle has four pressure points you can cover a lot of territory. And if you don't have a Nukkler handy you can self-administer most of your personal geography, including scalp, feet, calves, thighs and face. All of which feels good. The Nukkles are pliable enough to conform to body contours but I wish the Lexan was a little softer.

There's also a "Nuzzle" available for pets--basically a single Nukkle. Benga, the household cat, was immediately addicted. Benga, who is only slightly evil but very much aloof, sat still for at least 15 minutes of Nuzzling, which may be a personal record for humanoid contact.

--DB

COPYRIGHT 2002 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group