Witch Hazel for Skin: Soothing Secrets from the Old Days

43| Witch Hazel for Skin: Soothing Secrets from the Old Days

Hello BN friends. Welcome to the podcast! I am Penny, your host and I am so sorry for my absence. As a podcaster still in my first year, I am understanding why so many of my favorite podcasters take a summer break. Our schedules are off if we have kids at home. We are vacationing and I am currently in the craziness of moving not one but 2 boys to college and one starting his Freshman year. It’s tough. But gratefully, I consider myself very lucky that they are both going to the same school. Same fraternity. So one calendar to manage. And I am excited for them both. On top of that, I am also finishing up a long and delayed renovation of my home. So if you are living in utter chaos, you are not alone. ALSO, without going thru ALL of the boring details for you, but so exciting for me, I am in the process of transferring podcast hosts. It has been a case of “give a mouse a cookie”…remember that book? I lost my podcast section of my website, so I was going to repost them all. Then I discovered as I was embedding the podcast links that with the growth BN has already had, there was a better platform that could grow with me. So instead of redoing the website twice, I have gone down a very long rabbit hole that required my moving every audio, every summary, all the things over to the new platform that I have yet to turn on because I haven’t had a moment to test it to make sure everything is in order. Pha-ew. But it is all very exciting and when I get my 2 toots moved in to school and stop crying, I will soon be moving into my newly renovated office at home and I am so excited to get to work on all the fun stuff. I don’t even know if I have shared that I have officially passed the first level of my certification as an Integrative Health Practitioner, IHP for short. So thats something big in the hopper as well. So much! And I would be remiss to mention that here I sit in a hotel room in my boys’ college town trying to get one podcast recorded. The same hotel where I recorded my Intro to this podcast and it literally took all night. I pulled an all nighter doing it because I had no idea what I was doing. And after I loaded it, it sat there for months before I pulled it all together. My how far I have come!

OK! I am thrilled to be getting somewhat back in my groove and today we are going to chat about Witch Hazel. Witch Hazel! Did you know it was from a plant? I am not sure where I thought it came from. But we are about to find out.

43| Witch Hazel for Skin: Soothing Secrets from the Old Days

You know those little brown bottles that lived in your Grandmother’s bathroom cabinet? The ones that smelled kind of sharp, almost medicinal, and somehow got pulled out whether you had a sunburn, a bug bite, or razor burn? It was always right next to my Granny’s Sea Breeze. Too funny. But that little brown bottle….That, my friend, was witch hazel.

And while it sounds a little like magic—: the “witch” name doesn’t mean what you think—witch hazel has been quietly healing, soothing, and surviving in our medicine cabinets for centuries like many of the products we have investigated.

Today, we’re digging into this somewhat unknown plant: where it came from, what science actually says about it, the everyday problems it helps with, some DIY recipes you can make at home, and the important warnings you should know.

So let’s get into it.

Welcome back to Becoming Natural. I’m Penny—occupational therapist, integrative health practitioner (officially), Crohn’s warrior, mom of three boys, and yes, someone who has witch hazel bottles tucked in more than one room of the house.

ften found in creation. Psalm: 104:14

Before we get into the “how to use it,” let’s go back a few hundred years to where it came from.

Witch hazel, or Hamamelis virginiana (Ham-uh-MEE-lis ver-jin-ee-AY-nuh), is native to North America, actually. That’s the fancy Latin name—we’ll just call it witch hazel from here on out. It is a deciduous shrub or small tree native to North America 🍂It blooms with bright yellow, stringy flowers in the fall and has been used for centuries by Native American tribes for its healing bark and leaves.

Native American tribes like the Osage and the Iroquois used it for swelling, bruises, colds, and sore muscles. As I am sure I have mentioned before, probably my first fascination with plants and their healing properties came from living half of my childhood in Oklahoma in Osage Nation. I have always been fascinated by the Indian culture and especially their use of plants as remedies. They brewed teas from the bark of this shrub or mashed the leaves into poultices. Poultices are a moist mixture (like mashed-up herbs or soaked cloth) that you place directly on the skin to soothe soreness, reduce swelling, or draw out infection. It’s often wrapped in a cloth and left on for a while. Isn’t it fascinating how God often reveals healing through the land to those who live closest to it?

And here’s something I love: the Osage Nation, who are heavily rooted in Oklahoma, were right in the middle of where this plant naturally grows. Witch hazel thrives in the eastern U.S., stretching down into Texas and across eastern Oklahoma. There’s even a variety called Ozark witch hazel, found in the Ozark Plateau of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. So it’s not just folklore—it’s literally part of the landscape and story of my hometown region. We lived near the foothills of the Ozarks.

d it. Fast forward to the mid-: 1800

And that name: “witch” doesn’t mean witchcraft here. It comes from the Old English word wice, meaning “bendable” or “pliant.” The branches were used as dowsing rods—the ones people claimed could find underground water. That’s where the folklore-y name comes from. A person (called a dowser) would hold the forked witch hazel branch with one end in each hand, palms up, and walk slowly over the land. When they passed over an area with underground water, the idea was that the branch would twitch, dip, or even bend downward, “pointing” to the water below.

Whether that worked or not, I cannot attest to it, but it certainly shows how people trusted the natural world as a guide—and that kind of attentiveness to nature is something we’ve lost in our modern hurry. I love hearing about those methods.

Witch hazel is loaded with tannins, flavonoids, and trace amounts of essential oils.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you might remember when we talked about flavonoids back in my episode on essential oils. Tannins: These are natural compounds that tighten tissues. That’s why witch hazel is called an astringent—because it shrinks and tightens pores, reduces bleeding, and tones skin.

Flavonoids: These are plant-based antioxidants—if you remember my earlier episode on essential oils, you’ll recall we talked about flavonoids as one of the healing gifts tucked inside plants. They fight free radicals, calm inflammation, and support healing.

Together, tannins and flavonoids give witch hazel its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and skin-soothing powers.

From a Pub med article in: 2022

Tannins, on the other hand, are more like nature’s “tighteners.” If you’ve ever had a strong cup of black tea and felt that dry, puckery feeling in your mouth—that’s tannins at work. On your skin, they gently shrink and tone tissue. That’s what makes witch hazel an astringent—it’s simply a substance that tightens skin, reduces oil, and helps soothe irritation.

A: 2014

A Cochrane review showed effectiveness for skin irritation and hemorrhoids.

And a: 2019

That’s not just folklore—it’s science saying, “Yep, this plant really works.”

Now, here’s where it gets interesting: not all witch hazel is the same.

The distilled drugstore kind is the one most of us know. It’s usually about 14% alcohol, which keeps it preserved and shelf-stable for ages. That’s why it’s cheap and easy to find. But that alcohol can also strip moisture and irritate sensitive skin.

Then there are alcohol-free formulas, which swap ethanol for glycerin or other mild preservatives. These are wonderful if you’re making wipes, using it as a daily toner, or applying it to children. Plus, glycerin actually helps the skin hold onto water.

Finally, there’s pure, non-distilled extract. It’s darker, smells more herbal, and contains more tannins because it hasn’t gone through distillation. The trade-off is that it doesn’t keep as long and is harder to find. But from a chemistry perspective, this extract contains the highest concentration of those astringent compounds that reduce swelling and calm irritation (European Medicines Agency).

So which one should you choose? For everyday, gentle use—like wipes or face toner—alcohol-free is your best bet. For acne or aftershave, either can work, though alcohol-free is less drying. And if you really want the strongest punch, the pure extract is your winner, though you’ll likely have to order it online, but it seems we have to do that now for most great items!

e irritation (MDPI Molecules,: 2025

messengers in skin cells (PMC: 118459

For hemorrhoids, witch hazel pads or wipes have been used for decades. They won’t cure the issue, but they help reduce burning, itching, and swelling. That’s why you’ll still find it in over-the-counter wipes and ointments for this purpose. If you’ve given birth, you know these little pads you Tuck right on top of a hemmoroid. It is simply witch hazel. You can make your own and probably for much less.

It’s also been used for general skin irritation—anything from sitting too long, standing too long, or just dealing with everyday puffiness.

And then there’s the little annoyances—bug bites, rashes, or mystery itches. Dab witch hazel on, and you’ll often feel relief quickly. Some of this is due to tannins tightening tissue, and some is due to flavonoids calming the inflammatory response.

Even mouth and gum irritation can benefit from diluted, alcohol-free witch hazel as a rinse. Just swish and spit—never swallow.

One of the easiest ways to use witch hazel is to make your own wipes. All you need is a roll of strong paper towels cut in half, or a stack of cloth wipes in a container. Mix together one and a half cups of distilled water, two tablespoons of alcohol-free witch hazel, a tablespoon of aloe vera gel, and a teaspoon of jojoba or fractionated coconut oil if you want extra moisture. You can add a drop or two of lavender or chamomile essential oil if it’s not for a newborn. Pour the mixture over the wipes and let it soak in. These make wonderful baby wipes, gentle face wipes, or even a quick post-shave refresher.

Another favorite is a gentle face toner that doubles as aftershave or for basic skincare. For him, it’s an aftershave that doesn’t sting. Just mix three ounces of alcohol-free witch hazel with one ounce of aloe vera juice and a teaspoon of glycerin. Store it in a little pump bottle and apply after washing your face or shaving.

If you’ve been out in the sun, you can make a simple after-sun compress by mixing equal parts witch hazel and cooled chamomile tea. Soak a cloth and lay it across the skin for ten minutes.

And for bug bites? You don’t need a recipe. Just dab straight alcohol-free witch hazel on a cotton swab and apply it to the spot. Quick, safe, done.

pset the stomach or liver (PMC: 922008

Just be sure not to put witch hazel near your eyes.

So what’s happening on the science side? Witch hazel shrinks tissue because tannins bind proteins and cause them to contract. It calms inflammation because flavonoids interfere with inflammatory messengers like IL-6, a cytokine. Remember how we talked about inflammation and cytokines in our inflammatory foods episode I think…. Pro-inflammatory powers: It tells your body, “Hey! There’s a problem—send help!” That’s helpful short-term, but when IL-6 sticks around too long, it can stir up chronic inflammation.

🔹 Linked to autoimmune issues

e back after sun exposure (PMC: 118459

It’s not magic—it’s chemistry God built into a shrub. The more we study, the more amazed I am at all the built-in anti-inflammatories in our natural surroundings that we are out of the habit of using. Can you just imagine if we start introducing just one of these amazing plants at a time to our bodies, taking the place of something that is synthetic or inflammatory? Think of all the anti-inflammatory powers we add to our body and inflammatory reactions we prevent?

f my favorite verses. Ezekiel: 47:12

Witch hazel isn’t flashy, or too trendy. But it so easily cares about swollen ankles, about teenagers struggling with acne, about men shaving in the morning before work, and yes—even about those little bug bites that drive us crazy.

Sometimes healing comes in grand miracles. And sometimes it comes in a humble little brown bottle straight from the bark of a tree. I love that picture of how God works. He meets us in the ordinary. Witch Hazel might seem ordinary to the untrained eye. But now we know, its extra ordinary!

Let’s hit a few quick questions that always come up about witch hazel.

Should you go with alcohol-free or regular? It depends on your skin sensitivity. Alcohol-free is the safer choice for most people, especially if you’re using it daily or on delicate skin.

Can witch hazel erase varicose veins? No—it won’t make them disappear, but it can soothe some of the discomfort from standing or swelling.

Is it safe for teens? Yes, it’s great for oily or acne-prone skin, just patch test first.

Can you use it every day? Absolutely—just pay attention to your skin. If you start noticing dryness or tightness, switch to alcohol-free or use it less often.

And what about ingestion? Even though people historically brewed witch hazel teas, today the guidance is clear: keep it external. Too much tannin inside the body can irritate the stomach or liver. I am certainly not an authority on ingesting it or not ingesting it. As for me, I am just as happy using it topically.

So there you have it: witch hazel,—the multitasking plant, completely practical, and still showing up centuries later. I love being able to reduce the products in my bathroom cabinet and learning all the uses for products we sadly lost interest in for a few decades. But I am heartened by the return of “Grandma’s medicine cabinet” and strive to have a fully complete plant-based medicine cabinet of my own. These are gifts to us from the garden, from nature and we should steward these gifts well. But don’t get overwhelmed. One product at a time. Thats how we work. Learn its uses. Put it to use where you will use it when its time to refill the product that might not serve your body as well. Baby steps. And over time, voila! Perfection is not the goal, but simple replacements, one at a time. Before you know it you have taken giant leaps in the right direction. And don’t think you won’t also FEEL better over all because you are no longer contributing to the toxins in your body, even if its simply by switching out one simple product. Amazing!

If today’s episode helped you, would you share it with a friend? Maybe your husband, maybe your Grandma who always knew this bottle mattered, maybe a friend who could use a little natural relief in her daily life. Certainly anyone you know battling autoimmune disease. It is vital the auto immune folks like myself work towards a cleaner lifestyle. You will be so happy you did!