When we first spoke about this cleanser, it was early 2020.
Not in a launch meeting or a briefing deck, but in fragments—around a table, across messages, inside shared notes that began with one word: Akapulko.
It was familiar to all of us. A plant many of us grew up seeing without ceremony. Not precious, not rare, just there. Trusted. We wanted the cleanser to feel the same way. Gentle. Dependable. Something you could return to every day without thinking about it too much. Something that didn’t ask to be admired.
The early formulas didn’t stay long.
Some cleansed too much. Others were kind but incomplete. The foam never quite landed. Each revision felt promising on paper, then off once it touched skin. We kept adjusting, revisiting, letting go, starting again. More times than we expected.
Then everything slowed.
The pandemic stretched timelines and thinned conversations. Labs paused. Momentum softened. There were long stretches where nothing moved, and moments where continuing felt heavier than stopping. We asked ourselves, quietly, whether this was something to keep holding—or something to release.
For a while, we stepped back.
Not as a failure, but as a form of care.
When we returned to it later, we came back changed. Less interested in proving anything. More attentive to what the formula needed, rather than what we wanted from it. We simplified. Paid closer attention. Stopped forcing resolution. Over time, the cleanser found its rhythm.
The foam became softer. The rinse felt clean, but never bare. Akapulko settled into the formula—not as a headline ingredient, but as a constant presence. And then, one day, without discussion or celebration, it felt right.
In 2024, the Akapulko Gentle Cleansing Foam was released.
At Russ & Rose, this product carries the imprint of choosing patience when shortcuts were easier, and staying when letting go would have been simpler. We share this story because some things are worth taking the long way around.
And when they finally arrive, you recognize them quietly, before you know how to say why.