Founder Letter — April 2026 Edition
There have been two areas of my life where I have felt like an abject failure recently. I won't bore you with the details, but the shame has been extraordinary—the kind that wraps around you like a too-heavy coat, suffocating, hot, and exhausting.
As I was preparing for Passover and Easter, meditating on themes of freedom and redemption, something crystallized for me about the nature of unconditional love.
I have the extraordinary blessing of a husband who has looked at me, year after year, and said: You're not failing. You're not a failure. You're having a hard time, and you're wonderful, and I love you. And one of my very first friends on this planet—who is still a dear friend today—has said the same unwavering kindnesses to me for years.
Thank goddess for them. Truly.
But here's what occurred to me: They have extended to me an unconditional love and an unwavering vision of who I actually am. And in doing so, they revealed how poorly I've extended that same love to myself.
I have been stuck in self-abnegation, drowning in grief, feeling disconnected—and frankly, too often unworthy of—good things. I thought that because I had made mistakes in prolonged challenging moments, because I hadn't been perfect, because I hadn't yet created the outcomes I needed or wanted, I had somehow forfeited my right to my own kindness and care.
But that is not how unconditional love works. On the days when I feel self-doubt and shame, and on the days when I feel proud of myself, elated by a win, I am equally deserving of my kindness and care and unconditional love. And this is, in part, why self-care rituals become essential.
What Self-Care Actually Is
Self-care and beauty rituals are related, but they're not the same.
Self-care is about meeting your fundamental needs to operate in health and maintain your wellbeing. Self-care can be aesthetic, but it's not a requirement.
Beauty rituals are about a beautiful experience of yourself and the world. Quality self-care and beauty rituals, in their loveliest expression, are not really just about how you take care of yourself. They are acts of unconditional love made manifest. These vital practices communicate to a deeper part of your being that you are loved and that you matter and that you can trust yourself to have your back. There are some parts of your psyche that cannot be touched by ideas or even affirmations or compliments and can only be fed by your own actions of care.
Self-care is:
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Sleep hygiene
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Feeding yourself nourishing meals and snacks
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Physical hygiene: flossing, brushing your teeth, showering, taking a bath
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Wearing clean clothes
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Doing your hair
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Moving your body, even if just stretching or a walk
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Balancing your checkbook, creating a budget
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Making sure your environment is clean and tidy and safe
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Lovingly and firmly setting boundaries
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Play
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Dancing barefoot in a grassy park hands sticky with melting popsicles (ok ok this is bonus points)
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Tuning into how you feel—for many of us, it's taking time to connect with our heart and our sense of the divine
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Giving love to your family and / or your community, and most of all, yourself
These rituals don't have to be complicated. But here's the thing: On our proudest day and on our worst day, we still owe ourselves these rituals of love and care and kindness.
Not all of us had that modeled for us growing up. Many spiritual practices are extraordinary gifts because they assert and reaffirm that we each are born from Love and are Love. And if you're lucky, you have people in your life who consistently remind you how important it is to love yourself—because they love you too.
The Invitation
If you're here reading this, chances are you're a beauty connoisseur. Because what Kypris makes is uniquely beautiful, it's easy to be distracted from the fundamental underpinnings of what a self-care ritual is really about.
It isn't actually about the specific oil or serum, though those can be exquisite, potent vehicles.
It's about the commitment to treating ourselves as worthy of care, even when we don't feel worthy. Especially when we don't feel worthy.
So as we are reveling in this energetic moment of freedom and redemption this spring, I hope we all remember: On our best days and our worst days and every day in between, we are not only deserving of—we require our kindness, care, and most of all, love.
With heaps of love & gratitude for you,
Chase
