Maybe you’ve been blaming hormones. Postpartum. Stress. Age. Your thyroid. Your diet. Not enough time outdoors. Parasites. Some mystery deficiency an influencer said you have.

So you buy the supplements, you do the cleanse, add the collagen, drink the bone broth, try another scalp serum, go back to mainstream shampoo, cut your hair, and your hair still feels dry, flat, heavy, frizzy, or just… off.

And yes, all of those things can absolutely affect your hair. But sometimes the problem is much simpler, and it’s one we rarely think to address.

Your hair is covered in buildup.

Hard water minerals, bonding treatments, styling products, dry shampoo, conditioner residue. With each use, they leave something behind on the hair. Some of that coating is intentional (leave-on products), but with repeated use, it may not fully wash away like it’s supposed to.

And until you remove the buildup, you can keep switching shampoos, trying new styling products, going in for hair cuts and wondering why nothing seems to work anymore.

The fix is a clarifying reset once or twice a month.

Here’s how buildup happens, why your shampoo can’t always remove it, and the exact routine I use.

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The buildup problem

Most of the products we use on our hair will leave something behind after shampooing:

• leave-ins

• silicones

• bonding treatments

• heat protectants

• dry shampoo

• styling creams

• hairspray

• conditioner

Shampooing should remove product from our hair, and it does. However, as haircare has shifted toward sulfate-free surfactants over the last decade, which is a good thing, shampoos have also become much gentler.

The downside is that these gentler surfactants sometimes can’t fully break through buildup, especially when a lot of products are being used and/or hard water is part of the equation.

Over time, that buildup can coat the hair shaft and create a barrier that makes it harder for water, conditioner, masks, and other moisturizing ingredients to properly reach and interact with the hair.

Buildup eventually damages the hair, causing breakage and split ends too.

The scalp can develop buildup too:

• Sebum

• sweat

• dead skin cells

• dry shampoo

• oils

• and styling products

Collect around the roots and scalp over time. So when we talk about buildup, we’re not only talking about what is coating the lengths of our hair.

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Then we add hard water to the equation.

Hard water contains dissolved minerals, primarily calcium and magnesium. Every time you shower, your hair is exposed to those minerals, and over time they can remain behind on the hair after rinsing.

Those mineral deposits can also interact with oils, conditioners, and styling products already on the hair, making buildup more stubborn and difficult for your regular shampoo to remove. In other words, you can end up with buildup on top of buildup.

Your hair needs a clean slate so your everyday products can do their job.

And yes, this is where I break my own crunchy rules a little

I love clean haircare. I formulate clean haircare. I use clean haircare.

But I’m also not going to pretend every natural product is the best tool for every job.

If your hair has months of mineral and product buildup sitting on it, sometimes you need the heavy hitters. So once or twice a month, I’m perfectly comfortable reaching for a stronger sulfate based clarifying or chelating shampoo and then going right back to my normal routine. Sulfates are a class of surfactants that are very strong; they’re overly stripping and can cause scalp irritation overtime but one thing they’re good at is removing all the gunk from the hair.

Clarify your hair occasionally with a sulfate based shampoo so your gentler everyday products can do what they do best the rest of the month.

My favorite clarifying shampoos + the full routine

I’ve tried a ridiculous number of clarifying shampoos, and living in Arizona gives me the perfect testing ground because our water is HARD.

My number one pick is a grocery store brand. It’s a dupe of a cult classic that got discontinued, and nothing else I’ve tried comes close.

Below, I’m sharing:

• My three favorite clarifying shampoos, ranked from strongest to mildest

• The one with a chelator for hard water

• My exact two-step reset routine and the deep conditioners I use

• How often to clarify, and whether it’s color safe

• What I use on regular wash days between resets

Read more

One of the most common questions I get is which products help with fine lines. Now, this question typically comes from a woman under 35, and I immediately suspect I know what’s going on because true structural wrinkles usually aren’t what we’re seeing at that age, or even before 40 or 45. Of course, genetics and other factors influence when true wrinkles begin to show up, and we aren’t meant to keep the perfectly smooth faces we had in high school forever. We’re adults, and aging is normal. But guess what isn’t? Fake wrinkles, otherwise known as dehydration wrinkles!

Fake wrinkles are fine lines that appear on the skin due to dehydration. Many younger people mistake them for actual wrinkles, but there’s a difference between structural wrinkles and surface dehydration.

Dehydrated skin is skin that’s lacking water, which can create a network of thin, shallow lines that resemble wrinkles. True wrinkles are caused by the gradual deterioration of collagen and elastin fibers deeper within the skin, and that happens naturally as we age.

Here’s what’s happening:

• Loss of plumpness: A lack of water in the epidermis causes skin cells to shrink, creating tiny cracks and fine lines that look like premature wrinkles.

• Shadowing: Without enough moisture, the skin loses its glow, making small creases and even real wrinkles look deeper.

• Slower turnover: Dry skin cells stay on the surface longer, creating rough or flaky texture, common with mature skin, which gives the look of older skin.

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What Happens When You Restore Hydration

Once that missing hydration is restored, there’s usually an almost instant “lifting” effect. The surface cells take in water and plump back up, smoothing those tiny lines and bringing that beautiful glow back to the skin. Hydrated skin reflects light evenly, while dehydrated skin looks dull, flat, and matte.

Deeper within the skin, when hydration is restored, naturally occurring molecules like hyaluronic acid bind to water like tiny sponges, helping create a cushion around collagen fibers that maintain the skin’s natural volume.

And this isn’t a temporary fix. Keeping the body and skin well hydrated is a top-tier beauty strategy.

Why Your Skin Barrier Matters

Your skin barrier works like a brick wall, with skin cells as the bricks and natural lipids, including ceramides, as the mortar. When that wall is strong, it keeps moisture in and irritants out. But when the barrier becomes damaged and that “mortar” starts to break down, water escapes more easily while irritants can get in. A damaged barrier leads to sensitivity and chronic low-level inflammation, sometimes called “inflammaging,” which can contribute to collagen damage over time.

_{As you can see in the image, a strong skin barrier traps water and keeps irritants out, while a weak barrier allows water to escape and irritants to pass through more easily.}

The good news is that if dehydration is causing those fine lines, you probably don’t need a more aggressive anti-aging routine. You need to restore and/or nourish your skin barrier so it holds onto the missing water. And to do that properly, you have to approach hydration from both directions: externally through skincare and internally through diet and hydration.

Hydration through diet

First, let’s start with mineral water. These waters support hydration by supplying naturally occurring minerals and electrolytes that help your body maintain proper fluid balance. If you want a few good options that you can find online or at your local health food store, some of the mineral rich heavy hitters:

• Evian

• Icelandic

• San Pellegrino

• Iskild (strong)

• Vichy Catalan (strong)

• Gerolsteiner (strong)

• Crazy Water

_{By strong I mean these waters have very high mineral content. Drink up to 8 oz a day, but don’t consume as your only drinking water.}

Another way to hydrate through diet is by eating what I call “wet foods.” I wrote a whole series about this called The Water Kitchen, which you can go back and read here on my Substack.

The basic idea is that dry cooking methods, like baking, grilling, frying, and even sautéing, cook a lot of the water out of our food. That doesn’t mean we can never eat food cooked this way, but those meals aren’t supplying the same amount of hydration as foods cooked with water.

There’s another reason I talk so much about wet cooking: AGEs. AGEs stands for advanced glycation end products, and yes, the acronym is fitting.

AGEs can add to inflammation and oxidative stress in the body, and they can also cross-link proteins like collagen and elastin, making them stiffer and harder to repair. So dry cooking doesn’t only remove water from our food.

Wet cooking includes things like soups, stews, and crockpot meals. Because you’re eating the cooking liquid along with the food, you’re getting all of that water too. And since minerals move into the water during cooking, they stay right there in the meal as you consume it.

A Few Other Ways to Hydrate Through Food

Eating plenty of fruit is another easy way to hydrate through your diet because fruit naturally contains water, along with minerals like potassium. Bone broth is another great option, although that really falls into the same wet-cooking category as soups and stews.

Cooking leafy greens into your stews (collards, arugula, swiss chard, etc) will extract their minerals in to the broth. You can consume or discard when the soup is finished.

You can also use electrolyte powders. I personally wouldn’t suggest taking these every day, but I do think they can be helpful on an as-needed basis, especially when you feel like plain water isn’t doing enough.

My favorite electrolyte powder is the Potassium Cocktail from Jigsaw Health. I’ll be honest, I’m not a stevia or monk fruit fan, but this formula works so well for me that I don’t even care.

I’ve tried so many electrolyte products, and this is probably the only one I can actually feel working in my body. Years ago, I used to get heart palpitations that would sometimes turn into episodes of tachycardia. My heart rate would climb to around 135 BPM, and I couldn’t seem to bring it down. Whenever I drank this particular electrolyte drink, my heart rate would regulate within about ten minutes.

At the time, I was raising three boys, and life could be intense. My little wild monkeys had mama on edge all the time. My youngest is 18 now, and they’ve all grown into wonderful young men. It does get better, mamas!

That experience is why I continue to keep the Potassium Cocktail around and use it occasionally - especially in these Arizona summers!

_{I do want to be clear that this is only my personal experience, not a claim that an electrolyte powder treats tachycardia. If you experience heart palpitations or a racing heart, please have it properly evaluated.}

I also like that it contains both potassium and sodium, with more potassium than sodium because the ratios matter when it comes to proper hydration and this is ratio balance is well documented through scientific data.

Use code KOSSMA to save $10 when you purchase through their website.

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Hydrating Your Skin Through Skincare

The products you use matter, but so does the way you apply them. A good routine should add water to the skin, support its natural lipids, and help the barrier hold on to that moisture.

Step 1: Start With a Gentle Cleanser

Begin by washing your face with a gentle cleanser. We want to remove makeup, sunscreen, dirt, and pollution without stripping away the natural lipids and sebum that help the skin barrier function.

Those lipids sit between the surface cells and create part of the seal that keeps water from escaping. When we repeatedly strip them away, the skin is left tight, dry, and more vulnerable to water loss.

I recommend our Chamomile Cleanser because it removes the day without stripping. It a true gel cleanser, formulated in a base of aloe vera with gentle plant based surfactants and hydrators like glycerin. One of our OG best selling products since 2019!

Step 2: The Damp Skin Method

The next step is what I call the Damp Skin Method. This is the foundation of the Kossma skincare line because it gives the skin water and then helps seal it in for the gorgeous healthy hydrated look.

Kossma is a hydration and skin-barrier-forward company because a healthy, well-hydrated barrier is the foundation of beautiful skin. Before we reach for overhyped products with 10 actives and a million claims we need to make sure the skin has the water and lipid support it needs to function properly. That part doesn’t need to much, especially not trendy products!

1. Wash your face

2. Hydrate

3. Moisturize

4. Seal

After cleansing, spritz our Marshmallow Hydrosol over your face until the skin is slightly damp. This hydrosol is special because it starts with organic frankincense resin hydrosol, distilled here in the United States just for us, and combines it with marshmallow root mucilage and glycerin. These ingredients are hydration superstars, but the water can still evaporate if we leave the skin bare. While your face is still damp from the hydrosol spritz, follow with a lipid-based moisturizer to slow water loss and help the skin hold on to that hydration.

I recommend a light nourishing oil like our Golden Yolk Oil or our Sacred Skin Oil if you have acne or are breakout prone.

Step 3: Choose the Right Oil for Your Skin

Both Sacred Skin and Golden Yolk Oil are formulated with oils that complement one another, without using high-PUFA seed oils. This gives the formulas a more oxidatively stable base while still keeping them light on the skin.

Sacred Skin is especially lightweight and was created for acne-prone skin. An acne routine shouldn’t feel like it’s drying your face just to get rid of breakouts. Sacred Skin moisturizes and replenishes the skin while the herbal ingredients work to address acne at the same time. We have so many wonderful reviews from customers who love this product.

Golden Yolk Oil is a little richer, but it still feels light. It contains just a touch of ghee and lanolin, so you get that extra moisture without applying a heavy butter to your face. Lanolin has been used for centuries as an emollient, helping soften the skin and reduce moisture loss.

Golden Yolk also contains real saffron grown for us here in the United States, along with other nourishing ingredients chosen to support dry and depleted skin.

Choose the oil that fits your skin type, apply a few drops over the damp skin, and massage it in.

What you’re doing is almost like creating a fresh lotion directly on your skin. Traditional lotions and creams are made by combining water and oil with emulsifiers and preservatives to keep everything blended and stable. With the Damp Skin Method, the hydrosol supplies the water and the facial oil supplies the lipids. You combine them right on your face by massaging them together.

The oil helps slow the evaporation of the Marshmallow Hydrosol while replenishing the lipids your skin barrier needs. Instead of the water evaporating, it stays in the skin while the oil nourishes and protects the surface.

The result is skin that feels hydrated, replenished, and incredibly soft.

Step 4: Finish With Tallow Balm

To take the Damp Skin Method one step further, finish with another one of my OG bestsellers, Tallow Beauty Balm.

Tallow Balm creates an semi-occlusive layer over the skin, deeply sealing everything in. It’s made with a touch of grass-fed suet tallow, nourishing butters, special beeswax cappings, and my trinity herbal blend. This final layer adds a richer level of moisture and is truly the chef’s kiss of the entire routine.

_{If your skin is prone to clogged pores or breakouts, this step may not be right for you. That said, many of our acne-prone customers use Tallow Balm successfully and absolutely love it. Apply a small amount at first and see how your skin responds or leave out entirely.}

My Favorite Trick: Layering

One thing I love to do with the Damp Skin Method is layer the Hydrosol and facial oil several times.

Start with a light spritz of Marshmallow Hydrosol, then massage a small amount of oil into your skin until it feels almost dry. Spritz again, add another small amount of oil, and massage it in. I’ll repeat this three or four times when my skin needs extra hydration.

The key is using tiny amounts with each layer. You don’t need to saturate your face. Just use a light mist, a few drops of oil, massage, and repeat.

After the final layer, allow your skin to dry before applying Tallow Balm. Because the balm contains beeswax and has an occlusive texture, it spreads best over dry skin. If your skin isn’t actively breaking out or easily clogged, swipe a small amount over your face and massage it in well.

You Don’t Need a Complicated Routine

I truly don’t believe you need every trendy active ingredient to have beautiful skin. You don’t need a routine overflowing with bakuchiol, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, retinol, and whatever ingredient is popular this month.

Start with a clean, gentle, herbal routine that supports hydration and the skin barrier, then give it time to work. In my experience, this simple approach can do more for the skin than many of the complicated products lining the shelves at Sephora.

I’ve also created two ready-to-go carts with everything you need for the Damp Skin Method. One is designed for normal to dry skin, and the other is for acne-prone skin. Choose the one that fits your skin type, click the link, and your products will already be loaded into checkout and ready to go.

Normal to Dry Skin: Click here for the Damp Skin Method cart.

Acne-Prone Skin: Click here for the Damp Skin Method cart.

Of course, even if you don’t use Kossma products, you can still practice the Damp Skin Method with products you already own.

Cleanse gently, add water, and apply your oil or moisturizer while your skin is damp. It’s one of the best well-aging strategies you can add to almost any skincare routine.

If you enjoyed this article, make sure you subscribe and share it with a friend =)

Thanks for reading. I look forward to writing more for you.

Stephanie

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I Finally Love My Hair. Here’s the Method That Changed Everything.

I’m gonna be honest. I didn’t love my hair for most of my adult life. It took me years to finally find a solution that completely changed the way my hair looks and feels. Now it’s healthier than ever, and I’m seriously in love.

By the end of this article, you’ll have everything you need to love your hair too.

Part 2 of This Hair Care Series

This is Part 1 of a two-part hair care series.

In Part 2, available exclusively to my paid subscribers, I’m going to show you exactly how to detox your hair, remove years of product and hard water buildup, and finally let your hair care products do what they’re actually supposed to do.

If your hair has ever felt dry, dull, heavy, or straw-like no matter what shampoo, conditioner, or styling products you use, you won’t want to miss Part 2.

The Hair I Was Born With

There are so many different hair types, and somehow I was born with the worst one.

I have fine hair, so there’s not a lot of natural body. It’s stick straight, which only makes the lack of volume more obvious, and my roots get oily way too fast. There’s not much I can do with styling because it won’t hold a curl. And for some reason, every volumizing or texturizing product that’s supposed to help just seems to weigh my hair down or make it so dry it gets frizzy.

And then there’s another issue.

I live in the Arizona desert. Between the dry climate and the fact that I have to wash my hair more often, I get the craziest static. My flyaways stand straight up like I rubbed a balloon all over my head.

And that’s because my hair is dry.

So naturally, I reached for anti-frizz products and leave-in conditioners. They help...kind of. But if I use a little too much, or the wrong product, I lose what little body my hair naturally has.

A Little About Me

If you don’t know, I have a background in esthetics. I don’t call myself an esthetician anymore because it’s been a long time since I practiced. I was only in practice for a short time before I got pregnant and stepped into my stay-at-home mom era.

But I’ve spent years studying skin, healing, and hair care. What I learned in school was just the beginning. Everything I’ve learned since then has been an incredible journey.

The Hair Washing Method That Changed Everything

Back to hair care...

Whether you have my hair type or not, this method is for everyone.

It works unbelievably well, and it has completely transformed my hair and the hair of everyone I’ve convinced to try it.

My best friend has the thickest, most gorgeous “horse hair.” It’s honestly unbelievable. If you put a group of women in a room and asked them to describe their dream hair, they’d all describe hers.

Another friend has very curly mixed-texture hair, and she says if she doesn’t wash her hair this way, she’ll end up wearing it in a bun, which has been her default style most of her life.

My mom has great hair too. She’s somewhere between my hair and my best friend’s. I got her hooked on this method, and now she swears by it.

So no matter what your hair type is, this works.

Photo of my best friends hair so you know what I’m talking about! No extensions…incredible.

The Reverse Wash Method (The Shampoo Sandwich)

I didn’t invent it. Someone else did, and it’s actually been around for years, but oddly never makes the viral parts of social media.

It’s called the Reverse Wash Method, also known as the Shampoo Sandwich.

Here’s how it works.

You get in the shower, wet your hair, apply conditioner to the mid-lengths and ends, then shampoo only your scalp and roots before rinsing everything together.

As you rinse, the shampoo mixes with the conditioner, so your roots get clean while your ends stay protected and super moisturized.

Why It Works

This method helps protect the oldest part of your hair.

Your ends have been exposed to years of washing, brushing, heat, UV exposure, and the environment. They don’t need much cleansing because they’re rarely oily. They need moisture and protection instead.

Your scalp and roots, on the other hand, are where oil, sweat, and buildup collect, so that’s where cleansing is most beneficial.

This method lets each part of your hair get exactly what it needs, leaving your roots freshly clean and your lengths soft, healthy, and hydrated.

The Results

The result is pretty spectacular.

• Bouncy roots

• More volume

• Soft, hydrated ends

• Less frizz

• Healthier shine

• Hair that simply behaves better

It’s such a simple change, but it creates a much healthier hair-washing ritual.

How to Do the Shampoo Sandwich

Step 1: Pre-condition

Wet your hair thoroughly.

• Apply conditioner from the mid-lengths to the ends (the ears and down).

• Use a shower brush to evenly distribute the conditioner.

• Do not rinse it out.

Step 2: Shampoo

While the conditioner is still in your hair:

• Apply shampoo only to your scalp and roots.

• Massage your scalp as usual.

• Rinse both the shampoo and conditioner out together, massaging the mid-lengths with the shampoo as it rinses out.

Step 3: Condition Again

• Apply conditioner a second time to your mid-lengths and ends.

• Use a shower brush to evenly distribute the conditioner.

• Rinse thoroughly.

• This step is optional. Some of you won’t need it, some will. Experiment and have fun.

Step 4 (Optional): For Very Dry, Thick, Curly, or Coily Hair

Before Step 1, smooth a small amount of hair oil over your mid-lengths and ends while your hair is dry.

Then continue with the full method as normal.

Meadowfoam seed oil is one of my favorite oils for hair. It’s incredibly oxidatively stable, which means it resists breaking down much better than many other plant oils. That stability is exactly why it’s Kossma approved.

Give It a Try

If you try this method, let me know in the comments how you like it. I’m always so curious how others take to my suggestions.

For me, this completely changed my relationship with my hair.

My roots finally have volume without feeling greasy, my ends stay soft, no more flyaways, and no more needing to use products that weigh my hair down to tame the frizz.

The Shampoo I Created for Beautiful Hair

I know I’ll get asked what shampoo I use, so I’ll answer it here.

I created the Kossma Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar because I couldn’t find what I was looking for. I wanted a shampoo that actually cleansed my scalp, left my hair feeling fresh, and worked with methods like this, but without the long list of unnecessary ingredients I was trying to avoid.

This is not a bar of soap. It’s real shampoo in solid form.

It uses gentle, naturally derived cleansing ingredients, is pH balanced for your hair and scalp, and is formulated to perform like a traditional liquid shampoo, just without the plastic bottle or the ingredient list a mile long.

It contains only 10 thoughtfully chosen ingredients, and we’ve received hundreds of incredible five-star reviews from customers who tell us it’s the first natural shampoo that actually works for their hair.

I formulated it because I needed it myself. It pairs perfectly with the Reverse Wash Method, and it’s the shampoo you’ll find in my own shower every single day.

Here’s Emily’s testimony. She’s got thick curly hair and LOVES Kossma’s Shampoo Bar.

And a peek into how it lathers and behaves in the hair.

Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar

How to Find a Doctor Who Can Actually Help You

You’ve been to the doctor. Maybe you’ve been to ten doctors. You sat in the waiting room. You filled out the clipboard. You got about seven minutes with the doctor, and then you walked out with a prescription and a slip to go get your blood work done.

And you walked out feeling hopeless. Like the doctor didn’t listen to you. Or worse, like the doctor had no idea how to help you. You could tell just by how the appointment went that this doctor wasn’t going to be able to help you. And you knew the second you walked out that door that you’d never go back to him again.

And the worst part about all this is that it’s happened to you over and over again. For years, you’ve gone from doctor to doctor searching for answers, and it’s the same thing every time. Rinse and repeat. Or maybe one runs some labs and identifies a problem, hands you a prescription, but never gives you the root cause. And you’re still suffering. You still have a chronic illness, years and years later.

And you don’t want a pharmaceutical with a whole list of funky side effects that are just going to give you some other secondary condition. What you want is for someone to identify what you have, find the root cause, and build a treatment plan around that root cause, not the symptoms.

Hi, I’m Stephanie

I’m the writer behind Ancestra and the founder of Kossma Beauty. Finding good doctors has been my life’s work for the better part of twenty years.

It started with my son. He went through a liver transplant and everything that comes with it, and I made it my mission to get him in front of medical doctors and specialists who would actually take care of him and give him a shot at a healthy life. That’s exactly what happened. Along the way, I learned how to find that same level of care for myself.

So I'm going to show you how to do it too. To be clear, I'm not talking about naturopaths, chiropractors, or homeopaths. You already know how to find those. I'm talking about allopathically trained, mainstream medical doctors who have an extremely rare set of skills and access to the latest technology and resources. They're hard to find. But there's a method to it.

Here’s why they’re worth the hunt: they have access to technology and diagnostics that can change the entire direction of your health journey. Time and again, that access has gotten us either a real treatment or, even when the treatment fell short, a solid diagnosis. And a real diagnosis is everything, because once you have one, you can pivot. You can take it functional. You can take it naturopathic. But you can’t do any of that until someone tells you what’s actually wrong.

First, Know Who You’re Actually Looking At

Before we get into how to find a good doctor, you need to understand who you’re actually looking at. Because not all doctors are the same, and knowing the difference will save you a lot of wasted appointments.

Your Family Doctor (General Practitioner)

Your family doctor, or general practitioner, is your first stop. These are the ones you go to when you’ve got high blood pressure, your blood sugar’s creeping up, you’ve got a rash, you need a strep test, or you need a referral.

• What they’re great at: the everyday stuff and managing things that are already diagnosed.

• Here’s the limit: they are not diagnosticians (for complex or chronic illnesses). The extent of their knowledge, in my opinion, is pretty surface level. They’re trained to recognize the common stuff and route you onward.

• The bottom line: if your problem is anything other than common, you’ll hit the end of what they can do fast. And from there, they’ll refer you out to a specialist.

Specialists

Then you have your specialists. These are the doctors who’ve gone deeper into one area of the body or one category of disease. A cardiologist, an endocrinologist, a gastroenterologist, a rheumatologist. This is usually where the real answers live for chronic illness, because they have the training and the tools to actually dig.

But don’t assume a specialist is automatically a good doctor. A lot of them aren’t. The trick is that there are specialties within the specialty. An endocrinologist who lives and breathes thyroid is a completely different animal than one who mostly manages diabetes all day. You’re not just looking for the right field. You’re looking for the right doctor within that field. The one who’s had more training beyond medical school. The one who hyperfocuses on a single specialty, like thyroid disease, and really doesn’t treat much outside of it.

And here’s the crazy part about this. The hyperfocused specialists, the ones who really niche down and focus on that one thing, are incredibly hard to find. There aren’t many of them out there. Most specialists are treating the whole sphere of their field instead. Take endocrinology. It covers so much. I went to an endocrinologist for my thyroid, and I later found out from another specialist that endocrinologists probably aren’t the best people to see for thyroid in the first place. They have training in it, and plenty of people will tell you they’re the ones to see. But their main training and their main focus is diabetes, not thyroid. And in my case, that was exactly true. They were of no help at all. I thought that going from a family doctor up to a specialist meant I was finally going to get more help. I didn’t. It was just a horrible experience.

MD vs DO

Now, MD versus DO. This one confuses a lot of people, and it shouldn’t.

• What they share: Both are fully licensed medical doctors. Both go through medical school, residency, and board exams. Both can prescribe, run diagnostics, perform surgery, and specialize in anything.

• The difference is the school of training: An MD comes out of a traditional, what’s called allopathic, medical school. A DO comes out of an osteopathic medical school, which teaches everything an MD learns plus extra training in the musculoskeletal system and a more whole body, hands on philosophy.

• In real life: a DO can do everything an MD can do. The license and the scope are the same. The only thing I’ll say is that DOs are often trained to think a little more about the body as a connected system, which can work in your favor. But at the end of the day, a good doctor is a good doctor, and you’ll find brilliant ones and useless ones with both sets of letters.

Naturopathic vs Functional

Last, naturopathic versus functional, because people mix these up constantly.

• Naturopathic (ND): A naturopathic doctor goes to naturopathic medical school and is trained in natural therapies like botanicals, nutrition, and lifestyle. Depending on what state you’re in, their licensing and what they’re legally allowed to do varies wildly.

• Functional: Functional medicine is a different thing entirely. It’s not a degree. It’s an approach. It’s a way of practicing that focuses on finding the root cause and treating the whole system instead of chasing symptoms.

And here’s the important part: an actual MD or DO can be trained in functional medicine. That’s the sweet spot. That’s the bridge. When you find a real medical doctor who also thinks functionally, you get the diagnostics, the labs, the imaging, and the prescribing power of conventional medicine and/or natural medicine combined with the root cause mindset you’ve been looking for this whole time.

In my experience, functional doctors are the best ones to see for a chronic condition, hands down. But the same rule from before still applies. A lot of them niche down. Some focus only on Lyme, some only on thyroid, some only on Crohn’s and chronic gut disease. So you still have to find the functional doctor who specializes in the exact thing you’re dealing with. Once you do, there’s no one better.

A Word on Naturopaths

Naturopathic doctors are a different story, and I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan. Between me and my son, we’ve seen plenty of them, and we’ve never once walked away with a great experience. I know there are a few brilliant outliers out there, but most of them fall into the same trap, and it’s worth understanding why.

They go to their own medical school, and their training is completely different from a conventional doctor’s. But the way they actually practice is still very allopathic. By the time you leave the office, you’ve got a fistful of prescriptions in hand. One time, I walked out with sixteen. Not pharmaceuticals, supplements.

And that’s the whole problem right there. A medical doctor hands you a pile of pharmaceuticals. A naturopath hands you a pile of vitamins and supplements. Same exact model, different bottle.

The Secret: Fellowship-Trained Doctors

The exact difference between a board-certified specialist and a fellowship-trained one. How to find the fellowship-trained doctor in your specific condition. The two-word search phrase that filters out everyone else. And the story of how one of these doctors diagnosed and fixed my son in a single appointment after years of dead ends.

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Some of you know our story. When my son was three years old he received a liver transplant that saved his life. All sorts of things came at this boy along the way, before and after, and one of them was his teeth.

Before his transplant, his body could not excrete bile and eliminate it the way it is supposed to happen. Bile dumps into the small intestine, moves through the gut, and you excrete it. My son did not have his main bile duct to direct his bile to his intestines, so it circulated in his body and built up. One place it wreaked havoc was his teeth. That super acidic bile marinated his baby and adult teeth way up in his gums long before they ever erupted. It took a lot of his enamel and left his teeth weak.

That really upset me. So I went to Google, went down a million rabbit holes, did some deep research, and found what I believe is the most effective dental remineralizing and healing routine out there.

Before I get into the routine I want to talk about fluoride for a second because I know it is a topic that divides people in this space.

I used to be anti fluoride. I am not anymore. Here is where I landed. Fluoride works, the research on remineralization is solid, and yes it is toxic, but if you are spitting it out after brushing is it really an issue? Honestly I do not know. What I do know is that every natural toothpaste I tried over several years left my mouth feeling sticky and unclean, so I switched back and my teeth have never felt cleaner.

So for this routine, use whatever toothpaste you like. The toothpaste is not the star of the show here. As long as it is actually cleaning your teeth, you are fine.

As far as hydroxyapatite, I am not a fan. I will have a full post on that soon.

There is a compound found in chocolate that peer reviewed research shows remineralizes enamel better than fluoride. There is a milk derived compound that floods your enamel with calcium and phosphate and triggers remineralization from the inside out. I combined them into a daily routine and it gave my son, whose enamel was damaged before his teeth ever erupted, his first A+ dentist visit, no cavities, strong healthy teeth. The full routine and every product I use are inside this article.

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Gum massage.

It probably sounds a little out there because what does rubbing your gums have to do with your teeth. It has everything to do with it, and once I tell you why you are going to wonder why nobody ever brought this up before.

There is a little pocket between your gum and your tooth called the periodontal pocket. Most people have never heard of it and honestly most people never think about their gums at all until something goes wrong. That pocket is where bad bacteria set up camp, and when those bacteria build up long enough you get gingivitis, periodontal disease, receding gums, all of it. Those bacteria are anaerobic, meaning they cannot survive when oxygen shows up. That is exactly where gum massage comes in.

When you massage your gums you are pushing blood flow and oxygen directly into that pocket and the bacteria simply cannot survive in that environment. A randomized clinical trial published in the Journal of Indian Society of Periodontology found that regular gum massage produced significant reductions in harmful bacteria counts and gingival scores, and research on gingival microcirculation found that massage activates blood flow in gum tissue in a way that supports oral health long term.

For people who already have signs of gingivitis or periodontal disease, this is how you start fighting back without a dentist visit every other week. For people who do not have any issues yet, this is how you keep it that way. Both situations, same two minutes.

You just use your finger. Rub along the gum line, one minute on top, one minute on the bottom, twice a day.

Now you can do it with an oil and coconut oil is a solid choice because it has natural antibacterial properties that give you a little extra support if you are dealing with anything like a receding gum line or early gingivitis. The one I use is vitamin E oil and this is the part I get excited about because it is a full double whammy. I came across research published in PubMed showing that vitamin E improves periodontal health by reducing inflammatory responses and promoting healing because of its antioxidant properties. On top of that, when you massage vitamin E into your gums it absorbs into your body, so you are protecting your gum tissue and essentially getting a vitamin E supplement at the same time just by rubbing it in. I will link the one I use below.

That is the whole routine. Vitamin E oil, one minute on top, one minute on the bottom, morning and night. Two minutes. That is it.

Especially as we get older and things just stop working the way they used to, the simplest habits are the ones that actually hold up. This is one of them. Great for kids too!

This is the vitamin e I use and recommend. Highest quality, full spectrum E on the market in liquid dropper form. You can use code kossma for 20% off.

Stay tuned for my next post where I am sharing my full dental routine, all the products I use, and one super secret rockstar ingredient I can almost guarantee you have never heard of.

The Mineral Nobody Talks About

You probably already drink mineral water. Maybe you switched to it because you don’t trust tap water anymore, or you’re trying to stay more hydrated, or you just like how it tastes. And you probably know it has calcium and magnesium in it. But there’s something else in certain mineral waters that nobody is talking about, and when I tell you what it does in the body, you’re going to want to go check the label on whatever you’re drinking right now.

Bicarbonate. That’s it. That’s the mineral.

You already know it. It’s baking soda. Sodium bicarbonate. People have been using it forever, for digestion, acid reflux, heartburn. Your grandmother probably had a box of it in her cabinet for everything. But what most people don’t realize is that you can get it naturally, already dissolved in water, from certain springs. And when it comes from a spring, it’s not coming alone. It brings sodium, calcium, magnesium, trace minerals that work alongside it in ways that mixing baking soda into a glass of water just can’t replicate. The whole mineral profile is different. The cofactors are there.

The way it gets into the water is actually really interesting. When water moves through certain types of rock underground, limestone, volcanic rock, it picks up whatever minerals are in that geology. Some springs come out high in calcium. Some come out high in magnesium. And some, depending on where they are in the world, come out with very high levels of bicarbonate. That’s why certain European mineral waters have so much of it. Those springs have been filtering through that rock for thousands of years.

And when you look at what bicarbonate-rich spring water actually does in the body, it’s kind of wild that more people aren’t talking about it. Because we’re talking about bone loss that can be reversed, new bone being rebuilt, real relief from constipation and bloating, solid studies on lowering high cholesterol. Exercise recovery. And there’s emerging research on what it can do for people going through cancer and other serious illness. It truly is like a miracle water, and most people are just drinking regular flat water or whatever’s on sale.

What I’m about to share covers seven completely different areas of health and what bicarbonate water does in each one. Most people have never heard of half of these connections, and once you see them together it’s hard to look at your water the same way again. At the end I’ll tell you exactly what to buy and how much you need to actually see a difference.

Bone

Your bones aren’t solid like a rock. They’re living tissue, and your body is constantly recycling them. You have cells that pull calcium out of bone and send it into your bloodstream, and other cells that do the opposite, pulling calcium from your blood to build new bone. When you’re pulling more out than you’re putting back in, you lose density over time. That’s what leads to osteoporosis.

Your body has to keep your blood pH in a very tight range. When it needs to neutralize acid, it borrows calcium from your bones. Over ten years, researchers estimate this adds up to around 15% loss of bone mineral mass.

A study out of Switzerland put two groups of young women on identical diets with identical calcium intake. One group drank mineral water high in calcium. The other drank mineral water high in both calcium and bicarbonate. After four weeks, the women drinking the bicarbonate-rich water were losing 15% less bone. Same calcium. Totally different outcome.

Your body uses parathyroid hormone to signal your bones to release calcium when it needs it. The women drinking bicarbonate-rich water had 16% lower PTH. Their bodies weren’t sending that signal as often because the bicarbonate was neutralizing the acid instead. Calcium going in isn’t the same as calcium staying in.

Teeth

Most people think about their teeth in terms of what they’re eating. Sugar is bad, calcium is good, don’t drink soda. But the acid environment in your mouth is doing just as much damage as the food itself, and bicarbonate addresses that directly.

When you eat, bacteria in your mouth produce acid as a byproduct and that acid is what breaks down enamel over time. There’s extensive research on sodium bicarbonate and dental health, most of it done on toothpastes and mouth rinses, showing it reduces plaque acidity, inhibits plaque from forming on teeth, and increases calcium uptake by enamel. The research is on topical application, not specifically on drinking the water. But the mechanism is the same. Bicarbonate neutralizes acid. And if you’re drinking it consistently, you’re creating a less acidic environment in your mouth throughout the day.

Stronger enamel, fewer cavities, less sensitivity over time. The direct studies aren’t there yet but the biology makes sense.

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There is an enormous range of quality in the herbal world. Many of the herbs sold online from loose leaf, formulated into supplements, grocery store tea bags, tinctures, gummies, and medicines have three common problems.

1. The herbs are old

Herbs from large retailers may already be several years old by the time they reach you.

As herbs sit in warehouses, travel through multiple distributors, and wait on store shelves many of the medicinal compounds that make the plant so valuable begin to degrade and medicineless.

2. The sourcing is unclear

Many commercial herbs are imported from India, Morocco, China, and other parts of the world. There is nothing inherently wrong with an imported herb, and many beautiful medicinal plants are grown outside the United States.

The problem is that we are rarely given any information about how the plants were grown, harvested, dried, stored, and transported.

Were pesticides or herbicides used? What does the organic certification require in that particular region? Was the soil healthy or were the plants grown next to industry? Was the plant harvested at the correct stage? How was it dried? Was it exposed to excess moisture or mold? What kind of water was used? Was it tested for heavy metals, microbial contamination, pesticides, adulteration, or mistaken plant identity?

I don’t know about you, but when I’m preparing an herbal remedy, yes, I want clean, quality herbs!

3. The herbs may have been heavily treated

Something else most people do not realize is that commercial herbs and spices may undergo intensive treatments before they reach you.

Because mass produced dried plant material can carry insects, mold, bacteria, and other contaminants, large suppliers may use treatments designed to sterilize the herbs, extend their shelf life, and make them easier to sell in enormous quantities. This also goes for your cooking spices.

These toxic treatments may include:

• Ionizing radiation: Herbs and spices may be exposed to gamma rays, X-rays, or electron beams to reduce bacteria, mold, and insects. The FDA permits irradiation of dried herbs, spices, and seasonings. Irradiation does not make the herbs radioactive, but it is still a processing method many consumers would want disclosed, especially when choosing plants for medicinal use.

• Ethylene oxide fumigation: Ethylene oxide is a sterilizing gas used to reduce pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli in dried herbs and spices. The EPA estimated that approximately 32 percent of dried herbs and spices, domestic and international were gassed with ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is also classified as a hazardous air pollutant and a known human carcinogen.

• Propylene oxide fumigation: Some spices and dried herbs may be treated with propylene oxide as another method of controlling bacteria, mold, and insects.

• Steam sterilization or high-heat treatment: Steam can reduce microbial contamination without chemical fumigation, but strong heat may kill the herbs medicinal properties, especially when the plant contains delicate volatile oils.

Thanks to mass production we now get toxic treatments served alongside our herbs. And contamination fair concern, I get it from a “we need to make sure these herbs are safe perspective” but also fumigation doesn’t feel safe either.

The good news is USDA-certified organic (and most other organic certifications) herbs and spices cannot be treated using ionizing radiation, ethylene oxide or propylene oxide fumigation, but an organic label still does not tell you the herb’s age, how carefully it was dried, whether heat or another permitted treatment was used, or how many years it spent moving through the supply chain.

I do not expect herbs to be completely untouched. Cleaning, careful drying, responsible handling, and microbial testing are important parts of producing safe herbal products. But I 100% want to know what the plant(s) was treated with before I purchase it.

That level of transparency is much easier to find when buying directly from small farms that grow, harvest, dry, and package their own herbs on their own land.

Organic Does Not Always Mean Responsibly Sourced

Growing demand for herbal medicine places real pressure on wild plant populations, farming communities, and entire ecosystems. Our purchasing choices can either contribute to that destruction or help create a healthier, more sustainable herbal system.

You Can See and Smell the Difference

Freshly harvested & dried herbs are something completely different.

When an herb is harvested at the right stage, dried with care, and stored properly, it retains its beautiful color, characteristic aroma, flavor and medicine.

I took this comparison photo a few years ago. The herbs on the left came from mainstream herbal suppliers. The herbs on the right came from small farms like the ones I’m sharing with you today.

Both were labeled organic.

Yet one side was dead, crumbly, and scentless. The other was vibrant, aromatic, and still looked alive.

When you open a bag of well-grown nettle, you should smell nettle. Calendula should still be golden and smell earthly. Lemon balm should carry its bright, lemony aroma. Chamomile should smell sweet and apple-like. The quality is obvious.

Regenerative, organic, and conventional growing methods

Regenerative farms work to rebuild healthy soil, protect water quality, increase biodiversity, and create habitat for pollinators and wildlife. Practices may include crop rotation, cover crops, composting, reduced tillage, and keeping living roots in the soil. Over time, these practices create healthier land and ecosystems that can continue renewing themselves year after year.

Certified organic farming follows regulated standards that prohibit GMOs, sewage sludge, and certain pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. However, organic does not automatically mean regenerative. What I call organic-conventional farming is certified organic agriculture that still follows a large-scale industrial model, sometimes relying on monocropping, frequent tillage, and approved organic sprays and fertilizers without actively rebuilding the entire ecosystem.

Conventional farming allows a much broader use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. For medicinal herbs, my preference is always organic and regenerative whenever possible: herbs grown without prohibited chemicals while actively restoring the soil and protecting the life surrounding it.

Why I Love Buying Directly From Small Regenerative Herb Farms

Purchasing herbs from local and regional farms is one of the best ways to support a more sustainable herbal practice.You are often getting a fresher herb with far more medicine. You are also supporting the people doing the real work of caring for the soil, plants, pollinators, and surrounding ecosystem.

Small herb shops frequently sell out and/or only offer their herbs seasonally since each offering is freshly harvested. If you visit one of the websites below and the herb you want is unavailable, check back during typical seasonal harvest times.

Their inventory follows the seasons because they are selling what the land produced that year. This is a slower world than mainstream herbal commerce, and in my experience, the herbs are far more beautiful and potent.

Beginning With Restorative Herbs

Once you have access to good herbs, they can become part of your daily routines.

You can prepare simple teas, tinctures, herbal oils, baths, compresses, and long-brewed nourishing infusions. Herbs do not have to be reserved for moments when something feels wrong. Many can be used regularly to nourish and gently support the body over time.

Restorative herbalism focuses on rebuilding and strengthening the body over time. These herbs are different from acute remedies because the goal is not to immediately cure a symptom. The goal is long-term nourishment, balance, and resilience, just like eating a healthy diet, getting sunlight on your skin and exercising.

Because so many of us are living with chronic stress, we often need consistent support. Many restorative herbs work slowly and steadily and are most useful when they become part of a regular rhythm.

A few herbs you might begin using include:

• Nettle

• Milky oats

• Lemon balm

• Chamomile

• Alfalfa

• Dandelion root

A full list of small American & international farms growing fresh organic regenerative herbs

Some I personally source from, both for my own use and for formulating my skincare products.

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The health and wellness space has gotten good at teaching people about food quality. People like Paul Saladino and others in the ancestral health world have helped millions move toward grass-fed meat, organ meats, quality dairy, and away from seed oils and processed food. But there is a blind spot: the cooking method. Scroll through the meal posts from …

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You can feel aging before you can see it. The knee that takes longer to warm up. The morning you don’t bounce back after a night out with friends. The stiffness in your lower back that wasn’t there at twenty five, or the loss of youthful energy you once had.

Most people chalk this up to time. The body wears out. That is what bodies do.

But what if a mean…

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In a Korean home, dinner begins with broth. A pot of samgyetang, whole chicken stuffed with rice, ginseng, and jujubes, simmers low and slow until the meat falls from the bone and the broth turns milky and rich. In southern China, a clay pot of double-steamed soup has been going for hours, a technique rooted in Taoist philosophy dating to the sixth century BC, built on the belief that slow, moist heat preserves the vital essence of food. In West Africa, a pot of groundnut stew bubbles over low flame, its proteins and vegetables softening together in a shared liquid. In India, a pressure cooker hisses out dal. In Mexico, a pot of pozole, hominy and pork in rich, slow-cooked broth, feeds a family from a single vessel.

Now picture a typical American dinner: a chicken breast seared in a hot skillet. A steak charred on the grill. Roasted vegetables caramelized at 425°F until their edges blacken. A burger pressed against cast iron until the Maillard reaction delivers that signature crust.

These are not just different meals. They are fundamentally different relationships with heat. And, as an expanding body of scientific research now suggests, they produce fundamentally different effects inside the human body.

This is the premise of The Water Kitchen, a series about what I’m calling water cooking: the practice of using water or liquid as the primary medium for preparing food. Boiling, steaming, stewing, braising, poaching, simmering, blanching, pressure cooking. These methods share a common principle. Water caps cooking temperatures at or near 212°F, maintains high moisture throughout the process, and keeps food in constant contact with liquid rather than exposing it to the dry, intense heat of an open flame or a 400-degree oven.

Water cooking is not a trend. It is not a hack. It is the way most of humanity has prepared food for thousands of years, and the way most of the world still does. The real question is not “what is water cooking?” It’s “why did the West stop doing it?”

The Chemistry of How You Cook

Here’s something that rarely makes it into dietary guidelines: how you cook your food may matter as much as what you cook.

When food is exposed to high temperatures and low moisture, the conditions created by grilling, roasting, frying, broiling, and baking, a chemical reaction occurs between sugars and proteins called the Maillard reaction. This is the reaction responsible for the browned crust on a steak, the char on grilled vegetables, the golden surface of a roasted chicken. It is, by nearly universal agreement, delicious.

It also produces compounds called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs.

AGEs are not a fringe concern. They are the subject of a large and growing body of peer-reviewed research linking them to inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and accelerated aging. They form naturally inside the body as part of normal metabolism, but when consumed in excess through diet, they overwhelm the body’s ability to clear them, and accumulate in tissues, stiffening blood vessels, degrading collagen, and triggering chronic inflammatory pathways.

The critical finding for our purposes: cooking method is one of the most powerful determinants of how many AGEs end up in your food, and therefore in your body.

A 2025 randomized crossover trial published in Cell Reports Medicine tested this directly. Researchers fed healthy subjects identical ingredients (the same meats, the same vegetables) prepared using two different approaches: low-AGE methods (boiling and steaming) versus high-AGE methods (grilling and baking). The results were striking. Participants eating boiled and steamed food showed measurably lower levels of AGEs in their blood, improved cholesterol profiles, and even modest weight loss, all from changing nothing about their ingredients, only their cooking method.

A comprehensive database published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, which catalogued the AGE content of over 500 common foods, found that dry-heat cooking methods generated ten to one hundred times more AGEs than the same food in its uncooked state. Broiled beef contained roughly three times the AGEs of beef boiled for twice as long. Roasted chicken breast showed about six times the AGE content of poached or steamed chicken.

The mechanism is straightforward: water limits temperature. Boiling and steaming top out around 212°F. Grilling operates at 450°F and above. Frying can exceed 350°F. Higher temperatures with lower moisture accelerate the Maillard reaction and, with it, AGE formation. The presence of water physically suppresses the chemical pathways that produce these compounds.

There is also an emerging acid angle. Marinating food in acidic liquids like lemon juice, vinegar, and tomato before cooking has been shown to reduce AGE formation by as much as fifty percent, suggesting that the wet, acidic environment common to so many traditional stew and braise cultures serves a protective function that goes beyond flavor.

What Water Unlocks

Water does not just limit harmful compounds. It actively makes food more nutritious.

When heat and moisture work together on plant cells, they break down rigid cell walls that the human digestive system struggles to penetrate on its own. This is why cooked carrots deliver dramatically more beta-carotene than raw ones. The carotenoids are trapped inside crystalline structures within the cell wall, and without heat and water to soften and open those structures, much of the nutritional content passes through the body unabsorbed. Studies on carrots have found that boiling produced three to four times higher concentrations of bioavailable beta-carotene compared to raw. Steaming showed similar gains.

The same principle applies across a wide range of foods. Cooking spinach in liquid reduces its oxalate content, compounds that block calcium and iron absorption, making those minerals significantly more available to the body. Legumes, one of the most nutrient-dense food categories on Earth, are essentially inedible raw. They contain lectins and other anti-nutrients that must be neutralized through soaking and boiling before the body can safely access their protein, fiber, and minerals. This is not a limitation of legumes. It is a feature of water cooking: the method that makes them safe, digestible, and nutritionally complete.

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Heat also denatures proteins, unfolding their tightly wound chains so that digestive enzymes can break them down more efficiently. This is true of all cooking methods, but water-based cooking does it at lower, gentler temperatures, without the added cost of producing AGEs and other harmful byproducts in the process.

There is a reason that bone broth, simmered for hours, extracts collagen which cooks down into gelatin and calcium from bones that would otherwise be nutritionally inaccessible. There is a reason that slow-cooked stews concentrate flavor and nutrition into a single bowl. Water is not a passive medium. It is an active participant in making food more nourishing.

And here is the part that ties it all together: in water cooking traditions around the world, you consume the liquid. The soup is the point. The stew is the meal. The broth is not discarded. It is the vehicle that delivers both flavor and nutrition. A Vietnamese phở, a Japanese miso soup, a West African pepper soup, a Korean jjigae, in every case, the cooking liquid is eaten. Whatever the water pulls from the food goes directly into the bowl and directly into the body. Water does the extracting. Water does the delivering of bioavailable nutrients.

The Hydration Advantage

There is another benefit of water cooking that is so obvious it tends to be overlooked: hydration. When you eat food that has been cooked in water, you are consuming water. Soups, stews, broths, and steamed dishes deliver meaningful amounts of fluid with every meal, often without the eater thinking about it at all.

This matters more than most people realize. Chronic low-grade dehydration is remarkably common, and it affects digestion, circulation, joint health, cognitive function, and skin integrity. Drinking water throughout the day helps, but the body absorbs water more effectively when it arrives alongside food, electrolytes, and minerals. A bowl of soup or stew is not just a meal. It is a hydration delivery system, one that cultures around the world have relied on instinctively for thousands of years.

Consider the structure of a traditional Korean, Japanese, or Chinese meal: a broth-based soup is present at virtually every sitting. In West Africa, stews with liquid bases accompany every plate of starch. In Latin America, caldos and sopas are daily staples. These cultures did not design their meals around hydration science. But the result is the same: people who eat water-cooked food stay hydrated through their food in a way that people eating grilled chicken breasts and roasted vegetables simply do not.

The Western approach to hydration treats water as something separate from food, something you remember to drink between meals. Water cooking traditions treat hydration as built into the meal itself. It is a fundamentally different, and arguably more effective, approach to one of the body’s most basic needs.

A Global Tradition, Not a Niche Practice

The framing matters here. Water cooking is not an alternative method. It is the original method, or at the very least, one that developed almost everywhere humans settled and learned to make vessels that could hold liquid over heat.

The invention of pottery, which emerged in China roughly 20,000 years ago, was a cooking revolution precisely because it allowed humans to boil and stew for the first time. Before pots, cooking meant roasting over open flame, a limited technique that couldn’t extract nutrients from tough grains and legumes or create the slow-cooked, nutrient-dense broths that would become dietary staples across civilizations. Pots made water cooking possible, and water cooking made new foods, and new nutritional possibilities, available to humanity.

From that point forward, water-based cooking became central to daily life across Asia, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and much of Europe.

East Asia built entire culinary philosophies around liquid. Chinese cuisine is structured around soup. A broth is served with virtually every home-cooked meal. The Cantonese tradition of slow-simmered medicinal soups, double-steamed in ceramic jars, treats food preparation as a form of healthcare. Japanese cuisine centers on dashi, a water-extracted stock of kelp and dried fish, as the foundation of nearly everything. Korean cuisine may be the most soup-forward food culture on Earth: jjigae (stews), guk (soups), tang (broths) are not side dishes but the structural center of the meal, eaten over rice at every sitting.

South and Southeast Asia rely heavily on curries, dals, and coconut-milk-based stews, all liquid-medium cooking. Indian pressure cooking is essentially a high-efficiency water cooking technique. Indonesian cuisine features an enormous diversity of soup bases built from coconut milk, tamarind, and spice-infused broths.

Africa has deep traditions of stewing and boiling. West African cuisines are built around slow-simmered stews like groundnut soup, egusi, and palm oil-based preparations, cooked in clay pots over low heat. East African cooking centers on stewed meats and boiled starches. The practice of boiling meat with minimal seasoning and consuming it with the cooking broth is common across the continent.

Latin America features sopas, caldos, pozoles, and sancochos, all liquid-based preparations that have fed communities for centuries. And then there is the foundation of daily eating across the region: rice and beans. Both are water-cooked. Beans are simmered for hours in seasoned water or broth until tender. Rice is boiled or steamed. Together they form a complete protein, and together they represent one of the most widespread examples of water cooking as the backbone of a population’s diet.

Even Europe, before its modern culinary identity crystallized, was a stew-and-pottage culture for most of its history. The medieval European peasant diet revolved around slow-cooked pots of grain, legumes, and whatever meat was available, simmered in water over hearth fires.

Where the West Went Different

So when did things shift?

The American relationship with fire-based cooking is a relatively recent phenomenon, and a culturally specific one. Barbecue has roots in Caribbean and Indigenous American smoke-cooking traditions, but the mass adoption of grilling as a household norm happened in the 1950s, driven by a convergence of postwar suburban expansion, rising meat consumption after wartime rationing, the invention of the Weber Kettle grill in 1952, and Henry Ford’s earlier commercialization of charcoal briquettes.

Grilling quickly became a centerpiece of postwar American leisure culture. Backyard cookouts turned into a weekend ritual, and the food industry and charcoal manufacturers reinforced the trend through aggressive marketing. By the late twentieth century, the American grill market had grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, and the seared, charred, flame-kissed aesthetic had become synonymous with American cooking itself.

This wasn’t a health-driven evolution. It was a cultural and commercial one. And it pulled American cooking, and through American cultural influence much of the Western world, away from the liquid-based, slow-cooked, low-temperature traditions that most of humanity had relied on for millennia.

Today, the standard American cooking repertoire leans heavily toward dry heat: grilled meats, roasted vegetables, baked dishes, pan-seared proteins, fried everything. Soup and stew exist, but only seasonal or as occasional comfort foods, not as the daily structural foundation of eating, as they remain across much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

What This Series Will Explore

The Water Kitchen is not anti-flavor. It is not anti-grilling. It is an investigation into what we lost when we made dry heat the default, and what we might gain by bringing water back to the center of the plate.

In the posts ahead, we will examine:

• The deep science of AGEs: what they do inside the body, how they accumulate, and why current dietary guidelines focus obsessively on ingredients while ignoring cooking method

• Water cooking traditions by region: deep dives into the culinary philosophies of cultures that never abandoned the pot

• The digestibility advantage: why water-cooked food is easier on the gut, and what this means for the growing epidemic of digestive disorders

• Practical water cooking for the Western kitchen: techniques, recipes, and equipment for making the transition

• AGEs and aging: how these compounds accelerate the aging process at a cellular level, and how water cooking may be one of the simplest ways to slow it down

The thesis is simple: for most of human history, in most of the world, the question was never whether to cook with water. The water was the starting point. Everything else followed from there.

Welcome to The Water Kitchen.

Subscribe to follow the series. Next: “The AGE Problem: What Happens When You Cook Without Water.

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If you’ve followed me on Instagram over the past few years, you know I’m a tinned fish lover. Do I enjoy sardines straight from the tin? Of course, but dressed up into a decadent recipe is my favorite way to enjoy them.

Over on Instagram, I filmed 10 delicious sardine recipes, and I’ve brought them here along with the written recipes so they have a place to live forever. Because let’s be honest, posts on IG disappear into the void after just a couple of days!

I hope you enjoy the recipes and geek out over this incredible nutrition chart. Sardines are one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet, packed with natural creatine, loaded with vitamins, and rich in minerals. Truly an incredible food. And if you’re a little scared of sardines, I hope these recipes help you learn to love them!

If you love how I approach food, you’ll love how I approach skincare too. At Kossma, I formulate with the same philosophy: super clean, intentional ingredients that are held to the highest standard. No inflammatory seed oils, no essential oils, ancestral fats, organic American grown herbs, safe, clean, eco-cert certified synthetics. Just like I won’t put junk in my body, I won’t put it in my skincare formulas either.

Shop the line at www.kossma.com and follow along @kossmabeauty for more.

1. Sardine “Tuna” Salad (Without the Tuna)

A simple, satisfying swap that might just become your new go-to lunch. You can also add a can of tuna along with the sardines.

Ingredients

• 1 can sardines

• 1 tbsp mayonnaise

• 1 tbsp plain yogurt

• Squeeze of fresh lemon

• Pinch of salt

• Your favorite seasoning

• 1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp green olives, chopped

• 1 tbsp fresh dill

Instructions

Mix everything together in a bowl until well combined. Serve on toast, crackers, or with coconut oil tortilla chips.

2. Crispy Rice & Sardine Salad

Crunchy, savory, and surprisingly addictive — this one is a full meal.

For the Crispy Rice & Sardines

• 3 cups cooked rice

• 2 tins sardines, smashed

• Olive oil

• Rice vinegar

• Chili crisp

For the Creamy Herb Dressing

• ⅛ cup mayonnaise

• ⅛ cup extra virgin olive oil

• Couple splashes of vinegar

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tbsp fresh basil

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp chili flakes

• 1 tsp honey

• ⅛ cup freshly grated parmesan

• Splash of lemon

For the Salad

• Cucumber, sliced

• Edamame

• Carrots, shredded or sliced

Instructions

1. Spread cooked rice and smashed sardines evenly over a baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil, rice vinegar, and chili crisp. Toss to combine.

2. Bake at 400°F until crispy and golden. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Blend all dressing ingredients together until smooth.

4. Toss the salad vegetables with the crispy rice and sardines. Drizzle with dressing and finish with a dollop of chili oil.

3. Sardine, Bean & Cucumber Salad

Hearty enough to stand on its own, or gorgeous served over toast.

Ingredients

• 2 cans sardines

• 2 cans great northern beans, drained and rinsed

• 2 small cucumbers, chopped

• A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1 avocado, diced

• Red onion, thinly sliced, to taste

Stephanie’s Magic Salad Dressing

• ⅛ cup mayonnaise

• ⅛ cup extra virgin olive oil

• Couple splashes of vinegar

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 tbsp fresh basil

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp chili flakes

• 1 tsp honey

• ⅛ cup freshly grated parmesan

• Splash of lemon

Instructions

1. Blend all dressing ingredients until smooth.

2. Gently fold together the sardines, beans, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, and red onion.

3. Drizzle with dressing and serve over toast or enjoy on its own.

4. Sardine Pâté on Sourdough

Elegant, rich, and perfect for entertaining — or an elevated weekday snack.

Ingredients

• 1 can sardines, drained

• 1–2 hard boiled eggs

• 2 tbsp red onion, finely chopped

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 2 tbsp capers

• 1 pepperoncini, optional

• ¼ cup soft butter

• Squeeze of fresh lemon

• 1 oz olive oil

Instructions

Blend or mash all ingredients together until smooth and spreadable. Serve over toasted, buttered sourdough.

5. Dominican-Style Sardines & Rice

Comfort food, deeply seasoned, one pot. This one hits every time.

Ingredients

• Olive oil

• ¼ cup diced green bell pepper

• ¼ cup diced red onion

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 6 green olives

• 3–4 tbsp tomato paste

• Handful of fresh cilantro

• 2 tbsp Better Than Bouillon

• 2 cans sardines in tomato sauce

• 2 cups rice

• 3 cups water

• 2 carrots, chopped

• Salt, adobo, sazón, and dried oregano to taste

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the bell pepper, red onion, garlic, olives, and tomato paste. Sauté until the vegetables soften.

2. Stir in the cilantro, Better Than Bouillon, and both cans of sardines. Break up the sardines slightly and let everything cook together for a few minutes.

3. Add the rice directly into the pot and stir it into the sauce, letting it sauté for 1–2 minutes so every grain soaks up the seasoning.

4. Pour in the water and add the chopped carrots. Season with salt, adobo, sazón, and oregano.

5. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook uncovered until most of the water is absorbed.

6. Reduce heat to low, cover, and steam for 15 minutes. Fluff and serve.

6. Confit Egg, Sardine & Avocado Toast

A little extra effort for a lot of extra magic. The confit yolk makes this unforgettable.

For the Confit Egg Yolks

• Egg yolks (as many as needed)

• Olive oil (enough to fully submerge yolks)

For the Toast

• Sourdough bread, toasted

• Smashed avocado

• Cottage cheese

• Whole sardines in olive oil

• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 175–185°F.

2. Carefully separate egg yolks from whites. Gently transfer yolks into an ovenproof dish filled with olive oil — yolks must be fully submerged.

3. Bake for about 55 minutes. Remove and carefully extract yolks with a slotted spoon.

4. Spread confit egg yolks over toasted sourdough like butter. Layer on smashed avocado, cottage cheese, and whole sardines. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy.

7. Creamy Cajun Sardines

Rich, fast, and incredibly satisfying. Great for breakfast with eggs, or solo.

Ingredients

• 1 tin sardines (use the oil from the tin)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• Pinch of salt

• Cajun seasoning, to taste

• ⅛ cup heavy cream

Instructions

1. Sauté the sardines in their own oil in a pan over medium heat.

2. Add the garlic, salt, and Cajun seasoning. Stir and cook for a minute.

3. Add the heavy cream and let it cook until the sauce thickens.

4. Serve alongside eggs and fresh fruit, or enjoy on its own.

8. Viral Baked Feta & Sardine Pasta

The internet’s favorite baked feta trend, upgraded with sardines for a deeply savory, creamy sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 carton cherry tomatoes

• 1 block feta in brine

• 1 can sardines in tomato sauce

• 2 cloves garlic

• Red pepper flakes, to taste

• Italian seasoning blend, to taste

• Olive oil

• Pasta of your choice, cooked

Instructions

1. Add the cherry tomatoes, feta block, sardines, and garlic to a baking dish. Season with red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

2. Bake at 400°F for 25 minutes.

3. Blend until creamy and pour over pasta.

9. Sardine Dip with Pickles

A crowd-pleasing dip that works on toast, chips, or stuffed into a sandwich.

Ingredients

• 1 can sardines in lemon preserve

• 2 tbsp carrots, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp green onion, sliced

• 2 tbsp pickles, chopped

• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt

• 2 tbsp mayonnaise

• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped

Instructions

Mix everything together until combined. Serve as a sandwich filling, over sourdough toast, or with tortilla chips.

10. Savory Eggs & Sardines

The perfect weeknight meal — bold, saucy, and ready in under 20 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 tin sardines (plus the oil from the tin)

• 1 tbsp butter

• Splash of vinegar

• Garlic, minced, to taste

• Onion, diced, to taste

• Bell pepper, diced, to taste

• Cajun seasoning blend, to taste

• ⅛ cup chicken stock (or ⅛ cup water + a little Better Than Bouillon)

• Eggs, cooked to your preference

• Avocado, for serving

• Green onions and sesame seeds, for garnish

• Chili oil, to finish

Instructions

1. In a pan over medium heat, sauté the oil from the sardine tin with the butter and a splash of vinegar.

2. Add the garlic, onion, and bell pepper. Cook until softened.

3. Add the Cajun seasoning and stir for a couple of minutes.

4. Pour in the chicken stock (or Better Than Bouillon mixture) and let it simmer for a few more minutes.

5. Spoon the sauce over cooked eggs and sardines. Top with avocado, green onions, sesame seeds, and a drizzle of chili oil.

Bonus: Beans on Toast with Sardines

Creamy, herby, cheesy, and baked until bubbling. Serve over warm, buttery sourdough.

Ingredients

• 1 can butter beans

• Heavy cream, a generous pour

• Butter, a few pats

• Garlic, minced, to taste

• Capers

• Fresh dill

• Cajun seasoning (or seasoning of your choice)

• 1 tin sardines

• Fresh dill and parmesan, to top

• Sourdough bread, toasted and buttered

Instructions

1. Add butter beans, cream, butter, garlic, capers, dill, and seasoning to a baking dish. Stir to combine.

2. Lay sardines on top. Finish with more dill and a generous handful of parmesan.

3. Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden.

4. Serve immediately over warm, buttered sourdough toast.

People like to point to outcome trials as evidence of anything, but they are never able to isolate seed oils as a factor long term. And they adjust numbers to make seed oils seem healthier than they are to the public. For instance, one study claims a “19% reduction” in cardiovascular events, but that’s actually relative risk reduction. That means the actual number is about… 1%. And since we aren’t controlling for everything else they are eating in their diet, a 1% reduction over 4–5 years means nothing. This is just one example but there are many more, the vast majority of “nutrition science” is completely bunk.

You’ve probably heard “correlation doesn’t equal causation”, but nutrition science is exclusively associative. This is because we can only study populations and trends, we cannot lock someone in a room and control their diets for months/years. This is our biggest limitation in the field of nutrition research, and the reason why mechanistic data matters. We can clearly demonstrate numerous mechanisms of harms regarding high seed oil intake using basic biochemistry.

Seed oils are high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, which aren’t inherently bad in themselves, but they are chemically unstable. Under heat, processing, exposure to air, or light, they are prone to oxidation. This is a similar process to what turns iron into rust. This is due to their numerous carbon double bonds in the fatty acids carbon chain. Oxidation creates lipid peroxides, which introduce reactive oxygen species into our bodies. These are essentially unstable molecules with unbound electrons. This process increases oxidative stress in the body, especially if antioxidant intake does not match. Oxidative stress is positively associated with systemic inflammation, which is the primary driver of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. Oxidation products, without enough antioxidants, raise systemic inflammation in the body and contribute to chronic diseases and cancer.

As important as it is to minimize your intake of these oils, there are a few things to consider. The first thing is sourcing. Deep fried foods are always going to be the WORST offender by far. The same oil is essentially being boiled all day, introducing a cascade of toxic oxidation products into the oil. The second thing to consider is that junk food is still junk food, even if it isn’t made with seed oils. I see a trend of people incorporating “beef tallow chips” and the like into their daily diet because they are better. Better does not mean good, they are still micronutrient-less carbs that aren’t designed to satiate you, but make you more hungry. The third thing is that eating whole foods with seed oils is still better than eating junk food without them. When I got to college I was extremely upset that the cafeteria only served protein cooked in canola oil. So I resorted to less nutritious options and paid the price. (Haagen daaz doesn’t have seed oils teehee).

Cutting seed oils out of your diet has massive health benefits though, not just long term disease prevention, but short term benefit as well. Oxidized seed oils are very pro-inflammatory, this can manifest as acne or pain all around your body. For instance, I noticed a decrease (basically complete remission) of my tendonitis upon cutting out seed oils. Another amazing benefit of them out is reduced sun burning. Due to omega-6’s highly oxidized and compromised composition, it is very reactive in the sun. Replacing them with stable saturated fats improved my sun tolerance greatly.

I could keep talking about seed oils forever, but I will leave you with an important take away. Polyunsaturated fats, especially from artificial sources, are terrible for you. Monounsaturated fats, olive or avocado oil, are better. And saturated fat from butter, tallow, ghee, coconut oil, etc is BEST.

If you would like to hear more, I post daily on Instagram “@theseedoilbro”

Welcome to a new paid-subscriber-only series I’m so excited to start: a running collection of the most nourishing, delicious recipes I’ve found on social media and can’t stop making at home. These are the kinds of meals that actually make you feel good, satisfying, simple, and deeply supportive, and I’ll be sharing them as I find them and fall in love with them. I also want to say thank you for your patience while I took a short break from Substack over Black Friday and the holidays, I’m finally back in my groove and so ready to share what I’ve been working on. This is the first post in a series I’ll be continuing regularly for paid subscribers, and I have so much good content planned for you, including more nourishing recipe roundups, deeper wellness notes, and more expert interviews coming soon.

Indian curd rice is one of those Ayurvedic staples that’s cooling, grounding, and surprisingly satisfying. It’s filling, delicious, and pairs so well with pretty much any meat, because the creamy tang balances richer proteins perfectly. The rice keeps it easy to digest, the yogurt adds protein, probiotics, and calcium, and the classic tempering with ghee, ginger, mustard seeds, and curry leaves gives it that warm, digestive support that makes the whole bowl feel so good.

Lion’s head meatball soup is such an underrated comfort food. I love that it uses pork for the meatballs, which brings rich flavor plus nutrients like B vitamins (especially thiamine b1 which is hard to find in food alone), zinc, and protein, and I always level it up with my homemade bone broth for extra collagen, gelatin, and minerals. Then you add the greens and suddenly it’s not just cozy, it’s deeply nourishing, hydrating, and the kind of meal your body actually feels after.

Gelatin-packed oxtail with butter beans is the definition of deep nourishment. Oxtail is loaded with collagen and gelatin to support gut health, joints, skin, and recovery, plus it brings iron, zinc, and B12 for energy and women’s health. Pair it with creamy butter beans for fiber, minerals, and slow-burning carbs that make the whole meal extra satisfying, blood-sugar friendly, and stick-to-your-ribs in the best way.

Read more

And as we step into the world of healing soups, it feels only right to begin with this timeless medicine, and my favorite recipes to keep you nourished and strong all winter.

Before we get into the recipes, let’s learn the basics. What is gelatin and why it’s one of the most restorative foods you can eat.

Gelatin begins as collagen, the structural protein found in the connective tissues of animals, including skin, bones, cartilage, tendons, and ligaments. When these parts are cooked, the collagen breaks down into gelatin. Gelatin contains several important amino acids, especially glycine, proline, hydroxyproline, and glutamine, which support gut repair and tissue regeneration, keeping the gut barrier strong and healthy. All of these soups will naturally contain a generous amount of gelatin, making them a deeply nourishing and truly healing food.

Some of these recipes were originally written with store-bought broth. I always recommend making your own when you can because the flavor and nutrient content are so much richer. But if you’re in a pinch, a good-quality store-bought broth works fine too. I skip the chicken bouillon all together and use the Better Than Bouillon brand instead when needed.

Stay tuned for my high-gelatin broth guide coming next week. I’ll walk you through exactly how to make your own broth at home using the animal cuts with the highest collagen so you can get the most healing benefits in every batch.

Avgolemeno | Greek Chicken Soup

There are so many Avgolemono recipes out there, and I’ve tried quite a few. This one is by far the best. I especially love the addition of egg yolks because they give the soup a velvety texture and a richer nutrient profile. It’s the recipe I return to again and again, and I enjoy it several times a year.

Albondigas | Mexican Meatball Soup

This recipe is truly superb and one I love so much. Tender meatballs simmered in a rich, flavorful broth with plenty of vegetables… absolute perfection. We top our bowls with a shredded cheese, a squeeze of lime, and a dollop of sour cream. Chef’s kiss every time.

Read more

I think often about one of the darkest periods of my life.

The funny thing is, I didn’t know it was my darkest period.

At the time, it was normal.

It was my standard.

My “good” days then are my terrible days now… and that was normal.

So many people have no idea how much better they could feel by optimising their health and thyroid function. They don’t realize that their “normal” state is bottom of the barrel.

I would start my days at 8:30am.

I would go down to the kitchen to pick up some junk food.

I would instantly feel like garbage, lay back down, and binge-watch on Tiktok until I got hungry again.

I was taking online classes at the time. Of course, I didn’t know how to manage myself. I saw the “freedom” of online classes as an excuse to adopt self-destructive habits and slowly die in my comfortable hole of low energy.

I barely did my work.

I would log on last minute and complete the bare minimum of the tasks (I still managed to pass).

At night, I would spend 3-7 hours playing Fifa. With or without friends, it didn’t matter. I was just numbing my mind at this point.

The sleeping-in, fast food, and Netflix binges kept me in a drip-fed dopamine sedation so that I didn’t feel the need to pursue anything greater.

Everything was fine, because I let it be fine.

My life sucked, because I let it suck.

My hormones suffered.

My thyroid gland suffered.

My hair-loss worsened.

I was really tired of everything and I lost trust in every single person, from doctors to people close to me. I thought this was the end for me!

I didn’t make the choices that led to a healthy and aesthetic body.

Fortunately, every species has a survival instinct. Probably I had to thank it if I realized that, despite my hair loss, I was still a mathematician! And, given a problem, mathematicians have to find a solution and this is the way I did.

I started studying everything, every single theory available and see which one was matching my case. And this is how I came out with what you can find in my substack.

My problem? Poor thyroid function and hormonal imbalance.

The complete guide to maximizing thyroid hormone production to lose weight and look more attractive!

Maximizing your natural production of thyroid will help you become lean and energetic in a healthy way.

T3 and T4 are the center of thyroid hormones that will improve the quality of your life dramatically.

Furthermore, Thyroid hormone aids in:

• Normal Hair growth

• Normal eyebrow growth

• Increasing Body Temperature

• Regulating our Metabolic Rate and how many calories we burn

• Regulating the rate and strength of heartbeat

• Allowing normal breakdown of carbs and fats

• Improving your outlook on life - optimism

• Better mood

• Higher energy and childlike playfulness

• Allowing production of the youth steroid hormones “pregnenolone”, “progesterone, “DHEA”

And the list goes on and on..

If you really want to enjoy life with high energy, optimising thyroid is one of the first places to start.

Let’s geek out a little

Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3) are synthesized in the thyroid gland, where a large amount of peripheral conversion occurs in the liver (such as from T4 to T3) contributing to the overall T3 levels.

T3 and T4 are then bound to thyroid-binding globulin (TBG) or albumin, that prevents detoxification of thyroid hormones and transports them around in the blood.

T3 and T4 bind to thyroid hormone receptors to exert their metabolic effect. T4 can be converted to T3 via the enzyme deiodinase type 1 (D1), which is an essential step for T3 production (active thyroid hormone).

Furthermore, T3 can be converted back to T4 via the enzyme iodothyronine deiodinase type 2 (D2), but this is not a major conversion pathway.

Side effects of hypothyroidism (low thyroid):

• Cold hands and feet and general cold intolerance

• Temperatures are below 37C or 98.6F

• Heart rate are below 70bpm

• Exaggerated stress response – heart rate speeds up like crazy, shaking, sweating, inner tension, nervousness etc.

• Hair loss

• Losing the outer part of eyebrow

• Feeling sluggish and being tired all the time. Can even experience chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

• Cognitive problems, such as depression, anxiety, slow cognition, little cognitive flexibility, not being open-minded, ridged thinking, etc.

• Fat gain and obesity

• Metabolic syndrome

• Constipation

• Diabetes

• Bipolar depession

• Neurodegenerative disease

• Poor Peripheral Circulation (Pale facial skin, cold hands, cold feet etc)

• Rapid Premature aging

• Migraines

• Chronic infection

• Cardiovascular disease

• Inflammation and chronic illness

• Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides

• Decreased libido

• Edema and Swelling

• Muscle aches, frequent cramps, weakness and even fibromyalgia

• Slow reflexes. Muscle tranction and relaxation is slow.
  And again, the list goes on…
  Thyroid is really an amazing hormone to have maximized for overall well-being and reaching the great goals you have set for yourself.
  In this article I’m going to show you how to increase your thyroid hormones and I’m going to start with the simple and easy things you can, or rather, must do on a daily basis and then I’m going to go over a few supplements and herbs you can use to boost T3
  Here we go, please enjoy, my go to guide/manual for boosting thyroid hormones!

#1 Eat healthy fats

And when I’m saying healthy fats, I’m not talking about canola oil, avocado oil, sunflower oil or any other vegetable, seed or nut oil.

I’m talking about fats that are high in saturated fat.

Fat sources such as beef, buffalo,lamb, goat, game, lean fish, dairy, coconuts and eggs.

The fats found in these sources will have the greatest thyroid boosting effect, because saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are positively associated with thyroid, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are more or less neutral whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are will lower thyroid hormones and inhibit the enzymes that produce T4 and T3. Shocking, I know.

The shorter chain fats are burned quickly for energy production, whereas longer SFAs will be built into cell membranes and will make cells more stable. More stable cells, which are less fluid and more compact, are more resilient to stressors, produce less inflammation, are more insulin sensitive, produce more energy,etc.

Eliminating PUFAs are impossible apart from eating a laboratory-made diet and who wants to do that? (A few comes to mind lol).

Sticking to natural organic foods that are high in saturated fat, such as those mentioned above, and staying away from factory produced foods will dramatically help to lower the intake of rancid oil and inflammation associated with them (PUFAs).

Foods to stay away from include:

• Salad dressings

• Mayonnaise

• All baked and fried goodies

• All seed oils

• Canned food in oil

• Packages food (a lot of them are coating with vegetable oils)

• Peanut butter and other nut butter

• Foods with 10+ Ingredients

#2 Avoid Fish oil

Like everyone, I used to consume fish oil before. I had heard – from many respected authorities – that fish oil, due to its omega-3 content, would be extremely healthy for us.

Just look around and you can see people touting how fish oil could; “make you lose weight”, “reduce inflammation”, “improve cardiovascular health”, and I could go on whole day listing the claims accounted to this “supreme healing substance”.

If we take a closer look, we can easily find many problems with fish oil, which should explain why it doesn’t work, and could actually be more harmful for us than many realize.

You rarely hear these facts about fish oil from the sellers:

• Fish oils (EPA and DHA) are the most volatile and sensitive of the PUFAs, making them extremely prone to lipid peroxidation, which increases oxidative damage and inflammation, lowering testosterone
  and thyroid levels in the process.

• Due to the fact that humans efficiently contaminated fresh waters with industrial pollutants and waste (DDT, PCB, dioxin, etc), these persistent compounds can still be found in a large number of fish oil supplements.

“In 1988, Chan’s group found that DHA and other polyunsaturated fatty acids added to cultured cells from the cerebral cortex produced free radicals and stimulated production of malondialdehyde and lactate, and inhibited the uptake of glutamic acid, which suggests that they would contribute to prolonged excitation of the nerves” - Dr Ray Peat

#3 Reduce fiber intake

Fibre is a guilty booster of TBG (TBG is like a clingy jealous girlfriend and binds potently to T3) . High fibre intake is a craze getting high praise in scattered places around the interwebs, so if you’re under that crazy, get out.

Fibre does have its benefits, but an excess, especially if it’s from supplements, and if you have bacterial overgrowth, can wreak havoc to your body.

Fruit fibres actually have a lot of health benefits and the amount of fibre in fruits is relatively small. So if you want to consume fibre for health, get it from fruits. But just beware, some fruit fibres, such as from banana, apple, pear, etc., can also cause digestive issues for some people. So just eat fruit with their fibre that you tolerate well.

Bottom line, the more fibre you consume through your diet, the more TBG you’ll have. I have consumed a low-fibre diet for quite an extensive period of time as an experiment and I had no constipation or digestive problems.

But as a standard guideline, around 10-20g fibre daily from good sources should be more than enough.

#4 Avoid lignans

Lignans are compounds to the general population are compounds found in seeds and grains which lower the DIO1 enzyme and also increases TBG, leading to a drop in free T3.

Flax seeds are the greatest source of lignans, while other foods such as:

• Seeds from pumpkin, sunflower, poppy and sesame

• Nuts, particularly cashew nuts

• Whole grains, such as rye, oats and barley

• Bran from wheat, oat or rye

• Fruit, such as green grapes, cloudberries, grapefruit, tangerine, apricot, melon, pear and kiwi

• Vegetables, such as broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cauliflower, red & white cabbage, kale, sweet peppers, tomato, cucumber, zucchini, green beans, carrots and potatoes.

…also contain a considerable amount.

But don’t freak out about avoiding these foods. There are 8 different lignans and you might react differently to each one. For example, you might do well on citrus fruits, but react negatively to apples. It could just as well be the pectin instead of the lignans. So just keep a level head about this and become conscious of which food give you a negative reaction and which don’t and then stick to those that give you no negative reaction.

But the two biggest ones I would keep away from is flax and sesame.

#5 Lower stress

Stress is incredibly common these days and seems almost impossible to avoid apart from moving to the forest and staying out of society. But that is definitely not a practical option for most of us, or not that we even want to do that, so we have to look at other options to keep stress at bay.

Stress stimulates the adrenal glands to secrete cortisol and catecholamines, such as noradrenaline and adrenaline, all of which are pretty beneficial and harmless if it only happens in the short term.

But chronic stress is very harmful to the body and will lower the metabolism, T4 and T3 production and increase the aromatase - a negative feedback cycle which we don’t want.

A few simple ways to destress are:

• Take a moment to breathe. Inhale deeply and slowly using your diaphragm, allowing your stomach to expand forward and sideways, while keeping your chest still. Quick, shallow breaths caused by stress, fatigue, or poor posture can trigger your body’s stress response. By sitting or standing up straight with your shoulders relaxed, you can breathe more fully and peacefully. Inhale for four seconds and exhale for eight seconds. After about four breaths, you should start to feel significantly more relaxed. As you breathe, concentrate on something uplifting.

• Take a walk somewhere, ideally in nature or somewhere with less pollution

• Ensure your blood sugar stays balanced throughout the day

• Get your posture right - Hunching over and maintaining low power poses lowers testosterone,T3 and increases cortisol

• Laughter - People who laugh more tend to have lower cortisol, higher dopamine, stronger immunity and have a better sense of well-being
  By the way, I teach all of this in T3 Optimisation, click here to join!

#6 Lower inflammation

Cortisol is secreted to deal with inflammation, but it also suppresses the immune system. A suppressed immune system can lead to a whole lot of other issues which we do not want. DHEA, on the other hand, is also anti-inflammatory by stimulating the immune system and would be a much greater option for lowering inflammation than boosting cortisol.

Other anti-inflammatory substances like honey can also help to lower cortisol and increase DHEA and testosterone.

#7 Eat saturated fat

Palmitic acid and stearic acid, saturated fatty acid, found in high concentrations in cocoa butter dairy, beef, bison, duck, goat and lamb fat, are able to significantly lower cortisol

Coconut oil and MCT oil also have potent anti-stress and cortisol lowering effects

#8 Eat carbs

This is probably the most important thing you can do to prevent stress or lower stress. In a stress response, glucose is utilized very rapidly by catecholamines. Once used up, cortisol kicks in. Having adequate glycogen stores will help to keep cortisol low for longer, but eating some carb will further boost that effect. Fast digesting carbs might be best, like sugar, fruit juice, dried fruits and whole fruits. Milk with sugar can also have a synergistic anti-stress effect.

#9 Massage

Massage therapy can lower cortisol up to an averaging decrease of 31%. And other than that, a massage is very calming and increases dopamine. Dopamine is the feel-good hormone which will give you energy, mental focus, courage, etc.

A massage can also help you to recover from an injury faster, or loosen up a tight and tense muscle that might be pinching.

#10 Don’t obsess with being very low bodyfat

Being too low body fat is stressful in of itself. The amount of body fat you can tolerate without becoming too stressed is different for everyone. One person might become too stressed if they dip under 15% BF whereas another might do fine on 9% but becomes too stressed if they’re under 8%.

Maintaining low body fat most often also comes with exercising too much and eating too little, both of which are great stressors and will suppress the metabolism and increase cortisol.

#11 Maximise sleep

Sleep is the most important thing you can do for your health, androgens, health, recovery, muscle growth, brain, etc.

Studies shows that accumulative sleep loss, sleeping less than 7 hours per night repeatedly, lowers T3 and increases serotonin and cortisol.

Sleep loss leads to catabolism of the whole body and the tissue that is destroyed first is the brain, kidney, thymus, spleen, adrenals, muscles and bone. Deterioration also happens in the pancreas and liver, which leads to diabetes, liver disease, indigestion, bowel disorders, etc.

To prevent premature-aging and castration induced by sleepless nights, we need to maximize sleep duration and quality of those hours spent sleeping.

A few tips to improve sleep are:

• Sleep in a completely dark room. Get blackout curtains.

• Sleep in a completely quiet room.

• Block blue light at night.

• Do deep tissue lymphatic massages before bed. Deep tissue massage will activate the parasympathetic nervous system and promote sleep.

• Get morning sunlight on your eyeballs (not through glass).

• Sleep in a cool room. Body temperature needs to drop for you to sleep peacefully.

• Turn all wifi and power off in the house to eliminate EMF and electricity.

• Be active during the day. I’ve found that when I sprinkle activity, such as intense rope jumping and long works throughout my day, my energy, focus and sleep is better in every way.

#12 Exercise

We should all know by now that exercise is good for us. But we don’t have to slave away in the gym for hours just to get the benefit. On the contrary, training too much can actually lower thyroid hormone and have no extra benefit-by increasing cortisol and adrenaline.

A short 15-30 minutes heavy and explosive weight training session will suffice. A longer workout up to 90 minutes will also be effective, but the benefits seem to drop off from there. So there is a bell curve, at one point, you need about 15+ minutes for a proper stimulus and then on the other end, benefits drop of at 90 minutes.

Also, adding in too much cardio to your training will have a negative effect on your recovery ability as it increases catabolism and increases cortisol,estrogen etc.

#13 Lower Estrogen

Inhibit aromatase (the enzyme that converts testosterone to estrogen) as estrogen is one of the most potent inhibitors of thyroid hormone production,conversion and utilisation.

Things that lower estrogen and inhibit aromatase:

-DHT
-Sunlight
-Coffee
-White button mushrooms
-Zinc
-Vitamin E
-Vitamin K2

#14 Improve insulin sensitivity

Insulin is a hormone that plays a crucial role in signaling energy intake and boosting T3 production. It is essential for transporting glucose into cells, where it is oxidized to generate ATP, which is necessary for thyroid hormones.

Among monosaccharides, glucose has the highest potential to stimulate insulin release, and certain amino acids can also significantly elevate insulin levels. It’s important not to consume protein alone (following the 2:1 rule mentioned earlier), as this can lead to hypoglycemia, prompting an increase in glucagon and cortisol to restore blood glucose levels.

While aiming for hyperinsulinemia isn’t ideal, it’s important to maintain insulin sensitivity to enable insulin’s pro-steroidogenic and anabolic effects.

Here are some strategies to enhance insulin sensitivity:

• Reduce cortisol levels.

• Lower excessive free fatty acids by taking niacinamide - consider using 500 mg of niacinamide with each high-carb meal.

• Engage in 30 seconds of high-intensity exercise before your high-carb meal; I prefer doing some running up and down the stairs

• Take a 10 to 20-minute walk after meals.

• Avoid excessive vegetable and seed oils.

• Steer clear of junk food in general.

• Aim for adequate sleep.

#15 Use natural products

Chemical products, including hand soap, shampoo, shaving cream, aftershave, deodorant, lotion, and others, often contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

There are thousands of these substances, each with the potential to interfere with normal cellular function.

Here are a few alternatives:

• A natural bar soap, like coconut oil bar soap, can be used for washing your body and hair, and even for shaving. If you use a shaving brush, you can create a rich lather for shaving.

• Castile soap is a versatile option suitable for washing your hands, body, hair, and even laundry.

#16 Eat natural and organic foods

Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides can all disrupt gut health, harm overall well-being, and lower T3 levels.

Natural foods like cocoa powder, various fruits (such as berries, apples, pomegranates, oranges, and guavas), and raw milk can help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation while promoting T3 production. These foods are rich in antioxidants and nutrients that support overall health and hormonal balance.

#17 Fix your gut health

Nothing is the body works in isolation and with that being said, whatever negatively influences the gut, can have a negative effect on the thyroid.

The thyroid gland requires specific micronutrients to function properly, produce hormones, and execute their effects throughout the body. These micronutrients, including vitamins and minerals, are cruical for thyroid hormone synthesis, conversion, and cellular function.

So what does the gut have to do with this?

Inadequate micronutrient consumption and gut inflammation can lead to impaired thyroid function. The gut’s villi, responsible for absorption, can be damaged due to inflammation, reducing micronutrient absorption.

Key Micronutrients for Thyroid Health:

Focus on the following essential micronutrients for thyroid health:

1. Iron and copper (for thyroid hormone synthesis)

2. Selenium and zinc (for T4 to T3 conversion)

3. Vitamin A and D (for immune regulation)

Restoring Gut Health and Micronutrient Balance:

To address thyroid function, it’s crucial to:

1. Eliminate inflammatory foods (gluten, lectins, refined grains, etc.)

2. Restore gut integrity and function

3. Load up on essential micronutrients

If you want my systems for thyroid healing or gut repair, you can find T3 optimisation and Rapid Regrowth Formula on my site.

Your gut and thyroid health are the most important things for your health.

#18 Reduce Endotoxin

Endotoxins, also known as Lipopolysaccharides, are found in the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. They are large molecules consisting of a lipid and a polysaccharide composed of O-antigen, outer core and inner core joined by a covalent bond. Different bacteria can create different kinds of endotoxins, some being much more inflammatory than others.

Endotoxins can antagonize thyroid function in many ways:

-Endotoxins inhibit the conversion of T4 into T3, by suppressing the enzyme, type 1 iodothyronine deiodinase (D1)

-Endotoxins have been shown to decrease the expression of thyroid receptors, specifically in the liver

You have now understood that we don’t want pesky endotoxins in our system. The best way to lower endotoxins is to lower gram-negative bacteria (specifically the Enterobacteriaceae group) and you can do this by increasing transit time, lowering gut inflammation and using organic raw honey.

#19 Enjoy some coffee

Not many people know this but Coffee drinkers have a lower incidence of thyroid disease, including cancer, thannon-drinkers. Caffeine has remarkable parallels to thyroid and progesterone, caffeine tends to activate thyroid secretion by a variety of mechanisms, increasing cyclic AMP and decreasing serotonin in thyroid cells - a hidden superfood.

#20 Eat foods high in Iodine

The thyroid gland needs iodine to create T4. In fact, the four in the shortening refers to 4 molecules of iodine. Not only that but the symporter mechanism that draws iodine into the thyroid gland requires B-vitamins and vitamin C to function normally.

I would recommend getting iodised salt as an easy source of iodine or high quality potatoes for an iodine source.

#21 Avoid these inhibitory chemicals and drugs

Synthetic chemicals can interfere with thyroid hormone production, conversion, and function. As a result, even if thyroid hormone levels are sufficient, exposure to these endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can still cause hypothyroid symptoms.

A list of these chemicals include:

• BPA (found in plastic)

• Phthalates

• Pesticides

• Arsenic

• Cadmium

• Lead

• Mercury

• Herbicides

That’s it for diet and lifestyle changes, let’s talk supplements and herbs.

#1 Aspirin

“Since aspirin’s effects on the mitochondria are similar to those of T3, using both of them might improve brain energy production more than just thyroid”. - Dr. Ray Peat

Aspirin is one of my favorite supplements.

Aspirin is anti-stress, anti-inflammatory, pro-metabolic and last but not least, pro-thyroid.

Aspirin also shifts the mitochondria from the state of oxidizing fats into oxidizing glucose, which is favorable for thyroid function,.

Aspirin is also an estrogen antagonist and prevents the lipid peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) both of which are favorable things for thyroid health.

Not so surprisingly, one study saw that when people used aspirin, their tissue conversion of T4 to the active form T3 was significantly increased

Aspirin has also been shown to inhibit the binding of T4 and T3 to thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) and thyroxine-binding prealbumin (TBPA), therefore increasing free T4 and T3

However, aspirin thins the blood so use cautiously (start with lower doses of 81mg).

#2 Taurine

Taurine is an antioxidative amino acid, it’s commonly found in bile, large intestines, heart, and testicles. Mother’s milk is also relatively high in taurine.

When it comes to health benefits, taurine has many. It can help the body to assimilate and utilize minerals, help balance electrolytes, raise testosterone levels, improve liver health, and improve the health of diabetics

Since taurine also increases dopamine levels in the brain, it can reduce serotonin and prolactin, which is favorable for metabolic rate and thyroid function.

In actual studies examining taurine intake and thyroid function, it has been seen that lower platelet levels of taurine strongly correlate with hypothyroidism, and hypothyroid patients often have low taurine levels.

Taurine also prevents thyroid damage and T3 & T4 suppression caused by pesticide and lead intake (possibly due to its antioxidant effects). Similar protective effects have also been seen in rats exposed to fluoride

(which as some of you already know, is a thyroid hormone disruptor).

Taurine is very inexpensive supplement with plenty of proven benefits. I would highly suggest consuming 1-5 grams on a daily basis to see how it makes you feel.

#3 Black Seed

In just 8 weeks, 2 grams of Nigella sativa seed powder (Black seed) lead to significant reductions in BMI, IL-23 levels, TSH, and anti-thyroid peroxidase (anti-TPO), while also elevating serum T3 levels.

Black seed is also famously known as the “cure for every disease except death”

It’s also high in thymoquinone - a powerful quinone that boosts metabolism and lowers oxidative stress.

#4 Selenium

Selenium is a very important mineral for the enzyme deiodinase 2, which converts thyroid hormone T4 to T3.

Selenium is also a powerful antioxidant.

#5 Vitamin A

Vitamin A is essential for a healthy hormonal balance as well as good eye, teeth, skin and immune function.

Vitamin A protects the body from the negative effects of estrogen excess which is detrimental for proper thyroid function.

Foods high in vitamin A - chicken liver, ghee, butter, cheese, eggs, and milk.

#6 Boron

Many studies show that boron can effectively lower estrogen hence improving thyroid function.

Dried fruit such as raisins and dates are also in boron.

#7 Vitamin B1

Vitamin B1 lowers serotonin and this will automatically increase thyroid hormone.

Vitamin B1 is also rapidly depleted during stress which rapidly increases your requirements for this vitamin.

#8 Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 has been shown to reduce levels of prolactin and TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). This effect may be due to it’s ability to decrease excess TRH (thyrotropin-releasing hormone), which is responsible for stimulating the release of TSH and prolactin

Vitamin B6 is richly found in milk, meat, and organ meats.

#9 Vitamin E

Vitamin E is an estrogen antagonist in high doses, which inhibits the aromatase, and it’s very effective at lowering prolactin - which in turn helps with thyroid function

There you have it.

Thank you for reading and enjoy the rest of your day.

-Moosa

If you want to take it further:

• The complete guide to maximizing thyroid hormone production to lose weight and look more attractive - T3 Optimisation.

References:

1. https://www.healio.com/news/endocrinology/20210818/foods-with-high-protein-saturated-fatty-acids-linked-to-better-thyroid-function

2. https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/fats-functions-malfunctions.shtml

3. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6321217/

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29904828/

5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12370839/

6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21745527/

7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20685100/

8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12000205/

9. The adenylyl cyclase-cAMP pathway contributes to kynurenine-induced vessel relaxation. : Kynurenine is an endothelium-derived relaxing factor produced during inflammation : Nature Medicine : Nature Research. Nature.com Journal.

10. Meikle A. The interrelationships between thyroid dysfunction and hypogonadism in men and boys. Thyroid. 2004;14 Suppl 1:S17-25

11. Silva J. The multiple contributions of thyroid hormone to heat production. J Clin Invest. 2001;108(1):35-37.

12. Mullur R, Liu Y, Brent G. Thyroid Hormone Regulation of Metabolism. Physiol Rev. 2014;94(2):355-382.

13. https://karger.com/anm/article-abstract/51/2/188/40455/Effect-of-Zinc-Supplementation-on-Thyroid-Hormone?redirectedFrom=fulltext

14. Thyroid Disease and the Heart | Circulation. AHA Journals. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/116/15/1725. Accessed February 3, 2017.

15. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1538562/

16. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5112739/

17. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/105899/

18. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5112739/

19. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6028657/

20. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2472981/

21. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4711001/

22. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3712348/

23. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4504177/

24. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26434494/

25. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/760253/

26. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28577409/

27. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25210669/

28. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15689116/

29. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6727359/

30. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20352370/

31. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4712861/

32. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26254889/

33. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24371036/

I’ve been a crunchy mom since 2006.

I’ve been in all the groups: La Leche, WAPF, playdates and meetups, homeschool co-ops, Facebook groups, you name it, I was in it. And I can tell you one thing I’ve consistently noticed throughout all these years: a lot of these women had bad hair. Myself included.

Not that their hair is actually unhealthy, but you can tell when someone’s gone too far down the “no-poo” path. They’re either not washing at all or using something like clay or apple cider vinegar, and it’s obvious. Greasy, waxy roots laying flat against the scalp with no movement, and then the rest of the hair turns dry, crunchy, and frizzy.

As one of these women myself, I get it. You want to do what’s best for your body, avoid harsh products, stay natural. You start reading ingredient labels and suddenly regular shampoo feels like poison.

And to be fair, a lot of it kind of is.

Most mainstream shampoos are full of toxic synthetics, some of the worst too: PEGs, silicones, Formaldehyde Releasers & Other Preservatives (e.g., DMDM Hydantoin, Quaternium‑15), artificial fragrance, parabens, all the things we swore we’d never touch again. So you ditch it all and go searching for a better way.

Before you know it, you’re standing in your kitchen mixing clay, soap nuts, and matcha tea with filtered water, hoping it’ll give you glossy, goddess hair, and instead, you end up looking like you rubbed butter on your scalp and straw on your ends.

After a while, I started to realize what was really going on. Most of us weren’t actually nourishing our hair, we were neglecting it.

We’d stripped away all the synthetics but never replaced them with anything that could truly clean or condition. Our scalps were suffocating under oil, wax, and buildup, and the ends were wasting away.

I remember brushing my hair one day and realizing it didn’t even move anymore. It was almost pasted to my scalp, heavy at the roots and brittle everywhere else.

I remember my big aha moment when I had an event to go to and went to the grocery store and bought actual shampoo and conditioner, because I needed my hair to look beautiful.

Lots of folks from high school and old friends were going to be there, and I wasn’t going to show up as the dirty mom who let herself go.

This was actually really hard for me to do because I thought of all those months I’d spent “oil training” my hair, and how I’d have to start all over again.

Long story short, I washed my hair with regular shampoo and conditioner, and all night long friends and family who had seen me over the past few months and never said a word about my hair spent the evening complimenting me.

“Oh my gosh, your hair!” “Steph, your hair looks so good!” Even my kids noticed. Haha.

From that moment on, I stopped doing “no poo” and started washing my hair with regular shampoo. I’ve tried so many different clean and natural brands, most I hated and a few I loved.

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The thing is, I’ll always be a natural girl. I’m always going to choose the clean and natural option because I know that toxic synthetics in our personal care products have an impact on our health.

These things bioaccumulate, and as women who use several different products from hair to skin to makeup, the exposure is heavy.

So how do we find that balance?

How do we get what mainstream shampoo can do for our hair without the mainstream ingredients?

From that place of realizing I needed more than “no-poo” but still wanted clean and natural, I formulated the Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar.

It’s my answer to the question of how we can get what mainstream shampoo does for our hair without all the toxic extras. It’s not a bar of soap pretending to be shampoo. It’s a syndet bar, which is real shampoo in solid form. Because it’s solid, it doesn’t need all the extra ingredients liquid shampoos rely on, like heavy preservatives or fillers. Instead, it’s made with gentle, plant-based surfactants that cleanse without stripping, giving you that same clean, soft feel just in a more simple, and natural way.

Here are the ingredients and what each one does:

• Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate: A mild, coconut-derived surfactant that creates a rich, creamy lather and cleans without stripping.

• Coco Glucoside: A mild, coconut and sugar-based cleanser that helps remove dirt and oil while keeping the scalp balanced and calm.

• Cetearyl Alcohol: A fatty alcohol derived from coconut and palm oils that softens, smooths, and helps detangle hair.

• Stearic Acid: A natural fatty acid sourced from plants that adds structure and stability to the bar while supporting moisture retention.

• Tucuma Butter: Known as the plant-based silicone, it deeply nourishes and helps combat dryness and frizz while adding a natural, healthy gloss.

• Tapioca Flour: Improves texture and glide while giving the bar a silky feel.

• Suet Tallow: A nutrient-dense ancestral fat that deeply conditions and strengthens hair.

• Glycerin: A humectant that draws moisture in, keeping hair soft and hydrated.

• D-Panthenol: Also known as vitamin B5, it strengthens the hair shaft and improves elasticity.

• Matcha Tea: Rich in antioxidants that support scalp health and add shine.

Creating the Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar was my way of finding that balance I’d been searching for.

It’s clean and natural, but it actually works. It gives your hair movement, body, shine, and softness without the buildup, without the waxy roots, and without the compromise.

Since launching it, the Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar has become one of our best sellers, with tons of five-star reviews and an average rating of 4.9.

Women say things like, “This is such a nice shampoo. Makes my hair feel and look amazing. So glad I decided to try it.” and “It’s the best natural shampoo I’ve found.” Others mention how it leaves their hair “soft, voluminous, and totally clean.” Even husbands are getting hooked.

That kind of feedback means everything to me because it proves what I always believed: we don’t have to compromise between natural and effective.

What I’ve learned is that being natural isn’t about rejecting everything modern. It’s about choosing ingredients that work in harmony with our bodies instead of against them.

We don’t have to suffer through greasy scalps or brittle ends to live clean. We can have both: health and beauty, purity and performance.

If you’d like to try it, you can find the Matcha Tallow Shampoo Bar on Kossma.com. It’s been one of my proudest formulations, and honestly, the best my hair has ever looked.

Your child gets sick, they can’t breathe, and none of your home remedies are working. It’s been days of high fever. The cough is getting worse. At night, it’s even more worse. A couple of times, you almost call 911 because the croup is so bad your kid can’t get air in.

You’ve tried steam showers, standing in the bathroom filled with thick heat and mist, hoping to ease that awful, barking cough. You’ve bundled them up and stepped into the cold night air, watching their tiny chest pull in and out too fast. You scroll through Facebook groups at two in the morning, desperate for someone who has the answer that will finally help.

You go to the pediatrician and leave with a prescription for prednisone and an antibiotic. Neither of them work. They tell you it just has to run its course. You walk out angry because they didn’t really hear you. My kid can’t breathe.

Just because the storm calmed while we were sitting in that office doesn’t mean it’s not raging again at home. You know the sound of your child’s breath better than anyone. You can hear when it catches, the stridor, when something isn’t right.

This is exactly what happened to one of my sons.

He caught a virus, and after five days it was only getting worse. Three visits to the pediatrician and two visits to the ER, zero help. Dismissed each time. I was desperate, scared, and honestly wondering if my son would die. It was that bad.

By day seven, I was even more concerned, if that was even possible. He wasn’t better. Not even a little. It was nine in the morning, and I was calling every homeopathic physician I could find, begging for a same-day visit. No one would see him. Except one doctor in Boulder. She said, “Come in. I’ll get him better.”

Her office was in an old historic home just outside downtown. When we walked in, I was exhausted. My son could barely walk, his fever still raging, the cough relentless. I had my other two boys with me because my husband was at work.

Her practice was a whole vibe. I felt like I’d stepped back in time, into an old apothecary from the 1600s. Shelves of glass jars, dried herbs hanging from beams, the faint scent of tinctures and tea. I liked it. It felt safe. It felt like home, so unlike the cold, sterile factories pediatricians run.

Not even five minutes after we walked in, my son started one of his coughing attacks. For whatever reason, this one was worse than any before. His stridor from the croup tightened his throat until he couldn’t get a single breath in.

I screamed, “Where’s the phone? Call 911! He can’t breathe!”

The doctor shouted back as she ran to the other end of her office, “Don’t call 911!” She came rushing back with a tiny glass jar, opened his mouth, and placed a few small tablets under his tongue.

This is where it gets crazy.

I’ve told this story a million times, and most people don’t believe me. I get it, it sounds impossible. But within seconds, my son took in a deep breath. Just like that. And from that moment on, he never crouped or had stridor again.

By the next day, his cough was gone, his fever had broken naturally, and he was finally on the mend.

That was the first time I ever saw a homeopathic remedy work its magic.

The remedy she gave my son was called Spongia, a specific remedy for croup and stridor. She told me to give it to him any time he had another attack, but he never did. Not once.

Since then, I’ve used this same remedy over the years with all my boys. It’s never failed me. I tell every parent I know about it because it deserves a place in every medicine cabinet. It’s safe, it’s powerful, and it works almost instantly.

That day changed everything for me as a mother.

I realized how deeply we have to trust our instincts and keep fighting, even when the professionals tell us things are ok. I also saw that healing doesn’t always have to come from a prescription or a sterile room. Sometimes it comes from something simple, natural, and almost ancient.

And sometimes nothing works, mainstream medicine or holistic, until it does, like in my son’s case.

Spongia will always be the remedy that reminded me what’s possible when we look beyond fear and trust the body’s ability to heal.

My boys have grown now and no longer need it, but I’ll never forget what it did for us. I hope this story finds its way to a parent who needs it, the one up in the middle of the night with that familiar croupy, barky cough, and that you have Spongia on hand to bring your little one some relief.

Every child is different, and what worked for us may not work the same for you. Trust your instincts, listen to your gut, and seek medical help when you need to. You know your child better than anyone, and that knowing will always guide you where you need to go.

Spongia can be purchased at most health food stores, in-person and online.

— Stephanie, Founder of Kossma

Kossma is the world’s first skincare company to avoid high-PUFA seed oils, formulating instead with regeneratively farmed herbs, tallow, and other ancestral ingredients that work in harmony with the body. We believe in skincare that’s safe for every stage of life, from pregnancy to babyhood and rooted in nature, not toxic synthetics.

If you value clean ingredients, transparency, and real results, explore our full line of skincare and wellness products at kossmabeauty.com.

In traditional kitchens around the world, this everywhere herb was cherished for its healing properties and always paired with fat, like in chimichurri, because the beneficial compounds in parsley need fat to be properly absorbed in the gut.

It’s a beautiful reminder that true wellness and beauty rituals always began in the kitchen.

Parsley is a nutrient-rich powerhouse, offering far more than color or a burst of flavor. It’s the richest natural source of apigenin, a powerful flavonoid that supports the “youth hormone” progesterone, calms inflammation, and protects cells from stress. Apigenin helps balance hormones by lowering excess estrogen, cortisol, and supporting thyroid function, all of which create the foundation for healthy, glowing skin and overall vitality.

But parsley’s gifts don’t stop there. It’s packed with vitamin K, which supports strong bones and healthy blood, and offers generous amounts of vitamins C and A, along with potassium a hard-to-obtain mineral from food alone that helps maintain healthy blood pressure, fluid balance, and mineral balance. Together, these nutrients nourish your skin and strengthen your overall vitality from the inside out.

Parsley also acts as a gentle kidney detoxifier. Its natural diuretic properties encourage the body to release excess fluid and support the elimination of waste through the kidneys. This helps keep the urinary system clear and functioning smoothly while reducing water retention and puffiness.

Parsley on its own is a wonderful way to brighten any meal. I love sprinkling it over soups, casseroles, and even cottage cheese. It adds freshness, flavor, and a boost of nutrients to just about everything I make. You don’t need much, even one tablespoon offers generous amounts of key vitamins and minerals.

If you really want to experience parsley’s benefits, try enjoying it the traditional way. My personal favorite is Chimichurri, a vibrant blend of parsley, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, and spices. It makes the most flavorful marinade for meats, chicken, fish, or shrimp and doubles as a delicious dipping sauce once everything’s cooked.

Tabbouleh is a fun way to experience salad in a new way and Gremolata as an addition to any meal; sprinkle it over fish, chicken, rice and veggies.

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Chimichurri - marinade and dipping sauce

• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

• ½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, (from about 1 bunch of parsley, coarse stems removed)

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, oregano, red pepper flakes. Stir in the parsley. Alternatively, you could combine the ingredients in a mortar and pestle or with a few pulses in a food processor.

Tabbouleh - serve as a salad alongside your meal

• 1 cup fine bulgur (sometimes called #1)

• 2 bunch curly parsley

• 12 large mint leaves

• 1/2 English cucumber

• 5 scallions

• 3 medium tomatoes

• 2 lemons, juiced (about 6 tablespoons)

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 pinch salt and pepper, plus more to taste

1. Put the bulgur in a bowl, cover it with an inch of just-boiled water, and let it sit at least 20 minutes. (It will double in size.)

2. Wash and dry the parsley and mint. Remove the stems, finely chop the herbs together, and put them in a large mixing bowl.

3. Peel and deseed the cucumber half. Slice it lengthwise into thirds, then chop.

4. Chop the scallions and tomatoes and add them to the cucumber, parsley, and mint.

5. Drain any remaining water out of the bulgur and add it to the vegetables.
   Add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to the salad. Mix well, taste, and adjust the seasoning and olive oil as needed.

Gremolata - Sprinkle over everything!

• 1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped (about ¾ cup)

• 2 teaspoons lemon zest

• 1 garlic clove, grated

• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt

In a small bowl, stir together the parsley, lemon zest, garlic, and salt.

Kossma is the world’s first skincare company to avoid high-PUFA seed oils, formulating instead with regeneratively farmed herbs, tallow, and other ancestral ingredients that work in harmony with the body. We believe in skincare that’s safe for every stage of life, from pregnancy to babyhood and rooted in nature, not toxic synthetics.

If you value clean ingredients, transparency, and real results, explore our full line of skincare and wellness products at kossmabeauty.com.

I polled my crunchy Instagram followers and asked for their favorite clean and natural perfumes. Here’s what they love.

Some names came up again and again, Dime, Ffern, Ambre Blends, Heretic, and Hosanna Aroma. These are the ones people reach for daily and trust on their skin.

It’s clear women are moving toward perfume that smells good and aligns with their values. Real ingredients. Small makers. Honest, clean formulas.

Although the brands recommended were suggested by my Instagram followers @kossmabeauty, I used ChatGPT to help create this extensive list and have not personally checked every brand for clean and natural claims. Brands marked with asterisks were mentioned multiple times.

PS: send this to someone who needs a little help gift shopping for that special woman in their life! You can never go wrong with a delicious natural fragrance.

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Adonai Artisan

Clean verified: Uses high-quality essential oils and organic fractionated coconut oil to create natural, toxin-free perfumes. No synthetic fragrance or additives.

Price point: Around $13 for minis and $18 for full-size rollers.

Scent profile: Warm, simple blends like cinnamon, blood orange, clove bud, and vanilla, or blue tansy, toasted coconut, and vanilla. Soft, natural, and skin-like.

Ambre Blends*

Clean verified: Women-owned, vegan, and handcrafted with organic, plant-based botanicals. Free of synthetics and animal-derived ingredients.

Price point: Around $57 for 12 ml and $125 for 30 ml.

Scent profile: Ambre Essence – woody, smoky, clean. Invoke Essence – neroli, jasmine, rose, and amber. Solace Essence – warm vanilla with musk and amber. Unmasque Essence – mandarin, blood orange, clove, coffee, leather, and patchouli.

Capsule Parfums

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and phthalate-free. Aligns with clean beauty standards.

Price point: Around $145 for a 50 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Unisex and niche. Scents like “Horde” feature patchouli, incense, cannabis flower, and twigs—earthy, green, and smoky.

Carter + Jane

Clean verified: Organic, alcohol-free, and synthetic-free perfumes. Made with organic essential oils, grape seed oil, and vitamin E.

Price point: Around $29 for a 5 ml roll-on aroma.

Scent profile: Simple, natural blends. “Island Girl” includes gardenia, plumeria, jasmine, and white ginger lily. Fresh and tropical.

DIME Beauty*

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and made with organic sugarcane alcohol. Transparent ingredient lists.

Price point: Around $62 for a full-size perfume.

Scent profile: “I Love Your Smell, Baby” – tart fruits and warm vanilla. “Dans Les Bois” – saffron, almond, fir balsam, jasmine, amber, cedarwood, and moss. “Malibu Night” – sweet berries, coconut, and warm woods.

Elliot Cole*

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, non-toxic, alcohol-free, paraben-free, and phthalate-free.

Price point: About $48 for the 10 ml roll-on version.

Scent profile: Top notes include blood orange, airy herbs, caraway, and red pepper. Heart notes of jasmine, rose, and orange flower. Base notes of woody amber, patchouli, sandalwood, elemi, and fruity musk. Feels quiet, magnetic, and transformative.

Ember & Belle

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and free of parabens, phthalates, and toxic chemicals.

Price point: Around $38 for a 10 ml rollerball.

Scent profile: “Boho” – pistachio, vanilla, salted caramel. “Beach” – jasmine, sea spray, mandarin, bergamot, and musk. “Love” – cognac, pralines, vanilla, sandalwood. Youthful and gourmand with clean, accessible notes.

Earth Spiral Apothecary Royal Resin Oil

Clean verified: Small-batch apothecary brand focused on plant-based formulations and herbal wellness.

Price point: Around $33 for the anointing oil bottle.

Scent profile: Resinous blend of frankincense, myrrh, and pine. Deep, grounding, and incense-like.

Esas Beauty*

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, toxin-free, and made with 100% natural ingredients. Fully transparent formulations and certified cruelty-free.

Price point: Around $45 for a single fragrance mist.

Scent profile: Fresh and clean. Scents like “Bare” smell like sun-warmed, freshly washed linen—light, luminous, and soft.

Ffern*

Clean verified: Small-batch, seasonal perfumes made with organic and natural ingredients. Limited-edition blends with minimal synthetics.

Price point: Around $125 to $170 for a 30 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Earthy, herbal, and nature-inspired. Green, woody, and citrus notes that shift each season. Smells raw and natural.

Grow Fragrance

Clean verified: 100% plant-based, vegan, cruelty-free, and non-toxic. Uses transparent ingredients and no synthetic fragrance.

Price point: Around $16 for a 5 oz spray and $35 for candles.

Scent profile: Fresh and botanical. Scents like Pomelo feature pink grapefruit, mango, and citrus zest. Forest Fern smells green, herbal, and woodsy.

H is for Love

Clean verified: Handcrafted with organic and wild-sourced ingredients. Cruelty-free and free of synthetics. Focused on purity and whole botanicals.

Price point: Around $78 to $90 for scent oils or perfume blends.

Scent profile: Earthy, herbal, and intimate. Features wood, root, citrus, and light sweetness with a raw, natural finish.

Henry Rose*

Clean verified: EWG Verified, vegan, cruelty-free, hypoallergenic, and transparent about every ingredient. Free of parabens and phthalates.

Price point: Around $120 for a 50 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Gender-neutral and modern. “Windows Down” opens with grapefruit and bergamot, softens with jasmine and Earl Grey tea. Bright, clean, and balanced.

Heretic*

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and made with plant-based ingredients in organic sugarcane alcohol. Free of synthetics and toxins.

Price point: Ranges from $65 to $165 depending on size and formula.

Scent profile: Bold and unisex. “Dirty Coconut” blends coconut and sandalwood. “Blood Orange” is citrusy and warm. “Black Salt” is smoky, woody, and sensual.

Hiram Green

Clean verified: 100% natural ingredients. Handcrafted in small batches in the Netherlands. Free of synthetics, parabens, and phthalates.

Price point: Around $165 for a 50 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Rich, complex, and unisex. “Moon Bloom” highlights creamy tuberose. “Hyde” blends bright lemon with smoky leather. Warm, sophisticated, and botanical.

Hosanna Aroma*

Clean verified: 100% botanical and faith-inspired. No synthetic fragrance oils, alcohol, or plastic packaging. Handcrafted in small batches.

Price point: Around $132 for full-size sprays, smaller oils start near $15.

Scent profile: Earthy and meditative. Blends of florals, resins, and woods inspired by biblical references. Spiritual and grounding.

Indigo Ray

Clean verified: Non-toxic, vegan, and plant-based. Handcrafted in small batches with organic oils.

Price point: Around $42 for Eau de Parfum.

Scent profile: Balanced and nostalgic. “Indigo” blends amyris, sandalwood, eucalyptus, and cardamom. “Golden Hour” features jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, cedarwood, and patchouli. Natural and sensual.

Jubilee

Clean verified: Limited information available. Appears to focus on natural-inspired formulations but not formally verified as a clean brand.

Price point: Around $30 to $45 depending on size or retailer.

Scent profile: Bright, uplifting, and green. Notes often include litsea, cedarwood, fig, and vanilla for a fresh yet warm finish.

Juniper Ridge

Clean verified: 100% plant-based and alcohol-free. Made from wild-harvested botanicals and steam-distilled essential oils. Vegan and cruelty-free.

Price point: Around $65 for a full-size cologne.

Scent profile: Nature-inspired and earthy. Scents like Redwood and Desert evoke forest pine, sagebrush, cedarwood, and resinous woods. Smells natural, grounding, and outdoorsy.

Kuumba Made

Clean verified: Vegan and handcrafted with natural oils and resins. Some formulas include proprietary fragrance blends but remain free of alcohol and phthalates.

Price point: Around $29 to $30 for fragrance oils.

Scent profile: Warm and rich. “Vanilla Bean” is sweet and calming. “Egyptian Musk” is soft and sensual. “Amber Paste” is deep, spicy, and resinous.

Living Libations

Clean verified: Organic, wildcrafted, and food-grade ingredients. Free of synthetics, alcohol, and parabens. Cruelty-free and handmade in small batches.

Price point: Around $40 to $70 depending on product and size.

Scent profile: Botanical and therapeutic. Scents like “Sweet Sleep” blend lavender, ylang-ylang, and chamomile. Smells herbal, calming, and pure.

LVNEA

Clean verified: Handcrafted in Montreal using natural essences, essential oils, and absolutes. Cruelty-free and vegan. Free of synthetics and phthalates.

Price point: Around $50 to $130 depending on size and blend.

Scent profile: Deep and atmospheric. “L’Alchimie” mixes blood orange, amber, citrus, and rose. Scents are layered, resinous, and elegant.

Maison Louis Marie

Clean verified: Certified Clean and Planet Positive. Cruelty-free, vegan, and paraben-free. Uses sustainable ingredients.

Price point: Around $98 for a 50 ml perfume.

Scent profile: Woody and unisex. “Bois de Balincourt” combines sandalwood, cedarwood, vetiver, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Warm, creamy, and sophisticated.

Nemat

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and free of alcohol, parabens, and phthalates. Made with natural essential oils and sustainable practices.

Price point: Around $11 to $20 for fragrance oils depending on size.

Scent profile: Soft and skin-like. “Amber” is warm and woodsy with a clean musk base. “Vanilla Musk” is sweet, cozy, and smooth. Long-lasting and subtle.

Om Organics

Clean verified: Certified clean, vegan, and cruelty-free. Made without synthetic fragrance, parabens, or sulfates. Uses organic plant oils and botanicals.

Price point: Around $29 for roll-on fragrances.

Scent profile: Simple and fresh. “Pink Coconut” blends creamy coconut with soft rose. Feels tropical, feminine, and gentle on skin.

Picot

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and free of phthalates, parabens, and synthetic dyes. Made in small batches with natural oils.

Price point: Around $65 to $70 for a 30 ml perfume.

Scent profile: Warm and inviting. “Honey Tobacco” mixes golden honey, vanilla, and soft tobacco. Smooth, gender-neutral, and comforting.

Purely Parsons*

Clean verified: Made with pure essential oils and organic sugarcane alcohol. Free of synthetics, dyes, and petroleum-based ingredients.

Price point: Around $58 for full-size sprays and $24 for roll-ons.

Scent profile: Natural and warm. “Steadfast” blends black spruce, cinnamon, ylang-ylang, and vanilla for a wood-spice aroma. Fresh, cozy, and grounding.

Rose Attar

Clean verified: Traditional attar perfume made without alcohol. Composed of natural rose oil and sandalwood base. Free of synthetic fragrance.

Price point: Around $10 to $30 depending on size and source.

Scent profile: Deep and floral. Rich rose petals with creamy sandalwood undertones. Dense, luxurious, and long-lasting.

Rose Jane

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and made without parabens, sulfates, or phthalates. Uses natural fragrance and essential oils.

Price point: Around $80 for a 50 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Soft, feminine, and modern. Clean rose balanced with white musk and subtle warmth. Light, smooth, and skin-like.

Salt & Light

Clean verified: Made with essential oils and organic sugarcane alcohol. Free of synthetic fragrance, parabens, and phthalates.

Price point: Around $24 to $33 depending on size.

Scent profile: Light, clean, and fresh. Mandarin, green cardamom, black pepper, and soft musk create a crisp, airy scent.

Sprout & Sparrow

Clean verified: Small-batch handmade fragrances using natural and minimal ingredients; free of synthetic fragrance oils and harsh chemicals.

Price point: Around $20 to $30 for their fragrance oils or roll-on formats.

Scent profile: Simple, fresh and everyday. Light florals with green or citrus accents and subtle wood undertones for a clean float-through feel.

Strange Invisible

Clean verified: 100 % natural and botanical; uses organic and wild-crafted ingredients with no synthetic aroma compounds or petrochemical carriers.

Price point: Around $70 for a smaller size (15 ml roller), with full-size bottles priced higher.

Scent profile: Artisanal and evolving. Florals or herbs open bright and transition into deep resins or woods—the feel of a garden meeting a forest, elegant and intentional.

The 7 Virtues*

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free and transparent about ingredients; no parabens, phthalates, synthetic colors or UV inhibitors.

Price point: Around $32 for smaller formats and up to about $94 for full-size bottles, depending on edition.

Scent profile: Wellness-inspired and modern. Bright citrus opens, then warm woods or soft gourmands like vanilla or amber finish—smells smooth, clean and wearable.

Siren by Subluna

Clean verified: Botanical perfume made without synthetic fragrance or essential oils. Uses whole herbs, resins, and plant infusions.

Price point: Around $32 for a perfume oil roller.

Scent profile: Oceanic and earthy. Sea salt, driftwood, seaweed, lavender, and amber resin evoke a coastal, meditative feel.

Skylar

Clean verified: Vegan, cruelty-free, and hypoallergenic. Free of parabens, phthalates, and synthetic dyes. Made for sensitive skin.

Price point: Around $90 for a 50 ml perfume.

Scent profile: Warm and comforting. “Vanilla Sky” blends rich vanilla, cappuccino, and caramelized cedar. Cozy, sweet, and balanced.

Wild Coast Perfumary

Clean verified: Focuses on natural ingredients, small-batch mixing, cruelty-free and free of synthetic fragrance oils.

Price point: Around $70 for a full-size bottle, depending on scent.

Scent profile: Oceanic and untouched. Notes of sea salt, driftwood, fresh air and coastal wildflowers—evokes fresh sea breeze and rugged shoreline.

Wild Veil

Clean verified: Plant-based, vegan, cruelty-free perfumes crafted without parabens, sulfates or phthalates.

Price point: Around $80 for a 50 ml bottle.

Scent profile: Smoky and soft. Blends include warm woods, incense, soft florals, and amber—ethereal, feminine yet grounded.

Kossma is the world’s first skincare company to avoid high-PUFA seed oils, formulating instead with regeneratively farmed herbs, tallow, and other ancestral ingredients that work in harmony with the body. We believe in skincare that’s safe for every stage of life, from pregnancy to babyhood and rooted in nature, not toxic synthetics.

If you value clean ingredients, transparency, and real results, explore our full line of skincare and wellness products at kossmabeauty.com.