What Wild-Crafting Means

The plant materials at the heart of WELINA ORGANICS skincare and hair care are gathered wild across the islands of Hawaii. They are not grown in fields. They grow on their own, and we pick them by hand, one at a time. This approach is called wild-crafting.

What wild-crafting is

Wild-crafting begins with an environment where nature stays in balance: healthy trees, the right sun, rain, humidity and wind, and a rich surrounding ecosystem. Rather than building the soil ourselves, we protect soil in which nature's own cycle is still alive. It is less a matter of "not using" fertilizer or pesticides than of taking a share from an environment that was never managed in the first place.

Today this approach is often held to be more ideal than organic cultivation, and is regarded by some as carrying more meaning than organic certification itself.

How it differs from organic farming

Organic farming is cultivation by people, without agricultural chemicals or synthetic fertilizer. Because there is a field — a managed environment with a recorded history — it lends itself well to certification by a third party.

Wild-crafting has no field. People travel to where the plants grow and take only what is needed. Never stripping one place bare, and never disturbing the ecosystem, are conditions of the practice, which makes it unsuited to mass production. It takes more work; what we get in return is the strength of the plant as it actually grew.

WELINA ORGANICS does not hold organic certification

To be clear about this: our products are not certified organic. Some of the raw materials we use do carry organic certification, but that means the raw material is certified — not that the finished product has been certified by a third party.

We carry a large number of items, and the cost of maintaining certification product by product does not justify itself, so we have deliberately chosen not to apply. Instead of a certification mark, we would rather tell you where our materials come from, how they are made, and exactly what is in them. Every product page lists the full ingredients, so you can check before you buy.

From harvest to bottling

Plants gathered deep in the Hawaiian hills are pressed carefully in a traditional press. To keep their minerals as they are, they pass through no refining and no heating. After filtering through gauze, they are bottled live.

Production takes place at our workshop on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Freshly pressed materials, made up in the quantity needed, every time. It is this "fresh production" — nothing made in advance and left in storage — that makes a formula without preservatives possible. Open a bottle and the scent tells you it was made recently.

Frequently asked questions

How is wild-crafting different from organic?

Organic cultivation means people growing plants without agricultural chemicals or synthetic fertilizer. Wild-crafting means gathering plants that grew on their own in an environment where nature stays in balance. Wild-crafting is today often held to be more ideal than organic cultivation, and is regarded by some as carrying more meaning than organic certification.

Does WELINA ORGANICS hold organic certification?

No. Some raw materials we use carry organic certification, but our products themselves are not certified. The cost of maintaining certification for each of our many items does not justify itself, so we have deliberately chosen not to apply.

Isn't gathering wild plants hard on the environment?

Never stripping one place bare, and never disturbing the balance of the ecosystem, are conditions of wild-crafting. Because the practice is founded on protecting soil in which nature's own cycle is still alive, it is not suited to mass production.

How do you keep products stable without preservatives?

We make only the quantity needed, each time, at our workshop in Hawaii, with nothing produced in advance. A proprietary herb blend also holds back the mold that causes spoilage. Note that our shampoos and conditioners do contain a minimal amount of a plant-derived seed extract that acts as a preservative, so those items are not preservative-free.