We are wild about roses!! We grow the hardy but less prolific rugosa rose and harvest the petals every day from June until the first frost, moving mindfully among the multitude of bees who worship this plant alongside us — bumblebees, honeybees, sweat bees, and many more! By harvesting the petals only, we leave the pollen for the bees. The rose petals are infused immediately in alcohol to preserve their scent, or dried before infusing in organic sunflower oil. You will find these roses in Rosewater Mist, Stay Cool Mist, and Gentle Hands salve.

Rosa rugosa

Witch hazel was an important herb for skin care long before the first factories were built, and we at Half Wild Arts believe that it is time to return to this universal skin tonic. Appropriate for all skin types, witch hazel tones the skin without over-drying it.

We coppice our witch hazel bushes, selecting young shoots and then extracting them in the traditional method by simmering them in water all day. The resulting extract is full of tannins and other plant compounds that are not found in the clear, distilled witch hazel you see in the drugstore. Our witch hazel is milder and more nourishing.

In addition to the pure Traditional Witch Hazel, you will find witch hazel as a base in many of our sprays: Rosewater Mist, Clear Skin Toner, Aftershave, Herbal Itch Relief, and Stay Cool Mist.

Hamamelis virginiana

We use both organic Maine-distilled alcohol and vodka distilled in Massachusetts to extract herbs for our products. In addition to being a great way to extract the active compounds in herbs, the alcohol acts as a preservative, to keep our witch hazel products shelf stable without the use of harmful industrial chemicals. You may have heard that you should avoid alcohol in your skin products, but ours are formulated to be non-drying even with a small amount of alcohol in them to preserve.

PLEASE NOTE: Half Wild products are for topical use only and should never be ingested. Herbs extracted in alcohol are very strong and may be poisonous if swallowed.