Two names, one thread
Two names — Esther and Ruth — and the thread that runs between them: preparation in private, patient labor, and a moment of becoming.
Esther was prepared in secret for months before she was ever seen, and rose at exactly the right moment. Ruth chose loyalty when she had every reason to leave, gathered what others overlooked, and was gathered in because of her steadfastness.
Esther & Ruth exists for the season in between — the one perimenopause opens up, where your hair, your hormones, and your sense of self are all shifting at once, and nobody warned you it would take this much preparation to feel like yourself again.
Why I Built This
I was raised by a single mom. To keep three girls fed and housed, she worked behind the beauty counter at Shoppers Drug Mart — Canada’s version of Walgreens — on minimum wage, for years. And she still came home every day loving products. Loving the ritual of them. She was never precious about money, but she was precious about this: take care of the inside of yourself, and let the outside shine because of it, not instead of it. That, and the piano. Those are the two things I remember most about my mother.
I built three tech companies. I went through a divorce that left me with a mountain of debt. Through all of it, I still took care of my skin and my hair — it was one of the few rituals that stayed mine no matter what else was falling apart. And then I turned forty, and almost overnight, none of it worked the same way anymore. My hair changed. My skin changed. My body changed. It didn’t ease in — it just arrived, all at once, like a door closing behind you before you’ve had a chance to look back.
I went looking for products built for exactly this season, and there was nothing. So I started combining things myself, trying to hold onto what I had — and eventually I just cut it all off and started over. I remember standing there asking, genuinely: what is this new hair? Where did it even come from?
That question is this company. I wanted something clean. Something that actually celebrated women instead of quietly apologizing for what was happening to them. Something that supported the restart, instead of pretending it wasn’t happening. I spent years after that researching the cleanest, most effective formulations that actually work for perimenopause and menopause — not repackaged products for twenty-five-year-olds, built from the ground up for this one.
Esther & Ruth is named for the women who carried me through some of the hardest seasons of my life. Most of all, it’s for my mother — who raised three girls on minimum wage and still made room to love beautiful things. The Grace Field Fund carries her full name, Marilyn Joan Hadfield, because everything this company gives back to women starting over, it gives back in her honor.
My Hair, Through the Seasons
The unedited timeline — from the hair I used to have, through the season perimenopause opened up, to where I am today in June 2026.
Where my hair journey began — long, blonde, and colour-treated for years.
I tried going darker to give my hair a rest from the lift and the lightener.
Almost overnight, everything changed — texture, density, shine, the way it held a curl.
The damage was done. I chopped it off and started over.
Nights in a shower cap, mixing oils and masks in hotel bathrooms, trying to hold onto what I had.
Slowly, with the right ingredients and a lot of patience, it started to come back.
The gloss returned before the length did — the first real sign the roots were healthy again.
Fuller, brighter, mine again. The formulations were finally doing the work.
Once the scalp was thriving, the length followed — thicker at the ends than it had been in years.
The result of the exact system that became Esther & Ruth.
Where I Am Today
This is my hair right now, on the finished system — the same formulations that make up Esther & Ruth.
The Women of the Season
Each product is named for a woman known for her own season of waiting, transition, or renewal — the way a fragrance house names individual scents after muses.