How We Make Our Face Oils: From Garden to Bottle

🌿 The ʻOhi ʻOhi Way of Ethnobotanical Skincare

In a world of mass production and mystery ingredients, we believe skincare should be simple, seasonal, and soul-connected. At ʻOhi ʻOhi, our face oils aren’t made in a lab — they’re grown in our garden, harvested by hand, and infused with love right here on Kaua‘i.

Here’s a look at our process: from seed to soil to skin.

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✧ Step 1: We Grow What We Use

We start by tending the plants we know and trust — herbs that thrive in our soil and climate, and that have long been used in Hawaiian or other healing traditions.

These include: • Gotu kola – Supports skin elasticity and regeneration
• Moringa – Antioxidant-rich and deeply nourishing
• Noni leaf – Soothes inflammation and promotes clarity
• Plantain (laukahi) – A skin healer used for bites, wounds, and acne
• Tulsi – Balancing and detoxifying
• Mamaki – High in polyphenols, gentle and calming

We grow them using organic methods, respecting the land, the rain, and the rhythm of the seasons.

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✧ Step 2: We Harvest with Intention

Harvesting isn’t just a task — it’s a ritual.
We pick our herbs by hand, in the morning when their oils are most potent.

We speak gently. We move slowly. We take only what we need. We always say mahalo.

Each harvest is a relationship — a moment of exchange between plant and person. That energy goes directly into every bottle.

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✧ Storytime: A Day in the Life of a Face Oil

It starts with the light.

Not the harsh light of midday, but the soft, golden light that comes just after sunrise — when the leaves are still cool, the dew hasn’t lifted, and the birds are loud with morning songs. That’s when I head out barefoot into the garden, basket in hand, to harvest herbs for our next batch of face oil.

I stop at the gotu kola first. It carpets a section of our herb garden— lush and green, like tiny lily pads upon the earth. Gotu kola is a quiet plant. I’ve learned to approach it gently. I kneel, breathe, and ask before picking. Just enough for one infusion. Never too much. 

Next, I move toward the noni, whose glossy leaves gleam in the early light. They’re warm already, soaking up the sun. Noni always feels bold to me — full of fire medicine. I clip a few leaves and hold them to my cheek for a moment. Cooling. Calming. I say thank you.

By the time I reach the moringa, the sun is climbing. Bees are busy in the flowers, and the air smells faintly of lemongrass and earth. I pause to gather a few leaves, knowing they’ll dry quickly and carry their strength into the oil. This isn’t just harvest. It’s ritual. It’s rhythm. It’s remembering.

Back at our outdoor table, I lay everything out — a green mosaic of medicine. I sit, sort, sip tea. Sometimes my daughter joins me, handing me leaves with wide eyes. Sometimes it’s just me and the wind.

This is how our oils are made.
Not rushed. Not scaled. Not outsourced.

Just a woman in her garden, listening to the land.
Just plants, sun, and time.

 

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✧ Step 3: We Infuse, Not Extract

Most modern skincare relies on extracts — high-heat, high-speed, often chemically altered.
We do the opposite.

We use the whole plant — leaves, flowers, and roots that we’ve harvested by hand — we gently dry and infuse them slowly into cold-pressed kukui nut oil over several weeks. This method, which I learned from herbalist Kami McBride, honors the plant’s full healing potential.

Kami teaches that truly potent herbal oils aren’t just soaked — they’re crafted with deep intention and skill. She emphasizes choosing the right infusion method for each plant, balancing ratios properly, and caring for the oil through each stage of decanting and storage. It’s this careful, thoughtful process that draws out the complete healing spectrum of the plant — not just part of it.

🌿 No preservatives. No shortcuts. No isolates.
Just whole plants and pure presence.

Why kukui?
It’s the traditional skin oil of Hawai‘i — light, non-comedogenic, and deeply penetrating.
It’s also rich in linoleic acid and vitamins A, C, and E — making it perfect for hydration, healing, and glow.

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✧ Storytime: The Infusion Table

The jars line up like little suns in the garden — golden, glinting, filled with possibility.

Each one holds a story. Gotu kola from the west side of the garden, where the roses bloom and butterfly pea vines across the fence. Noni leaf gathered in the morning hush. Moringa, acting as a trellis for our vanilla vines, a place where the lizards play and sleep.

I label each jar, leave them in the garden for a few hours and then place them in a dark cabinet. I check them daily: roll them in my palms. Every few days I blend them ever so slightly to deepen the infusion.

Some oils turn deep green, some amber. Every batch is a little different, because nature never repeats herself — and I don’t ask her to.

This is slow beauty. 

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✧ Step 4: We Blend with Purpose

After infusion, we strain the herbs with a fine unbleached filter and blend the oil with essential oils selected for both their energetic qualities and skin benefits.

Each blend is created to evoke a feeling — rooted, uplifted, grounded, softened.

We don’t follow fragrance trends. We follow energy.

Some of our signature blends:

• ʻIliahi (Hawaiian Sandalwood) – grounding, centering, earthy
• Rose – heart-opening, nurturing, timeless
• Vanilla - sweet, uplifting, joyous

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✧ Storytime: Blending Scents Like Seasons

I always blend alone.

Before I begin, I leave my ego behind by becoming very present. I feel my breath, my body & frequency. It’s quiet work — sensory and slow. I open each essential oil and take it in deeply. Not just “what does this smell like,” but “how does this make me feel?”

ʻIliahi brings me back to center.
Rose softens my edges.
Vetiver reminds me I’m held.
Jasmine is sensual and enlivening 

I don’t rush this part. I blend in waves, drop by drop, until the scent makes me close my eyes and smile. That’s how I know it’s ready.

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✧ Step 5: We Bottle in Small Batches

Each bottle is poured by hand in UV-protective glass, labeled in our shop, and infused with a final moment of stillness.

This is more than packaging — it’s presence.
We believe how something is made matters as much as what’s in it.

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✧ Storytime: The Final Pour

The final step always feels like ceremony.

The room is quiet. The oils are strained, warmed just enough to flow. I pour them into their violet glass bottles by hand, one by one. Each one catches the light.

Before I cap each bottle, I pause.

A breath. A prayer. A whisper of intention —
May this oil bring you back to yourself.
May it remind you of the land.
May it help you see your own beauty clearly.

That part never gets old.

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✧ Why It Matters

You deserve to know what touches your skin.
You deserve to feel connected — to the land, to the plants, to your own reflection.

When you choose an ʻOhi ʻOhi face oil, you’re not just buying skincare.
You’re choosing:
• Local over imported
• Whole over processed
• Rhythm over rush
• Beauty as belonging, not fixing

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✧ The Soul of the Oil

People often ask me: How long does it take to make a bottle?

The honest answer?
It takes weeks. Sometimes months. But really, it takes a lifetime.

Because these oils are more than a product.
They’re the result of living this way — in rhythm with the land, in relationship with the plants, in reverence for the body.

That’s the soul of the oil.

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✨ Want to Try the Ritual?

We recommend starting with our Laʻau oil — a seasonally shifting infusion based on what’s flourishing now.

👉🏽 Shop Face Oils Now →
📖 Read “What is Ethnobotanical Skincare?” →