The Story of My July
How my mom and I started our own line of skincare
You may or may not know this, but I co-run a clean skincare line called My July with my mom. We started the line during one of my worst skin flare-ups, and given that it’s the holiday season and next week is Small Business Saturday, I figured now would be an apropos time to tell you our origin story.
All throughout my life, one of my consistently worst symptoms that was always present were rashes all over my body. At the time, the dermatologists I saw called it eczema and didn’t have an explanation for the root cause, but now I know it was a symptom of my Lyme, mold, parasites, or all of the above. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to these rashes as “eczema.” I was also going through loads of other health issues that I didn’t vocalize to my parents at this time (digestion, joint pain, cognitive issues, etc.) but for this story, we will focus on my skin.
The eczema would crop up behind my elbows, behind my legs, on my calves, and on my hands. Throughout my childhood in Connecticut, my mom would take me to the pediatrician or dermatologist who would write me out a prescription for a steroid laden ointment that was essentially putting a band aid over a bullet wound. The ointment would clear up my skin in the short-term, but the eczema would always come back weeks or months later.
When my family and I moved to the Bay Area when I was 13, my eczema magically cleared up—not completely, but it definitely simmered down to a tolerable level. We all thought that my eczema was weather-related, and moving to the drier West Coast had aided in my recovery. For almost six glorious years, I lived relatively eczema-free. Then, in my late teens, things got bad.
The eczema breakouts began on my hands. The pads of skin on my palms by my thumbs split open in various cracks. The center of my palms had slices through them as if I had slipped while handling a knife. No amount of moisturizers I put on my skin would help close up the wounds. My ears broke out in rashes as did my arms, but my hands were always the worst.
I knew that going to the dermatologist wasn’t the answer because they would just write me out prescriptions which weren’t the answer, but I didn’t know what the answer was. Doing nothing wasn’t the answer, but that was better than doing something that would long-term cause more harm than good. So I tried to grin and bear it, and then eventually just bear it. I’m not going to sugarcoat my experience to make me out to be some sort of super warrior.
This was one of the lowest points in my health. I felt hopeless. Seeing your health deteriorate before your very eyes and not knowing how to save yourself is scary. You worry you’ll never get better.
Eventually, I lost all flexibility in my fingers. The skin on my hands was pulled so taut, if I tried to bend my fingers, the skin around my knuckles would crack and bleed. I couldn’t make my bed, wash my hair, cut up food, drive, work out, walk my dog, or do anything else that required finger mobility. My mom did it all for me.
At the time, I was going to Savannah College of Art and Design online for Graphic Design (a blessing in disguise I chose to go to school online!) and all I could do was have my fingers hover over a keyboard, type, and click a mouse. Even then, my hands were constantly throbbing. The pain pulsated through my entire body and interfered with my sleep. I walked around the house with bandages wrapped around my hands so I wouldn’t leave droplets of blood.
Even while I was in pain, I knew I would just have to let this storm pass. I still didn’t have answers, but I knew this couldn’t go on forever. I would have to surrender to whatever was attacking my body and wait for it to ease up. This was all pre-Lyme diagnosis. My dad was actually spot-on when he told me it looked like there was a monster inside of me bubbling out from under my reptile skin.
Everything irritated my hands. The breeze I created in the air from walking irritated my hands. I stopped using soap because I didn’t know what else to do.
It’s in this time, my mom started experimenting with different skincare treatments for me to use. Since my skin was so dry, she started making body butters using shea butter, various carrier oils, and eventually adding healing essential oils—all plant-based and gentle—for me to use. Amazingly enough, they didn’t irritate my hands or any other parts of my body.
Through use of my mom’s body butters, regular acupuncture, and getting lots of sleep, after four months, my eczema subsided. My mom and I knew we were on to something when the body butters healed my highly sensitive skin when nothing else I tried did. There are so many people with skin ailments out there, we wanted to share our skincare with other chronic illness sufferers and those with highly sensitive skin.
We launched in July of 2016 (if you’ve been following me, you know July is a very special month for me) under the name “Drifter Organics” with our body butters. In the following years, we added a healing balm, body oils, a face oil, and a face mist to our roster. In May of 2022, we rebranded to “My July” (we kept all our formulas the same, just with different packaging) which was much more aligned with our personal style and target audience. We strive to keep our line small—just the essentials. It’s everything I, as someone with chronic illness, use on a daily basis.
Most recently, we launched our Renaissance Nail & Cuticle Oil and Magnetic Copper Dry Brush, both of which help me immensely during my flare-ups (my nails sometimes get brittle and weak and I have poor circulation).
Ever since using my mom’s topical treatments, I’ve been eczema-free. We use our skincare as an instrument to raise awareness around chronic illnesses—which are so misunderstood—and becoming your own health advocate. We partner with Project Lyme to give 3% of our profits to help fund their research, education, and support programs. It’s empowering to take matters into your own hands and become the CEO of your health.
We chose to name the brand My July because summer is my favorite season, and July is my favorite month of the year. I love the ease of the summer, the feeling of comfort in the warmth of the sun, the sense of wellbeing that comes from beach days, early sunrises, evening walks, and movies under the stars. When I look back at my life, so many milestones happened to me in July. My family and I moved from Long Island to Connecticut in July, I traveled to Europe for the first time in July, my family and I moved from Connecticut to California in July, my mom and I ran our first half marathon in July, and I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July. It’s this positive energy (the Lyme diagnosis wasn’t 100% positive but in a way it was because it gave me the answers I was searching for in regards to my health) I want to attach to our products because I believe energy is transferred in everything you do. I want others to feel love and kindness when they receive and use our products. Getting to run My July with my mom, my best friend, my ride-or-die, is one of the biggest blessings that was born from my chronic illness.
We’re having a Black Friday sale in a few days, but if you’re reading this before the sale, and want to get an early start, I’ve created a special discount code just for you Substack readers: SUBSTACK20 will get you 20% off sitewide, excluding gift sets and gift cards. It expires at midnight on December 1st, 2024.
That’s the story behind My July. If you want to learn more, you can check out our website, follow us on Instagram, and watch an Instagram Live recording we did earlier this month with Cristina Cuomo.
Since this upcoming week is a holiday week, I’m taking it off from Substack, so I’ll see you back here in two weeks. I hope you are doing well and take this upcoming holiday to rest, relax, and give your body whatever else it needs.
Till next time.
xx,
Micaela
Micaela, thank you so very much for writing about your journey with chronic illness AND the 20% off! I am focusing on shopping with small and ethical businesses so am headed to your website now. Healing hugs, Sharyn