THE FOUNDER

Hi, I'm Shay

What is Salt Habit, you ask? It's my is my pun for getting hooked on sailing.

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

THEN: We (me & my husband, Hawkeye) started with a backyard garden in Western Massachusetts, which we expanded into a small farm.

I was studying Traditional Western Herbalism while learning to grow herbs, and got really interested in using herbs topically.

Body oils, salves, face creams, scrubs and masks, toners, tub teas, even soaps and perfumes. I put herbs in everything and was fortunate to be able to share my concoctions at a farmer's market, our local food co-op, and a Whole Foods Market.

We loved farming but we were getting older and it was wearing us out. In 2020, after several years dreaming of running away to the water, we were finally able to take one of our favorite YouTube sailors, Yosh's (Sailing Nandji), advice. We moved 700 miles south to the inner banks of North Carolina and bought our sailboat, a sweet Bayfield 32C.

NOW: Sailing inspired me to explore using vitamin and mineral-rich seaweed in my skincare, and though I'm still learning to enjoy eating it, I love what is does for skin.

I leaned into improving my technical skills too, studying organic skincare formulation for 2 years at Formula Botanica, the award-winning online cosmetic formulation teaching institution. Concentrating on anhydrous products and anti-aging ingredients during my courses, this made Salt Habit Skincare what it is today.