The minty-smelling cloth was laid on the reporter’s bare stomach. She quickly felt the cold chill of the slimy cream as it seeped into her pores. Her midsection then became a partial mummy to saran wrap as it was layered over the cloth.

Then – she waited.

She moved little, not wanting to disrupt the magical process or allow anyone to hear the saran wrap crinkling beneath her shirt.

Forty-five minutes later, the wrap was unraveled. She rubbed the rest of the cream into her skin and out came the tape measure.

She’d lost 3.2 inches around her waist.  

Not bad for $25.

Living in an age where appearance is such a high priority, it can be difficult for people to maintain that ‘perfect’ figure.  You know the one, that impossibly thin look of supermodels.

It Works Body Wraps officials boast that their natural products that wrap around your fatty areas will ensure inch loss in only 45 minutes.

“I found this product, it’s amazing, it’s this, this and this.  Like all natural, it’s not a quick fix, you know one wrap isn’t going to fix all your problems, we don’t say that.  I’m not trying to make a quick buck, I’m actually trying to help people,” said Loren Sylvester, a former CSC student who markets the wraps.

Sylvester, frequently comes to Castleton State to sell the products. He said it’s not a quick fix to weight loss, but can sometimes help to motivate people into doing something about losing the weight.  Some who don’t see drastic results after one wrap, however, think it’s a hoax, he said.

“People will lose an inch, inch and a half, but because they can’t physically see the difference in their appearance, they won’t use it again,” Sylvester said.

            Nicole Langevin, a senior at CSC who heard of the wraps and wanted to see if they worked, took it upon herself to find a cheaper alternative to the It Works Body Wraps. Using Pinterest, she found what seemed to be her solution. 

            “I was curious, it was cheap, and I’m lazy… I’d try the real one, but they’re too expensive.  We just did the alternative for $20 and it did three wraps,” Langevin said with a slight laugh.

            Langevin used Vitamin E oil, Goodbye Cellulite Serum, ace bandages and saran wrap.  After a little mixing, she placed the snot-like concoction on her stomach and proceeded to wrap her body in an ace bandage and Saran wrap. After waiting the 45 minutes, she was re-measured and found out she had lost a total of 2.3 inches around her waist. 

            “It’s such an easy project to do with some great results!” Langevin said.  “The only difficult part would have to be the saran wrap.”

            Sylvester, however, questioned whether the concoction could work as well as the It Works Body Wraps. 

            “It’s completely bullcrap!” he said. “You can’t false advertise ingredients.” 

            Susie Chagnon, who is married to CSC alum Michael Martell, has tried two wraps with no significant results.

            “I did everything it said.  It was the initial, “Yay!” when I saw I lost 1.5 inches.  But, when I woke up the next morning and re-measured myself it was like nothing had happened,” Chagnon said.

            Chagnon said she believes that the inches returned overnight because of different body types and different types of fat layers.

            “There are a lot of variables to using the body wraps.  It doesn’t work on everybody,” Chagnon said.

 Chagnon tiredly explained that she wasn’t interested in investing money into something that wasn’t going to show promising results.

            “It’s really hard to want to continue with the product if you know it’s not going to stay,” Chagnon said.  “I’d rather get my nails done!”

            Butsome people view this product as an easy fix to their weight loss solution. 

“I’m smaller and I didn’t even have to work out,” Langevin said with a smile on her face.

            Sylvester is a dedicated distributor with many loyal customers who are pleased with their results, and he said he is always up for the challenge of changing a skeptic’smind.

            “They’ll say, ‘This product can’t give you these kinds of results in this amount of time,'” Sylvester said with a slight shrug of his shoulders and smile playing on his lips. “I respond with, ‘Well, try one and prove me wrong,'”