Two weeks before the birth of my daughter, a well-intentioned family friend patted me on the back, wishing me well.
“Enjoy these next two weeks,” she said slightly hauntingly. “You’ll never, ever be alone again.”
“Well, there’s always the bath,” I joked.
She looked at me like I had an extra head. “You’ll never take a bath or a shower alone again. Either you’ll need to be watching the baby, or you’ll miss her SO much you won’t want to be away from her.”
SPOILER ALERT: While I love my daughter (now four months old) dearly (like, seriously, she’s the best), I think my morning shower or evening bath remains my favorite time. It’s the only opportunity I have to be alone with my body – no phone, no social media. Just me, the water, and a few great beauty products.
One of those key products since I became a mama: The Body Stone, a lotion bar that I found on Instagram (all the beauty gurus on the gram were using it), which not only extended my self-care routine by a VERY needed 10 minutes but leaves my skin feeling, well, like my baby’s butt. Maybe even better.
Meet Kate McLeod, a former pastry chef turned beauty brand founder whose postpartum experience blossomed into a journey of self-discovery and entrepreneurial success. (Not to mention it birthed one of our be-all-end favorite products ever.) With the birth of her son, referred to affectionately as her “little resister,” Kate encountered the profound shifts of motherhood that led to her quest for balance—a dance between her personal values and the burgeoning demands of her business.
Kate’s narrative unfolds as a testament to the resilience of mothers seeking equilibrium amidst the swings of postpartum life. Her beauty rituals, a source of personal solace, evolved into a suite of nurturing products, like the Balance Face Stone, originally crafted for her son Ollie. These products embody her philosophy of care—gentle, versatile, and pure.
“The postpartum period is like swings and fluctuations and learning how to come and find equilibrium,” Kate says. Her journey underscores the importance of self-care, not just for personal indulgence but as a means to recharge, reconnect, and emerge ready to face the dual challenges and joys of motherhood and business.
Kate’s story is more than a narrative—it’s a vibrant reminder of the power of self-care rituals in grounding us during life’s transformations. Her approach to beauty is about looking good and feeling connected and nurtured, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between self-care and motherhood. That five solid minutes you spend in the shower waiting for her Daily Pebbles to dissolve? That’s self-care, mama, and it couldn’t be more perfectly summed up than by the founder herself:
“Having a moment where you can literally and emotionally sloth off and then emerge fresh, but also nourished… I view that as self-care. I feel like this battery runs up the spine, and the way to charge is through self-care. That can be anything from tending to your business, connecting to your body, maintaining your friendships… Motherhood is this massive moment where you redefine and find a new balance, but all these self-care practices can fill that battery.”
