We are built on intimacy. 

From seed to soil to bottle, from our home to yours, our mission is to get closer. 

We ship worldwide, fresh from our kitchen lab.

 

Dear friends,  

I began laying the foundational bricks of May Lindstrom Skin in 2008 in my home kitchen with a very clear aspiration: I wanted to bottle a catalyst for connection to ourselves, a romance within our own skin and senses. That is what makes my heart flutter, what sparks my creativity, and where my most powerful energy and personal and professional contributions flow most freely. 

We are a love company, first and foremost. That has always been my North Star. 

Over the last thirteen plus months we, along with so many small businesses, have been navigating the ups and downs of operating in the midst of unprecedented global circumstances. 

If you are new to us (welcome!), you can read about the choices we have made since we first paused our wholesale business following the onset of the pandemic here: 

Shelter in Place. (March 26, 2020)

All the updates you’ve been waiting for! (July 8, 2020)

The decision to turn off our wholesale sales last spring halved our revenue overnight. But it also allowed us to continue operating our in-person manufacturing and shipping business safely, prioritizing our long-term people over our short-term profits, and gave us the autonomy and nimbleness to, each day, make the next best choice for our clients and our future. 

This time has been challenging on a multitude of levels but it has also presented me with an invaluable gift. The past year has given me the space to turn my focus inward, to remember why I built this company, where we have come from, and to reimagine where we want to go. 

I am more certain than ever that not only do I want to keep our independent, small-batch experience intimate in the way we have become most known for, it’s where I want to double down our attention. 

With that, we have come to the bittersweet conclusion that we will not be resuming the wholesale side of our business and will not be re-entering the retail space in the way we were prior to 2020.

We went into our first retailer in the summer of 2012 - on the very same afternoon my first child was born. I was still operating out of a makeshift lab in the back bedroom of our home. I didn’t have a team. I blended every fresh batch myself, working late nights and between nursing sessions, running to the post office with your shipments during baby naps.  

These last nine years have passed in a blink. It’s been a whirlwind of keeping my head down, moving fast, learning what was important to me, how to fight for it, who else this mattered to, and what I could offer in this space that would mean something to someone. 

This work is personal to me. Choosing to discontinue our wholesale business in order to hone our focus on producing fresh product exclusively for maylindstrom.com was a hard decision to make and is a significantly harder one to share. Our retailers have become more than colleagues. They are our longtime friends, collaborators, and cheerleaders. Often, it was at the enthusiastic recommendation of our partners that many of you first learned of us.

There aren’t enough words for the gratitude I feel for the opportunities we’ve had and the relationships we’ve fostered. I can never thank these partners and their teams enough. For seeing me, supporting me, believing in me, and for being with us over these foundational years. 

We all got here together. This space and all of our businesses look massively different today than just a few years ago, and certainly a decade ago. Together, and in companionship with all the phenomenal brands and makers we’ve had the honor to sit alongside in stores and webshops, we’ve done incredible work that has forever shaped this corner of our industry - and all of us with it. 

Writing these words to you, and as we continue on, alight with the thrill of knowing we are fully on a path that is truly ours, I feel a sense of calm and clarity for the first time in a long time. 

What is ahead? The very best of us. 

The handwritten notes in every order shipped hyper-fresh and direct from our studio, your choice of pretty little deluxe samples tucked in, our ever-obsessive commitment to ingredient sourcing, intimacy, and relationship to our community. I can’t even begin to share all that I’ve been dreaming of and preparing. 

What I will share is that this is only our beginning. This is the work I wake up knowing is mine to do. 

We love you and are so deeply grateful to be here taking you deeper into your own care. 

All my love,

 (April 12, 2021)