A note from our founder on the first in our body collection.
Six months ago, after requests from our community, we debuted our bath collection and made it known that we, a company that was born from three words — sex made simple — had evolved into a brand that offered something beyond just sex essentials: modern intimacy.
When we think about intimacy, we think about the number of ways in which it exists: the spaces we’re in, the dialogues with ourselves and our partners, how we connect physically. Through our assortment and our content, we examined the complex nature of this idea and how pre- and post-sex rituals are just important as the act itself. And back then, we knew that the conversations revolved around how and when to make time, in a fast-paced world, for this closeness.
At this very moment, we are universally faced with the idea of intimacy in a way unparalleled to any other time in recent history. Out of the forced proximity that we’re experiencing in the era of COVID-19, an examination of the place that intimacy and the very act of touch has in our lives is magnified.
An article titled Human Connection in NPR examined the importance of touch as it relates to how we bond. “Oxytocin levels go up with holding hands, hugging — and especially with therapeutic massage. The cuddle hormone makes us feel close to one another,” said Matt Hertenstein, an experimental psychologist at DePauw University in Indiana.
And when oxytocin levels go up, stress goes down.
A few weeks ago, we sent out an additional survey to customers and it echoed the requests we’ve received for two years: Make bodycare. For them, maude is a company that speaks to their intimate lives in many ways. As we’ve said: in and beyond the bedroom.
Today, we’re finally launching oil, the first product in our body collection.
It comes during a time when touch and real self- or partner-care has never felt more important. True to our ethos of making easy-to-use products, it’s incredibly multi-purpose — use as a massage or bath oil to emphasize touch. It’s a gentle, unscented, and hydrating blend of certified organic jojoba, coconut, argan, and castor oils. Use it from face to toe (and especially hands) to feel moisturized and soft. Send it to a loved one and give them respite from the stress that has permeated our collective thoughts.
We can assume that this time will forever change how we all think about community and human connection. Echoing many others, we long for the moment the veil is lifted and we can reconnect and rebuild.
But this time of uncertainty has never made us feel more sure about our mission: To continue to bring humanity back to an industry and to a subject that has for too long not reflected what real people and relationships look like. To serve our customers through quality, simplicity, and inclusivity. To create products like oil that help people find a place for intimacy in their lives with just a simple act of touch.
This is maude. This is modern intimacy.