The Season Is Changing, and So Are You
Fall self-care always sounds so cozy in theory. Sweaters. Colorful leaves. Warm drinks. Crisp mornings. Maybe curling up with a good book while something delicious cooks in the kitchen.
And then actual October arrives.
Suddenly, I’m thinking about Halloween costumes and school parties. I’m buying party supplies, cleaning up the garden, putting away lawn furniture and pool stuff, and getting the pool closed before winter. Meanwhile, my brain has already skipped ahead to Thanksgiving.
We host Thanksgiving dinner for our entire family, plus extended family, every year. So somewhere between putting away the patio furniture and figuring out Halloween costumes, another part of my brain is already thinking about decorating, cleaning, turkey, side dishes, and everything that needs to happen before a house full of people walks through the door. For me, fall self-care has to fit somewhere inside all that chaos, not add another thing to the list.
October is beautiful. October is also chaos. And if you're a busy mom, there's a good chance you're feeling it too.
Your Body Notices the Change, Too
While we're busy preparing our homes and families for the next season, something else is changing right along with the leaves. Us.
The days are getting shorter. The temperature is dropping. Before long, the furnace will be running regularly. The comfortable, sun-kissed skin of summer starts feeling a little tighter and a little drier. Then one day you look down and think, "Oh. There it is. Flaky skin season has arrived."
Seasonal changes in temperature and humidity, along with spending more time in heated indoor air, can leave skin feeling drier. That’s why fall self-care can be as simple as noticing what changes when the temperature and humidity start dropping. That's usually my cue to start changing some of my own routines.
And I don't mean creating a 14-step fall self-care routine that requires waking up at 5 a.m. No thank you. I'm talking about making small changes to things I'm already doing.
Start With What You're Washing With
When it comes to fall self-care, swapping something you already use is much easier than adding another step to your day. You're already washing your face, hands, and body, so let's start there. Fall is a good time to pay attention to what you're using on your skin and, more importantly, how your skin feels afterward.
I love handcrafted bar soaps because they turn something as ordinary as washing your skin into a small ritual without adding another step to your day. Sunny Bunny Bar Soap and Chamomile & Oats Bar Soap are two options I love reaching for when simple, gentle skin care sounds especially good.
Your face and hands deserve some attention too. Think about how many times you wash your hands every day. Once colder weather arrives, that repeated washing can make already-dry hands feel even more uncomfortable. Foaming Hand Soap makes an easy swap at the sink, while Foaming Face Wash gives your face its own simple cleansing routine.
You don't have to add more steps. Sometimes you just need to be a little more intentional about the products you're already using. And when your skin starts feeling different, pay attention. That tight, uncomfortable feeling after washing is your skin telling you something.
Fall self-care doesn't always mean doing more. Sometimes it means noticing what your body has been trying to tell you.
Don't Wait for the Flakes
This is one of my biggest seasonal changes. For me, fall self-care definitely includes moisturizing before my skin reaches the flaky, tight, uncomfortable stage. Once the weather cools down, body butter after my shower becomes a regular part of my routine. Calendula & Chamomile Body Butter is an easy option when you want rich, nourishing moisture as the weather gets colder.
But Relieving Body Butter has a special place in my cold-weather routine. I've dealt with psoriasis and eczema since I was young, and when the temperatures drop, my skin knows it. The colder weather combined with dry indoor heat can be rough on my skin, so Relieving Body Butter becomes one of my personal cold-weather lifesavers.
Body creams are another easy option, especially if you prefer a different texture or feel than a rich body butter. The important part isn't creating some elaborate skincare ritual. It's getting into the habit of moisturizing regularly instead of waiting until your skin is already uncomfortable.
Keep your body butter or cream somewhere you'll actually see it. If it's tucked in the back of a cabinet behind seventeen other things, you're probably going to forget about it. Put it where you get dressed or leave it near the shower. Make it easy, because the easier self-care is to do, the more likely a busy mom is to actually do it.
And Please Remember Your Lips Need Fall Self-care, Too
Why do we always forget about our lips until they're already dry? The weather cools down, the air gets drier, and suddenly you're wondering why your lips feel terrible.
This is when my K.I.S.S. Lip Serum earns a permanent spot in the fall routine. Lip care might be one of the easiest parts of fall self-care because it takes seconds and can happen almost anywhere.
Keep your K.I.S.S. Lip Serum by your bed. Put one in your purse. Keep it where you get ready in the morning. This isn't glamorous self-care. It's practical self-care, and sometimes that's exactly what we need.
Give Yourself 20 Minutes
Fall self-care isn’t only about taking care of our skin. Sometimes it’s about giving ourselves permission to sit down. Most times I want a cup of tea in the afternoon or evening, a book, cozy clothes, and twenty minutes where nobody needs anything from me.
That's it. I'm not asking for a weekend at a spa. I'm asking for twenty uninterrupted minutes.
Loose-leaf tea is one of those rituals that naturally encourages me to slow down. I talked a lot about tea last month (Teatime: More Than Just a Cup), so I won't give you another entire tea lesson here. But fall is when I naturally start reaching for it more often.
Treat-Tea Loose Leaf Tea is perfect when I want something that simply feels like a treat, while Tranquil-It Tea Loose Leaf Tea fits those moments when I'm ready to slow things down. The days are cooler, the evenings are darker, and holding a warm mug while reading a few pages of a book feels different in October than it does in July.
Sometimes that's enough to help me shift out of "take care of everything" mode for a little while.
Create a Fall Self-care Wind-Down Routine You Can Actually Maintain
My evenings don't need to look Instagram-perfect. Some nights, self-care might be tea and a book. Another night, its skincare, cozy clothes, and magnesium cream before bed. Sometimes it's body butter after my shower. And occasionally, it's simply telling everyone, "Leave me alone for twenty minutes."
All of those count.
The goal isn't to build another routine that becomes one more thing you're failing to keep up with. That's the exact opposite of what we need. Pick one or two things that make you feel cared for and attach them to something you're already doing.
Shower, then body butter. Brush your teeth, then K.I.S.S. Lip Serum. Make your afternoon or evening tea, then sit down for ten minutes instead of carrying the mug around while doing six other things. Put on your pajamas, use your Calendula Magnesium Cream, and start winding down.
The best fall self-care is the kind you can actually maintain when real life gets messy.
Winter Is Coming, and You Can Feel It
October isn't just a change in temperature. The days get shorter. Our schedules change. Holiday responsibilities start creeping into our thoughts. School is in full swing. Everyone seems to be bringing something home. And suddenly we're looking at the final few months of the year wondering how we got here so quickly.
This is where fall self-care becomes about more than dry skin. It’s also about checking in with how you’re feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally. That doesn't mean you need to completely overhaul your life. It means this is a good time to check in with yourself.
What does your skin need right now? Are you giving yourself any time to wind down? When was the last time you sat down without simultaneously folding laundry, answering an email, checking a school app, or making a grocery list?
And most importantly, what is one tiny thing you could do for yourself every day that wouldn't make your life more complicated?
Start there.
Let Fall Self-Care Be Simple
At For You Apothecary, I believe fall self-care should make life feel a little easier, not become another source of stress. You don't need an elaborate routine. You don't need twelve new habits. And you definitely don't need another checklist.
Maybe your fall self-care is switching to a handcrafted bar soap and remembering to use your body cream. Maybe it's putting Calendula & Chamomile Body Butter on after your shower before your skin starts begging for attention. Maybe it's finally remembering your K.I.S.S. Lip Serum.
Maybe it's an afternoon cup of Treat-Tea. Maybe it's Tranquil-It Tea, pajamas, magnesium cream, and telling your family you're unavailable for the next twenty minutes.
Your needs matter even when October is chaotic. Especially when October is chaotic.
The leaves are changing. The weather is changing. Your skin is changing. Your schedule is changing. You don't have to fight all of it.
Make a few small changes with the season, take care of the woman who's taking care of everyone else, and leave the complicated self-care routines on Pinterest. You've got enough to do.
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