About Us

Hi, I'm Ryan.

I worked as a therapist for ten years before I founded By Karisse. I sat with women, mothers and couples, with kids at a school for children with disabilities, and with people living without a home. Whatever brought someone into the room, whether it was a marriage, the kids, grief or work, the conversation almost always found its way back to the same quiet question: am I enough?

Ryan, founder of By Karisse, practicing face yoga with her hands resting on her head and her eyes closed
HOW IT STARTED

Two minutes at the sink

I'm raising three boys, and when COVID hit, my practice moved online and everyone was home all the time. The ways I'd always looked after myself, getting away and having a little space, weren't possible anymore, so I had to find a smaller version that fit inside my real life. Washing my face at night. Putting oil on my skin slowly. A bath. Some nights those two minutes at the sink were the only time I really looked at myself all day.

What surprised me was what those small moments did. The warm water, the smell of the oil and my own hands on my face brought me back into my body, and once I was back in my body I could hear how I was talking to myself. I could see where I was being kind to myself and where I wasn't.

I'm a nerd about why things work, so I started reading about ingredients and making oils in my kitchen in small batches, just to understand them. The first time I made a simple facial oil with one drop of rose, it smelled stronger and more alive than the expensive bottle on my counter, and I started wondering how much of what I'd been paying for was the ingredient and how much was the marketing.

I wanted to make skincare the way you make a homemade cookie, with real ingredients, by hand, a batch at a time. That's where By Karisse started.

A breath of fresh air

I want By Karisse to meet you right where you are, whether you walk into the studio or find us online. Taking care of your skin can connect you with the deeper parts of yourself, and with honoring where you are in your life right now, and that's the kind of care we want to offer.

We're a community of women who feel in our gut that chasing perfection isn't who we are. So we keep things simple: easy routines you can trust at home and in the studio, and straight answers when you have a question. You can take a break from the hamster wheel and the confusion here, and we'll help you see exactly what you need.
WHAT BY KARISSE IS TODAY

A skincare line and a studio

We still make every product by hand in small batches in Laguna Beach, from botanical ingredients chosen for what your skin can actually recognize and use. We leave out synthetic fragrance, parabens, phthalates and the rest of what we call the Sneaky 8. At home, most women start with three steps: an oil cleanse, a rose water mist and a face oil.

Our studio is at 355 Third Street, where our team offers facials, acupuncture, sculptural face lifting and grounding mat sessions, and where I teach face yoga. Every visit starts with a look at where your skin and your body are that day. If we think something would really help, we'll tell you and explain why, and then it's your call. You can book in the studio here.

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A SMALL TEAM OF WOMEN

The women you'll meet

We're a small team of women: a licensed acupuncturist, estheticians trained in sculptural face lifting and gua sha, and the women who batch, bottle and label everything we make. We show up for the women who come to us as real people, and we show up for each other the same way.

Meet the team
Leading face yoga by the harbor railing at a past By Karisse gathering

Come spend an evening with us

Evening Practice No. 01 is on Saturday, October 3, from five to seven in the evening at the Cove, 1105 North Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. We'll begin with face yoga together in front of mirrors, learning movements you can keep doing at home. Then breathwork, then facial acupuncture and a sound bath as the lights go down.

You don't need to have done any of this before. There are twenty seats, and a seat is $111.

Reserve a seat

If you're not in Laguna Beach, you can learn face yoga with me at home. Beginners Face Yoga is three foundational practices and four bonus movements on video, and it's yours for life.

See the program

However you found your way here, I'm really glad you did.