In the pause: on menopause, skin and the ritual of returning
A reflection on hormonal skin, the shifts beneath the surface, and how hydrosols, botanical waters can hold us in the inbetween…
There are seasons the body passes through quietly. Not always in the manner of arrival, but in the spaces left behind. Menopause is one such season – not an ending, not a disruption, but a recalibration. A return to the self, unscripted and unspoken. And like all thresholds, it carries with it a transformation – not just in rhythm or biology, but in the texture of daily life. The skin feels it too.
Skin, Rewritten
For many, the skin during menopause skincare becomes newly unfamiliar. What was once resilient may become reactive. What once shimmered with natural oils may now feel papery, parched. There is no single texture to menopausal skin – only a shared sense of change.
The industry has long responded to this with intensity: anti-ageing actives, hormone creams, retinoids layered in ritual. But not all skin wants to be acted upon. Some skin – especially during this time – wants to be listened to. Witnessed. Held.
It is here that hydrosols come into their own. Less intervention, more invitation. Their effect in dry skincare is not dramatic but attuned – a gentle recalibration, a mist of presence.
Geranium Hydrosol, the adaptogen in bloom
The Organic Geranium Hydrosol, with its herbaceous edge and hormone-balancing signature, offers skin a chance to return to equilibrium. Known for its adaptogenic properties, it listens first: where skin is oily, it tempers; where skin is dry, it nourishes. For those navigating the volatility of perimenopause – breakouts along the jawline, flare-ups with no pattern – geranium becomes a daily ritual of balance.
It is not an oil, nor an astringent. It is water, transformed into a cruelty-free skincare solution.
Mist it over freshly cleansed skin, feel it settle. It is the sensation of the body exhaling.
Rose Hydrosol, the restorative
Where geranium balances, Organic Rose Hydrosol soothes. Sourced from the famed Valley of Roses in Bulgaria, it speaks to the heart of menopausal care: tenderness. Rose has always been a symbol of beauty, but in hydrosol form, it becomes function over flourish. Its delicate pH-balancing properties restore the skin’s barrier – often weakened by dryness or hot flushes. It reduces redness. Cools irritation. Offers the kind of hydration that doesn’t sit on the surface, but is felt beneath it.
Keep it chilled. Let it mist the skin during a hot flush. Or simply close the eyes and let it fall across the face like morning rain. It is ritual as relief.
A Reclamation of Ritual
Menopause is rarely spoken of in tones of reverence. It is often framed as something to battle, disguise, or overcome. But what if, instead, we honoured it? What if we responded to its shifts not with panic, but with presence?
A bottle of hydrosol, in this light, becomes more than menopause skincare. It is a reclamation of ritual – not a solution, but a salve. A way to meet the body where it is. To hydrate the skin not just physically, but emotionally. To let go of the need to fix and instead engage in the slow ritual of care.
There is power in gentleness. There is medicine in mist.
And in the stillness of this botanical water – rose, geranium, glycerine, and grace – we are reminded: menopause is not the absence of something. It is the quiet becoming of something new.
