11 - January - 2026

Happy New Year from 39BC! We hope your festive season was filled with pleasure and delight. If you didn’t get exactly what you wanted, well lucky you, you can treat yourself. Welcome to the very first edition of our new weekly newsletter which details everything happening in our world. From business updates and essential history lessons to chic run-ins with our friends and the cultural cues inspiring us right now. Consider this your fountain of knowledge for all things 39BC. We’re so glad you’re here.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the contradiction of January.

In ancient times, it was still deep winter. A period of rest, dormancy, and renewal. The year did not truly begin until spring, when the ground softened, crops could be planted, and life visibly returned. Time followed nature, not productivity. And yet, in the West, according to the calendar we live by today, January 1st is when we are meant to be back. Planning, manifesting, setting targets, hustling forward, as if the earth itself were not still asleep. We have the Romans to thank for that. More specifically, Octavian - the guy who defeated Antony and Cleopatra and then declared himself the first Emperor of Rome.

So here's the backstory:

January is named after Janus, the Roman god of doors, thresholds, and transitions. He is always depicted with two faces, one looking backward and one looking forward. January was meant to be about reflection and anticipation, not execution.

The early Roman calendar did not begin in January at all. The original Roman year started in March, which is why September, October, November, and December literally mean seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months.

January 1st became the official start of the civic year in 153 BC for administrative reasons. Newly elected consuls needed to take office earlier to prepare for war. Not to rest. Not to dream. To organise power.

Later, Julius Caesar formalised this structure with the Julian calendar in 45 BC, locking January 1st in as the beginning of the year.
Then Octavian, later Emperor Augustus, reinforced it. He reorganised Roman time around the needs of empire. Taxation, military campaigns, governance. January became the moment of political and economic activation.

In other words, January was not designed for human rhythms. It was designed for empire.

Winter stopped being a season of withdrawal and became a season of mobilisation. Rest was reframed as laziness. Stillness as inefficiency. Reflection as delay.

No wonder January feels wrong in the body.

So if you feel resistant right now - slow, foggy, unmotivated, tender - you are not broken. You are seasonal.

My invitation to you is simple: Keep resting. Let January be a threshold, not a starting gun. Let your ideas stay unformed. Let energy gather quietly. Let the ground thaw in its own time.

Spring will ask for movement soon enough...

39BC went live on September 1st 2025, started shipping November 1st, and our first quarter results have been stellar! It's been such a busy season! But one of the biggest highlights is that we are only a few months old and yet, 39BC is now officially on the shelves of three of our favourite stores in the world: Selfridges, London, Dover Street Market Parfum in Paris and Store X, Berlin We are officially international! Our first stockist was actually Soliflore, a stunning independent perfume store in Brighton, UK. So if you are in any of those cities, drop in, inhale us IRL, and treat yourself or someone you adore. As far as we’re concerned, gifting is a year-round endeavour.

The new year brings with it a cleaning of sorts - a sweeping out of the old and a welcoming of the new. This week we have been reaching for SAGE WATER, whose pure, clean impression comes from its use of aldehydes. But what exactly are aldehydes, and why do they smell the way they do? And what has this guy got to do with them? Read the story of aldehydes here...

This week's team fave is currently SAGE WATER. It basically smells like a crisp, cold winter morning and babe, it's cold outside...

We’ve launched our first hotel partnership with The Standard, London and for hotel obsessives like us… it just makes sense. Hotels are where routines break and rituals begin. A bath hits differently when you’re not at home, the door is locked, and nothing needs to be posted. That’s the energy here. This partnership isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being in the right place. Thoughtful rooms. Proper baths. Time that actually feels like time. If you’re staying at The Standard this winter, run the water, add 39BC, and disappear for a bit. That’s the whole point.

There's so much more to say, but that's all for now. See you next week for more notes from the bath...