Personalized Chinese herbs for cycle balance, with Lulu Ge

Elix begins not in a laboratory but at a stove, with a paper bag of a dozen whole herbs to boil every day. For founder Lulu Ge, that daily pot in Shenzhen changed how she thought about menstrual care, sourcing and proof. In this conversation she traces the path back, from personalized tincture to grower, extraction and test.

Every morning for several months, Lulu Ge stood over a pot of boiling herbs in Shenzhen. She had flown to see Dr. Xia Hongsheng after years of stabbing cramps, headaches, bloating, fatigue and insomnia that followed sixteen years on birth control. He read her pulse, looked at her tongue and sent her home with a dozen herbs to cook down daily.

Ge was born in China, raised in California and based in New York City. As a child she did not take Tylenol or Advil, and her grandmother made bone broth with ginseng or medicinal mushrooms. Her grandfather ran a hospital in Hunan. Then came a decade in consulting that left her chronically burnt out, and a return from prescription contraception that left her searching for answers American doctors mostly met with dismissal.

Back in the United States she could not find those same herbs organically sourced in a clean and bioavailable form. After a review of 246 clinical trials and studies, and a pilot with more than 300 women over nearly a year, she launched Elix in January 2020 as personalized herbal formulas built from an online health assessment of about 50 questions plus a tongue photo. What interests Seed to Capsule is what happened next in the supply chain, how whole herbs become a tincture, what the lab confirms and what the label can actually prove.

You grew up without Tylenol or Advil in the house, with your grandmother making bone broth with ginseng or medicinal mushrooms. What did that kitchen teach you about where medicine comes from that still shapes how you source.

When I was not feeling well as a kid, I never took Tylenol, Advil, or Pepto Bismol. That was just how our house worked. My grandma would make bone broth with ginseng or medicinal mushrooms, and food and herbs were the first line. It taught me that what helps you has an origin you can point to, a root or a mushroom or a broth pot, not a white tablet from nowhere.

Starting Elix has been a homecoming and a way to rediscover the beauty and the healing that has been passed down for countless generations within my culture. My grandfather ran a hospital in Hunan, so this was never abstract for me. When I look at a lot or a batch now, I am still that kid asking where it grew and who handled it. I want whole herbs, organically grown where possible, processed simply. If I cannot trace it, I do not want to bottle it.

After a decade in consulting you describe yourself as chronically burnt out, then you came off birth control after sixteen years and developed stabbing cramps and insomnia. You tried painkillers, fish oil and a vibrating device. What made you call your family and then fly to see Dr. Xia Hongsheng in Shenzhen.

I had tried what was easy to buy here. Painkillers, fish oil, period supplements, even a vibrating device. Nothing held. Doctors dismissed my pain or suggested going back on birth control, which felt like masking discomfort rather than understanding it. I know 55% of women in the U.S. report feeling gaslit at some point by a medical provider, and I felt that pattern in my own visits.

So my mother brought up my issues to my grandfather, who connected me with Dr. Xia Hongsheng in Shenzhen. He read my pulse, inspected my tongue and prescribed a dozen herbs to boil daily. The next month my stabbing pains were reduced, and after a few months virtually all symptoms waned. That routine of boiling and drinking every day gave me time to notice change slowly, the way herbs work. Do you expect your health to be transformed after one kale salad or one bowl of blueberries, or if you go to the gym once. Consistency matters.

You returned to the United States and could not find those herbs organically sourced in a clean bioavailable form. You led a review of 246 clinical trials and built an assessment with about fifty questions and a tongue photo. How did you turn a pulse and tongue visit into an online form.

At Elix, we essentially productized that experience online through a health assessment to expand access to Traditional Chinese Medicine. We worked with Dr. Xia and reviewed 246 clinical trials and studies to build the logic. The assessment asks about fifty questions about cycle length, flow, color, clots, digestion, sleep, stress and temperature patterns, and it asks for a tongue photo.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, tongue inspection is used as a visible indicator of internal health, including signs like heat and dampness. We use branch and root theory to sort symptoms into patterns rather than treat one symptom alone. In Western medicine, you typically treat the symptoms, not the root. Whereas from a Chinese medicine perspective treats the body as a whole. After piloting with over 300 women for nearly a year, we launched in January 2020 with personalized blends of up to eighteen herbs.

Elix says organic whole herbs are individually processed with low slow extraction, then boiled and blended into liquid tinctures without fillers. Walk us from the farm bag to the bottle and explain why liquid over pills or powders.

We start with organic whole herbs from growers we can name on our herbs page, then each herb is processed on its own. Some need longer boiling, some need lower heat, so we keep them separate until the extraction is done. Low and slow extraction means boiling over time to draw out constituents into liquid, then blending those liquids into a personalized formula. That is why we bottle a tincture rather than a powder.

I refuse pills and powders with fillers and synthetic materials because they add weight without meaning. A tincture carries the extracted liquid directly, and a dropper makes daily dosing exact. Fill weight in a capsule tells you how much powder is inside. Fill in a tincture tells you the ratio of herb to liquid and the drops per serving. We keep the other ingredients line short and publish that it is third party tested for purity and potency. For the buyer who reads the Supplement Facts panel, that paperwork matters more than adjectives.

Your hero remains Cycle Balance One Month at 52 dollars, a personalized blend of up to eighteen herbs. What does personalization change in the making room compared with a single fixed formula.

A fixed formula lets you buy one large lot, extract once and fill thousands of identical bottles. Personalization reverses that. Every order starts with a pattern, then we pull from individual herb extracts to blend up to eighteen herbs for that person. It is more like a pharmacy compounding step than a single run.

That adds work in lot tracking. Each component extract has its own certificate of analysis, and the finished blend carries its own batch record. The daily use is simple. Take the online health assessment and take the personalized liquid drops daily. But behind that simplicity is inventory of many single herb liquids, small blending runs and strict labeling so the bottle matches the pattern. We would rather personalize formulas by pattern diagnosis than offer one size fits all wellness. That choice costs more in labor and testing, which is why the supply chain has to be exact.

That is why part of Elix’s mission is not only to empower you to become your own best healer, but also your own best health advocate.

Lulu Ge

Yin Time at 38 dollars is rooted in Suan Zao Ren Tang and updated with Reishi, taken nightly as a calming ritual. Why did a sleep formula become a best seller next to cycle care, and where do those ingredients begin.

Sleep came up in almost every assessment. Women wrote about racing minds, light sleep and restless nights around their cycles and in stressful months. Yin Time is our answer for that evening window. It is rooted in Suan Zao Ren Tang, a classic formula, updated with Reishi, a medicinal mushroom grown on wood or substrate, harvested, dried and extracted before blending.

We call it yin time because Traditional Chinese Medicine divides the day into active yang time and restorative yin time. The use is plain. Take nightly as a calming ritual to ease into rest. It is wine inspired in the sense of a wind down pour, without alcohol. I really believe in the intersection of East meets West sciences, so we kept the classic structure and documented the sourcing and testing the way a careful buyer would want to see it.

Your newer Craving Support at 38 dollars cites a classic formula from 1100 AD and your site language points to metabolism. As a provenance magazine we have to ask what the label shows and what it leaves out.

The label shows an organic herbal blend rooted in a classic Chinese Medicine formula from 1100 AD, with serving size, herb list and other ingredients. It states support for metabolism when taken daily. What it leaves out is what every supplement label leaves out. It does not show the grower lot, the extract ratio or the certificate of analysis. Those live in our internal batch records and in summary statements on our herbs page.

I never leave the house without our organic gingerade, and I take our formulas with the same daily mindset, but I will not claim a tincture treats a condition. The statements on the Elix site have not been evaluated by the FDA and products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. What I can stand behind is process. Organic whole herbs, low slow extraction, small blended runs, third party testing for purity and potency, and a label that lists what is inside without fillers.

You speak often about democratizing access to Traditional Chinese Medicine and listening to your body. What step in your chain is still opaque, and what would it take to show it fully.

Farm identity for every single lot is the hardest part. We can name growers and show third party testing for purity and potency, including heavy metals and microbes. What we do not yet publish per bottle is the farm, harvest date and certificate for that exact blend. Multi herb personalization makes that complex, because one bottle can contain more than a dozen lots.

To show it fully we would need lot level traceability printed or scannable per order, from grower to extraction to encapsulation or bottling. That means harvest records, drying logs, extraction logs and lab reports tied to one batch code the customer can look up. I really want Elix to be a trusting friend and an advisor, from your first periods, to your last hot flash and everything in between. Publishing that chain in full is how a friend earns trust.

You close interviews by saying wellness does not start with what someone else swears by, it starts with paying attention. For a household buyer keeping a small shelf for years, how should they read your label and decide if the expensive version was worth it.

Wellness does not start with what someone else swears by. It starts with paying attention. Read the Supplement Facts panel first, then the other ingredients line. Look for organic whole herbs, the form as tincture or tea, the serving size and the daily directions. Look for a statement about third party testing for purity and potency. Keep your own notes for two to three cycles about flow, cramps, sleep and stress, since pattern care is slow.

We started with Cycle Balance, then added daily teas like Bloom and Balance to promote hormone cycles, manage stress and boost immunity, brewed as a mindful ritual, and Yin Time as a nightly alternative. Buy for the pattern you have now, use it consistently, and compare the paperwork, not the adjectives. If a brand can name growers, explain extraction and share test summaries, that traceability is part of what you paid for.

Closing note from the desk

What stays with us is the pot on the stove. Ge boiled a dozen herbs daily in Shenzhen, felt change over months and then asked why that bag had no equivalent in an American store with paperwork attached. That question built an assessment, a blending room and a testing file.

Elix set out to democratize access to Traditional Chinese Medicine through personalized formulas without fillers, traced from grower to extraction to batch. Some steps remain summarized rather than scannable, and the brand names that gap directly. In a crowded shelf, that plain accounting is the point.

Product spotlight

Cycle Balance One Month, 52 dollars for a one month personalized supply. A liquid tincture blended from up to eighteen organic whole herbs after an online assessment of about fifty questions and a tongue photo. Take the measured drops daily for consistent use and track cycle patterns across two to three months.

Yin Time, 38 dollars for a bottled herbal blend. An organic evening formula rooted in Suan Zao Ren Tang and updated with Reishi mushroom, taken nightly as a calming ritual to ease into rest. A wine inspired pour without alcohol, kept in the evening shelf next to tea.