POTENT HERBAL OILS
“Holy smokes, with the investment into the beautiful potent herbal oils class my oil has now increased in medicinal value tenfold. I’m actually blown away.”
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Gain the skills to make powerful healing, hand-crafted medicinal herbal oils and salves at home.
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Get inspired to learn a life skill and take your place in an ancestral practice that belongs to our collective human lineage.
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Embody a practice of intimacy with the natural world that is accessible, sustainable and empowering.
What you put on your skin matters
Whether it’s topical first aid, healing bites, burns, easing aches and pains, or general skincare, what you apply to and absorb through your largest organ impacts your health.
Our world is loud with the chaos of synthetic beauty trends, cosmetic intervention, hidden toxins, mystery ingredients lists and misleading marketing.
Making your own herbal oils as the basis for your home first aid, remedy and skin care toolkit can remove the guesswork about what you’re absorbing through your skin.
This can provide a great source of comfort, peace of mind as well as empowerment.
Whether you are a complete novice, near the beginning of your herbal journey, or are already making herbal infused oils, this workshop can help you create herbal infused oils and salves of exceptional potency, shelf-stability and utility.
What’s a herbal extracted oil?
A herbal extracted oil uses the medicinal properties within whole-plants for healing to and through the skin.
This is not the same thing as essential oils. Essential oils require expensive distilling equipment and large amounts of raw plant material to separate out the volatile oil compounds of plants.
Whole-plant oils utilise sustainable practices using everyday kitchen tools to maximise the extraction of medicinal properties contained within herbs. These oils can be used as is and/or transformed into salves and balms for:
First aid and healing for burns, cuts, wounds, bites, breaks, sprains and bruises
General skin care and targeted skin care and healing such as acne, scars, eczema and cold sores
Sore muscles, joints and nerve pain
Hair and scalp oiling
Massage, self-massage, foot oiling and Abhyanga
Ear infections
Nasal oiling and sinus tapping
Circulation and cycle support
Insect repellent
Immune support (the skin is an immunological organ!)
Breast care and connection
Nervous system care, tension headaches and relaxation
Oil bath / foot bath
Lip balm
Moving the lymph/ detoxifying
Oil pulling
Ritual and ceremony
Compress
What you’ll learn
I’m going to teach you the principles and techniques to make high quality herbal oils using simple kitchen equipment. In this workshop we will cover:
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Dry herb extraction in the folk method, rehydration method, and blender method.
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How to choose and source the correct carrier oil and plant material for the desired outcome.
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Turning your herbal oil into a salve.
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Methods for improving shelf-stability. No more mouldy surprises, rancidity or degrading potency!
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Techniques on how to use your herbal oils to support overall health and vitality.
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How to apply the workshop principles to extracting resins such as pine pitch, frankincense, cottonwood and myrrh.
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How to utilise what you already have so that you can start NOW.
What’s included
The Potent Herbal Oils Workshop
2 hour workshop covering the dry herb folk, rehydration and blender methods of extraction; how to apply the principles of these methods to resins; plus transforming herbal oils into a salve. Live workshop replay is immediately available on purchase.
Guides and Resources
Downloadable guides, charts and cheat sheets covering everything from the step-by-step process’, carrier oil and herb sourcing and selection, salve consistency metrics, application and formula suggestions, and more.
Easeful desktop and mobile access - no need to keep track of emails and attachments. Video replay and written materials will be available in your portal to access any time that suits you. Go at your own pace!
Follow-up Support
A couple of weeks following the live workshop (1st October) when you’ve had time to get your feet wet (or oily), I’ll be contacting all students to collect any questions and issues that have come up as you test out your new skills. I’ll respond to the entire cohort so we can all learn from the collective experience. For anyone who purchases this offering after these dates, you will also have access to the information arising out of this process in the course portal .
Bonus Workshops!
I want to inspire you to use your herbal oils beyond first aid and injury as a powerful and proactive health and self care tool. You will have access to two separate workshops facilitated by:
Ayurvedic practitioner Carmela King who will introduce us to Ayurvedic massage (Abhyanga) and Womb Hara self-massage; and
Jemma Balczun who will guide us through techniques for detoxifying and radiance boosting rituals at home, such as how to open up lymphatic pathways and increase circulation so your skin cells can take up fresh nutrients and oxygen.
Why join Potent Herbal Oils?
You’ve made herbal oils before and:
have low confidence because of a bad experience with your oil getting mouldy, smelling strange, or something just seems not quite right.
your herbal oils lack depth of colour/potency.
you want to broaden your knowledge to take your herbal oil practice to the next level.
You want to stop spending money on expensive, gimmicky or harmful skincare and skin/hair remedy products.
You’re trying to reduce your toxic load, suffer with sensitive skin, asthma, or endocrine disruption (all commonly aggravated by common skincare products).
You’re motivated to take the care of yourself and family into your own hands in a way the honours and respects nature and her powerful gifts.
You’re overwhelmed with choice and craving clarity around where to start.
You want to learn from someone who has made all the mistakes already!
You crave more than just an information dump - you want to be inspired into ACTION and actually get started.
You want to get the fundamentals right before investing in more expensive oils and formulations.
You want to reclaim this powerful home herbal practice and embody the wisdom of our human ancestry.
✺ FAQ’s ✺
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No. This is a life skill that can benefit you and your family in a very practical way. Be warned though - learning the practice of herbal oil extraction is often a gateway into herbalism (it was for me!)
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Yes! While I'm focusing on this being accessible to anyone, and therefore basing it out of my kitchen using basic kitchen tools, the principles and techniques can be utilised and scaled for the most potent and shelf stable oils and salves.
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The dry plant and rehydration methods are perfect for nailing down the fundamentals. It's "easier" to break down the cell walls of dry plant material to extract its medicinal properties. Also, using dry plant material can help you to promote shelf-stability and avoid rancidity and mould in your final product. We will cover all these aspects and more in the workshop.
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Yes. Carrier oil selection and sourcing will be covered in the workshop itself as well as covered in a printable reference guide.
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No. To keep this workshop accessible and to allow us to hone in on the core tenants of this powerful extraction method, I'm focusing on infusing dry plant material into "fixed" carrier oils that remain liquid at both cold and warm temperatures.
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Yes. Sourcing and herb selection will be addressed in the workshop and in your printed resources.
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There are both live and pre-prepared elements to this offering. You will be notified in advance of all elements of this offering becoming available.
The Potent Herbal Oils Workshop replay is available on purchase.
The two bonus practitioner facilitated workshops will occur in late October and early November. They will be uploaded as live replays thereafter.
Why learn from me?
Hi, I’m Lou - a folk herbalist living on the mid-north coast of Australia on with my young daughter. I believe in the transformative power of whole-plant medicine in the hands of the community. It's my mission to return herbalism to its birthplace - the home. There was a time when home and community herbalism was the norm. I want to be part of a cultural change to make that so again.
Folk herbalism is a living art that can be learnt by anyone. It doesn’t have to be daunting or overly serious. In fact, I think a key element in what can catalyse our culture towards home remedy making is the fun and playful elements where curiosity and discovery takes place. That’s what I want to create for you.
I’ve been selling my herbal oils and salves long enough to prove to my community that once you experience the healing powers of a potent, whole-plant extracted oil, there really is no comparison.
There are plenty of places to get an information dump about all aspects of herbalism and herbal oil crafting. I aim to deliver the information I believe is most useful in a way where you feel supported and inspired to begin or elevate your practice at home now.
This is a life skill that can serve you, your family and your community. It's as empowering as it is practical and economical. There is such freedom and comfort in knowing how to mend and tend our bodies through this craft.
I know for a fact you can learn how to make amazing herbal oils, because I did. I started with zero base knowledge. I was a complete beginner. And now making herbal oils and salves is as normal in my home as doing the laundry. It’s a skill and a practice that will serve me the rest of my life.
Potent Herbal Oils Workshop Testimonials
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I learned SO MUCH today. WHAT A WORKSHOP! It was so valuable. I'm a total beginner and I feel so ready to get my hands dirty, so excited.
Lizzie
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Thank you so much for the class ... you were so incredible!!! About 10 mins in my thought was "she should have charged so much more for this". The way you explained everything was perfect and made so much sense even to a postpartum brain!
Caitlin
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The workshop was really so great. Exactly what I needed. Answered a lot of questions I've had for a while now. So darn keen to get started.
Danielle
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Such a valuabke workshop like holy shit I learnt heaps! ... I can't wait to try it all.
Toyah
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I got so much out of Lou Hardwick's Potent Herbal Oils workshop. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience so generously. So inspired!
Carla
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Absolutely jammed packed with value. You can really feel the passion and embodied knowledge from Lou ... I'm so grateful for the wisdom and inspiration I've received. So excited to absolutely up-level my creations.
Adri
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I am 40 mins into the workshop and I have to say I am so stoked with my investment! I love your philosophy when it comes to working with herbs, it's easy to listen to and is in depth! Appreciate you sharing this knowledge with us.
Alexa
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I looooooved it so much! I think (it) will be a game changer. So THANK YOU! I thoroughly enjoyed it and was absorbing every minute of it.
Emma
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Feeling so ignited. I invested in an oil workshop with queen @lou_hardwick_ to deepen my knowledge and enhance my craft. It's been two years of creating, refining and offering my oils, salves and other remedies. But gaining more wisdom from the wise ones is always an amazing experience. There is so much to learn and so for to grow ... Feeling so inspired and charged. I think it's going to be a beautiful offering and addition to my own work in the postpartum space.
Mahalia
POTENT HERBAL OILS:
2 hour herbal infused oils workshop + supporting PDF guides and resources
Follow-up troubleshooting feedback (time sensitive in relation to live workshop, however resulting feedback available to all, regardless of date of purchase).
Bonus Ayurvedic and Facial Massage practitioner workshops.
$149 AUD
(Split payment option available at checkout)