Wild yam cream.

Wild yam cream is a skin cream made from the root of the wild yam plant, which contains diosgenin, a plant compound with a structure close to the body’s own hormone building blocks. Herbalists have used wild yam for generations for hormone balance and women’s cycles, and the holistic theory behind the cream is simple: applied to thin skin daily, the botanicals support the body through the second half of the cycle, after ovulation, as everything winds down towards the next bleed. It has a huge following in the natural fertility world, and it is part of my luteal routine: a small amount, once a day, rubbed into thin skin until absorbed.

Where I apply it

Thin-skinned areas absorb creams best, so I rotate: inner forearms and wrists, inner thighs, lower belly. A pea-sized amount, rubbed in until it disappears, once a day through the luteal window. Rotating the site matters with any daily cream, so no one patch of skin carries all of it.

Where I get it

I use Anna’s enriched wild yam cream. It is the one I settled on after looking at what is actually in the jar: a simple base, the yam extract and supporting botanicals, and a published ingredients list I could check against my own disruptor rules: no parabens, no synthetic fragrance.