Hi! I'm Shay, the founder.

Herbalist, skincare maker, and former micro-farmer, I took a YouTube sailor's advice to get off the farm and go sailing (true story), but you'll never find me away from the herbs for long. Plants are my North Star.

 

I believe the best care for skin is simple: Not too many products, not too many ingredients in each product. This can actually overwhelm and irritate sensitive skin.

I design our skincare with minimal, natural ingredients so it's as gentle as it is effective. Concentrated, anhydrous, multi-functional seaweed + herb recipes moisturize and protect with no worries about what you’re absorbing or what’s running down the drain.

A little background

Salt Habit Skincare is the new incarnation of work that began in 2007.

We (me & my husband, Hawkeye) started with a backyard vegetable and herb garden in Western Massachusetts.

While studying Traditional Western Herbalism, I worked with the herbs I was growing to make vegan salves, face creams, and soaps which we sold at a farmer's market, our local food co-op, and a Whole Foods Market.

We're both hooked on gardening, and the garden soon expanded to 'micro-farming' a quarter acre on a rented field, supplying specialty vegetables and culinary herbs to our food co-op with our skincare.

We loved farming! Despite its challenges, living so intimately with the plants, the animals, and the weather became all we really wanted to do... And it was all we did because we didn't have time for anything else.

 

We changed, but stayed the same

Hawkeye and I made the decision to pursue our dream of living close to the water. We closed the farm, sold the house, packed up the cats, and moved 700 miles south to the inner banks of North Carolina.

We're still gardening but are able to carve out time to enjoy our sailboat, a sweet Bayfield 32C.

My skincare has changed too. With water becoming part of my life, seaweed found its way into my blends. It dances so beautifully with the herbs, making Salt Habit Skincare the best I've ever made.