I sat down with every question you keep asking about wild yam. Here are my honest answers.
Wild yam is having a moment, and my inbox shows it. I've been sharing this for a while now, but I haven't had PMS or hormonal migraines since 2023 — and those bipolar mood swings and hot flashes? Gone. So instead of another thirty-second clip, I'm answering the questions you keep sending me, all in one place.
First things first. What is wild yam?
It's a wild, twisting vine called Dioscorea villosa, native to North America and Mexico. Bitter, knotted, and nothing like the sweet yam on your dinner plate. This one was never grown for food. It was grown for women.
So it's not the yam I roast for dinner?
Not even close. Completely different plant. People mix them up all the time, but the wild yam women have used for centuries is not something you would ever want to eat.
Why is everyone suddenly obsessed?
Wild Yam Root naturally contains Diosgenin, a plant compound long studied for its role in the body's hormonal pathways. In nature, Diosgenin influences the biochemical pathways that contribute to cholesterol, the foundation for every steroid hormone in the body: progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, and the adrenal hormones that regulate your stress response.
Why is it better topical?
When it's applied to the skin, the fat cells take it up, it stimulates the biochemical pathway that your body uses to make hormones, and little by little, it'll restore balance.
How did you discover it?
I heard Barbara O' Neil taling about it and felt so curious. The first time I applied wild yam between my hands and pressed it into my skin, something in me settled. It felt ancient and familiar, as if my body already recognized it. I knew right then that it could not stay a quiet thing. I had to create my version without soy and put it into the hands of millions of women. That was the beginning of Balangy.
What do women actually use it for?
It has been passed from hand to hand for generations, reached for to ease the discomfort of cramps and PMS, to soften the heat of hot flashes and night sweats, and to help you feel a little more like yourself through perimenopause and menopause. I blend ours with chasteberry, cramp bark, and geranium, the same botanicals women have always trusted, in small batches infused with castor oil for better absorption and to help clear the excess estrogen the liver carries.
How is yours different?
We build the Balancing Hormones Body Oil through customized botanical infusions, oleates, made in small batches. Every plant is infused individually.
Gently warmed in oil with continuous movement for hours, drawing out the active compounds without degrading them. Left to macerate for roughly 11 days, deepening the extraction.
The method preserves the integrity of each plant. The result is potent, balanced, intentional. Clean. Non toxic. The way ritual is meant to be.
Okay, how do I use it?
Apply 3 to 4 pumps to one of the following areas, rotating sites regularly for best results:
Lower abdomen
Lower back
Chest
Inner wrists
Behind the ears
Inner thighs
Warm between the palms. Massage into the skin. Inhale deeply. Morning, night, or both. Stop using during period.
Why should I try it?
Because you have spent enough time pushing through, holding it together, putting yourself last. This is your invitation to stop. Sixty seconds, morning and night, that belong only to you. Wild yam, whole and respected, is the plant that began Balangy, and the ritual I believe every woman in every phase deserves.
