Dr. Hauschka

Written by: Ellen R. Delisio

Dr.Hauschka Skin Care, Inc. is located in Hatfield, Massachusetts, but its roots remain in Germany where the company was founded.

WALA-Heilmittel, a holistic pharmaceutical company in Southern Germany, makes Dr. Hauschka skin care products, from biodynamically grown or wild-harvested plants. WALA-Heilmittel follows a philosophy developed by Dr. Rudolf Steiner in the early 1900s called anthroposophy, which according to information from Dr. Hauschka, ascribes to a spiritual view of humanity and its relationship to the universe.

Biodynamic farming ties plant growth in with the ecosystem and universe rhythms, and stresses the importance of all the participants in the farming process-people, animals and plants -- working together. Planting time for many of the seeds is based on stellar indicators, and plant locations are carefully determined. No chemicals or mechanized tools are used in the care of the gardens. Efforts are made to keep the soil nutrient-rich and the gardens healthy and self-sustaining

More than 150 types of plants and herbs are grown in the WALA-Heilmittel gardens. Most of the plants for Dr. Hauschka products are grown in Germany, but there are some farms in Turkey and other countries as well.

Plants are hand-harvested at dawn, to ensure all of their nutrients are captured. They undergo a rhythmic processing that even considers the attitudes and thoughts of the workers in the processing. No chemicals are used to treat or preserve the plant materials.

WALA-Heilmittel now manufactures more than 100 skin care products, as well as more than 4,000 natural healing compounds.

The inspiration and foundation of the company goes back to the 1920s, when Dr. Rudolf Hauschka developed a way to create preservative- and alcohol-free herbal medicines. The first WALA-Heilmittel lab was established in the 1940s, and in the next decade, Dr. Hauschka began collaborating with a cosmetologist, Elizabeth Sigmund. She talked with Dr. Hauschka about combining WALA-Heilmittel extracts with organic cosmetics she developed. After two years of research and development, the Dr. Hauschka Skin Care line is introduced in 1967.

Sigmund also pioneered and refined the lymph stimulation method that is part of a Dr. Hauschka skin care treatment.

Now products are sold in stores and salons all over the world, as well as via the Internet.