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From Courtney Howell, Co-Founder and CEO, 7 Fathoms
A Midlife Reflection on Skin, Shifts, and Seaweed. We didn’t start working with seaweed because we thought it might become a business. We started because nothing else was working.
Terrence had painful contact dermatitis from his ostomy flange, and we were desperate for relief. So we turned to the sea right outside our door — and everything changed.
Over time, our seaweed formulations began showing up in other people’s lives, too — offering calm after surgery, support during postpartum recovery, and comfort for reactive skin.
And somewhere in the care we gave to others, I forgot I was still part of the story.
I think a lot of us do — especially women. You manage the house, the work, the family, the finances. You figure out what’s for supper while you’re answering emails. You hold space for everyone. And somehow, you start believing that if you just try a little harder, you’ll manage to hold it all in place.
Until one day, something shifts.
For me, it started a couple of years ago. My mom passed away. Terrence had a major surgery. I was beginning to feel changes in my energy, my emotions — even my skin. I realized I couldn’t keep bracing myself anymore. I was exhausted from trying to keep it all together.
And somewhere in that mess, I was ready to let go.
Letting go wasn’t dramatic. It was quiet.
It came with small choices — to stop rushing, to stop fixing, to stop pretending I wasn’t changing.
I started leaning into rituals that helped me feel grounded again. Walking the cliffs around Grates Cove. Drinking tea in silence. And yes — slipping into the bath with seaweed we had harvested ourselves.
Soaking in a seaweed bath wasn’t about fixing anything. It was a therapeutic pause — part of a long tradition known as Thalassotherapy, where the ocean’s minerals, sea plants like seaweed, and salts are used to restore the body.
For me, it became a way to notice what needed care. A soft return.
One of the first physical signs of midlife for me was how my skin started changing.
I think for me, my skin really started changing last summer - but especially over the past year. I've noticed a shift in skin quality, and honestly, it feels like even the shape of my face has changed. It's the kind of thing you hear a lot of women talking about now - the texture, the sensitivity, even unexpected aches.
That’s when I started learning more about perimenopause and how hormone changes affect the skin:
Knowing this helped me feel less frustrated. This wasn’t something I needed to “fix.” It was my body moving into a new chapter — and asking for different care.
At 7 Fathoms, we don’t make claims about reversing time. That’s not what our skincare is about.
We make seaweed-based products designed for the skin that’s been through something — whether it’s postpartum, post-surgery, or the ongoing shifts of perimenopause. Times when your skin suddenly needs something different: less harshness, more calm, and ingredients that work in harmony with your body’s natural rhythms.
Our extracts are made in-house from cold North Atlantic seaweed, harvested sustainably from the wild, rugged coastlines of Newfoundland — where the waters are turbulent, the climate is harsh, and the seaweed grows strong.
That stress builds strength. Inside the plant and for your skin.
Our formulations are unscented, simple, and made for ultra-sensitive skin — because that’s what I needed, too.
If you’ve been feeling like your skin has changed…
If your nervous system feels more delicate, more tired…
If you’re navigating that invisible middle space between who you’ve been and who you’re becoming…
Then you’re not alone.
There is beauty in this season. There is resilience. And there are ways — quiet, slow, intentional ways — to reconnect with your body.
That’s what this work is about.
Courtney
From the edge of the Atlantic to your skin—discover how seaweed’s bioactive compounds help repair and protect the skin barrier under real-world stress.
