As celebs like Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin fueled the tinted sunglass trend grew this summer, a desire for a pair of my own sparked.
Much like tiny sunglasses, most eyewear trends don’t agree with my high-cheekbone face. But tinted lenses are different—it’s a trend with versatility. You can find any color in any lens shape. And when I learned that there are also therapeutic benefits to eyewear’s latest fad, otherwise known as chromotherapy, I knew I had to try it out.
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What Is Chromotherapy?
Chromotherapy, also known as color therapy, is a legitimate medical term that refers the use of specific colored light to treat health problems, most commonly psychological and mood-related issues.
“The basis for most of the studies and theories is the understanding that light are composed of electromagnetic energy,” said Sherril Sego, FNP-C, DNP.
An infrared sauna is a typical medical chromotherapy treatment. It uses light to help balance the body’s energy for physical and emotional healing. Some healthcare providers even recommend LED light therapy boxes to relieve both psychological disorders and skin conditions.
“The body comprises varying energy fields called chakras, depending on the system and body part. Chromotherapy assumes that illness is caused by or causes an imbalance in these chakras. True chromotherapy is intended to rebalance using specific colors, thus healing the ailment.”
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Chakras 101
Chakras are even sources of energy along the spine, starting at the base and working their way up to the crown of the head. Each chakra is associated with a single color and relates to a specific type of energy that makes up our everyday lives.
For example, the root, which is the lowest chakra along the spine, relates to our survival needs and connects us to Mother Earth, and the throat chakra is located near the neck and helps us with any issue relating to communication and self expression.
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Mood-Enhancing Fashion
RainbowOPTX and other similar chromotherapy glasses brands base their collections on the corresponding colors of each of the seven chakras.
“Each color has a mood. This is something that has long been understood by great philosophers and artists,” Noel Churchill, founder of RainbowOPTX, says. “Imagine standing in a room that is all one color, like all yellow or all blue. The feeling of the room is very different depending on the color. Interior designers use this to set the mood for a room. Observing the world through our color lenses will have the same effect. As soon as you put on the lenses, you will feel dramatically different.”
RainbowOPTX offers tinted lenses in more than 10 shades of color that boast chromotherapy benefits. Churchill explained that the light frequency of each color dictates how they fall into the chakra spectrum.
“Scientifically, color is light oscillating at a specific frequency. Each color vibrates at the frequency the corresponding chakra is responsive to, from the lowest to the highest.” Churchill said that the lower the color is on the chakra scale, the lower its light frequency is.
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The Benefits
While medical chromotherapy treatments have been proven to provide relief for conditions such as clinical anxiety, seasonal affective disorder, circulatory issues and chronic pain, the chromotherapy glasses you can shop online help lift your mood.
It’s like the difference between getting a facial from a dermatologist and applying a face mask at home, but in this case, we’re working with an inner beauty boost. Each color enhances your mood in a different way, so pick the color based on what your mental health is looking for.
A pair of glasses from RainbowOPTX costs between $29 and $49, depending on the style. A few brands offer chromotherapy glasses in a set of seven colors in the same eyewear style, so you can buy a set with each benefit. So a full set of chromotherapy glasses can cost at least $100, depending on where you buy them, but it’s still less than other treatments, such as an LED light therapy box, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
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Color Codes
I wasn’t completely sold on the idea that a pair of glasses could improve my mood until I tried out a few pairs myself. I ordered a few styles and colors from RainbowOPTX and tried one pair out each day, wearing each pair until I felt a change in my mood. Each color was unique, in the emotional stimulation it provided.
Rose: To Purify, Uplift and Awaken
I decided that the rose-colored glasses from RainbowOPTX were a good place to start because the tint is more muted than others. While I loved the chic pink tone and the cat-eye frame I chose, I didn’t feel an immediate change in mood with this pair.
Courtesy of Robyn Turk.
Red: To Feel More Grounded
Putting on the red glasses that correspond to the root chakra was a much more dramatic moment than the rose. I expected to be too distracted by seeing everything in red to notice any lift in mood, but the strong red light that came into view brought with it an unexpected sense of comfort.
Orange: To Feel Stable and Balanced
The first time I slid my orange pair on was after a long, tiring day of work. Churchill had said that this pair “will give a sense of balance and harmony,” and he was right.
Courtesy of Robyn Turk.
Yellow: To Achieve a Sense of Openness
I was really looking forward to feeling happy and connected when I tried on my yellow lenses, but this pair didn’t have as strong of an effect on me as the others. Side note: I learned that yellow is not my color. With tinted glasses, you can’t see the color well when you look in the mirror because everything is that color, so selfies are imperative.
Green: To Open, Uplift and Awaken
The green pair was also much different from the previous frames I had tried on. The warmer colored tints that uplifted my mood offered a much more immediate reaction, whereas the green pair took longer to take effect but had a more prolonged impact. As RainbowOPTX had advertised that this pair was good for awakening, I wore this pair for a few hours in the morning. For the rest of my day, I felt more energized and upbeat.
Courtesy of Robyn Turk.
Blue: To Feel Calm, Relaxed and Assured
The blue glasses definitely had a calming effect. Similar to the green pair, the benefits from the blue had a longer impact on my overall day, but I did notice the calming effect take place quite soon after sliding the pair on.
Indigo: To Aid Concentration and Expand Consciousness, Insight and Intuition
Indigo was another color that wasn’t really for me. Before sliding this pair on, I was very curious to see how the glasses could aid in my concentration, but this color just didn’t seem to do the trick for me.
Violet: To Strengthen and Correct Energy Imbalances and Clear the Mind
And finally, the violet helped get things back on track. I wore this pair the longest and discovered that you really do get used to seeing everything in a single color. I can’t put my finger on exactly which areas of my mood this pair lifted; it was really an overall boost. I’d recommend the violet lenses for that day when you’re feeling blah, everything is somewhat off and you’re not sure why.
Just like with lipstick to my complexion, chromotherapy presented me with some colors that worked for me and others that didn’t. Not only are tinted lenses an eyewear trend I can take part in, but with chromotherapy glasses I’ve found a viable stress relief plan that takes very little effort on my part. Once you’ve found the color that works for you, all you do is wear a cute pair of sunglasses and go about your day normally, letting the tinted lenses do the work for you.