FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
SHIPPING & ORDERING
Most orders ship within 1–3 business days. Because everything we make is handcrafted, occasional delays can happen, especially during new launches or the busy holiday months of November and December. If you need your order by a specific date, feel free to call us at 415.717.1689 or email customercare@laurelskin.com, and we’ll do our best to help. You’ll receive a shipping confirmation with tracking details as soon as your order is on its way.
For domestic orders, we ship via USPS Ground Advantage, which typically takes 2–5 days in transit. Orders to U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands, also ship via USPS Ground Advantage. International orders are shipped using USPS Priority Mail International. If you have a specific shipping request, feel free to call us at 415.717.1689 or email customercare@laurelskin.com. We’re often able to accommodate alternative carriers, such as UPS or DHL, when needed.
Shipping costs do not include any duties or customs fees. Any additional charges are the responsibility of the recipient.
Free shipping is automatically applied at checkout on domestic orders over $100 and international orders over $300.
Because our products are handcrafted and made in small batches, we’re unable to accept returns. If you’re unsure about a product, we’re always happy to help you choose the right product for your skin before you order. If you experience a reaction, please reach out to us so that we can help.
We do not sell individual samples, but we do include one or more complimentary samples with every online order. If there’s something you’re curious to try, feel free to leave a note at checkout, and we’ll do our best to include it, depending on availability. If you are new to Laurel Skin, we highly recommend our Travel Sets, which allow you to immerse yourself in the line for a month or longer. That will best showcase what the products are capable of doing for your skin.
Affirm is only available to customers with U.S.-based billing information. As a U.S.-based company, we’re currently unable to accept Affirm payments from outside the United States. Click here for Affirm’s full payment details.
Product usage
The plants we work with are rich in colorful plant pigments, which are various types of antioxidants. We use green leaves, red and blue berries, orange petals, purple flowers, and more. Our final formulas take on the natural hues of the fresh plants within them. A better question might be why some “plant-based” products are white or clear. Natural color is simply what happens when whole plants are left intact.
Nope! The natural color of our products reflects their antioxidant content. Just as the most antioxidant-rich foods are never white, the same is true for skincare. Any hint of color you notice after application will absorb into the skin and be put to good use. That said, our products can stain linens. If you notice staining, it’s usually a sign that too much product was applied right before bedtime. Less is more when it comes to our Balms, specifically.
No. In fact, it’s often the opposite. Healthy skin needs an intact lipid barrier to stay clear and balanced. Our natural barrier lipids are anti-inflammatory, balancing to our microbiome, and protect us from our environment. When the skin’s natural oils are repeatedly stripped away with harsh cleansers or isolated acids, the skin can become stressed, leading to inflammation and an imbalanced microbiome, exacerbating breakouts and acne. Using our fresh plant oils to support a healthy lipid layer helps maintain clear, resilient skin.
Because we work with whole plants sourced from different farms, no two harvests are exactly the same. Seasonal shifts, soil conditions, and climate all influence the plants, which means the color and aroma of a product may naturally vary from batch to batch. This variation is a sign of freshness and integrity, not inconsistency.
No. Our reported reaction rate is less than 0.05%. If you experience a reaction, please email us at customercare@laurelskin.com or call us right away so we can support you. We’re often able to help determine why a reaction occurred and guide you toward an approach that better supports your skin moving forward.
When reactions do occur, they are most often related to improper usage, a transition from products that function very differently from ours (such as foaming cleansers, creams, or heavily processed formulas), or temporary withdrawal-like symptoms when moving away from lab-made isolates like hyaluronic acid or retinoids.
Yes. Whole plants work to support the skin health of everyone and do not differentiate by skin color or melanin levels.
Yes. Plants are for everyone. While clever marketing often tries to segment skincare by gender or age, whole plants work with the skin’s innate intelligence to support balance and resilience no matter your age or gender.
products
Sourcing
Our sourcing is intentionally regional, artisan, and 100% organic. Working closely with small farms allows us to minimize our environmental footprint, maintain strict quality control, and use fresher plant material with a richer antioxidant profile.
Herbalist Skincare
Our products are formulated and made by herbalists. This is true plant medicine for the skin, not skincare where botanicals are added as an afterthought. We work with plants in ways that allow their medicinal qualities to fully express themselves
Whole Plants
We use only whole, organic plants in our formulas. We do not rely on bio-identical, biotech, or lab-derived ingredients like hyaluronic acid or isolated vitamin C. When used with care and integrity, whole plants offer a more complete and intelligent form of support for the skin.
Yes. It’s important to note that we don’t approach skin through an “anti-aging” lens or aim to “fix” isolated symptoms. We don’t want to add to the beauty industry’s messaging that aging is a “problem to fix”. Our intention is to restore your skin to optimal health no matter what age you are. When the skin is well-nourished, resilient, and functioning as it should, many of the visible signs and symptoms that people associate with aging will soften and become less noticeable.
Laurel Skin uses the whole plant, as opposed to isolated chemical compounds. Whether or not those isolated chemical compounds can be found in Nature, they are never found in Nature in their isolated form. Thus, in our eyes, those singular chemical compounds are not Natural. They are synthesized, lab-made with a multitude of chemical solvents and processes, with the end result bearing no resemblance to a plant. Whole plants contain hundreds of chemical compounds – antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes working in harmony together, bringing the energy of life to a formula.
Yes. We simply take a different approach. Our formulas contain no foaming agents, alcohols, or isolated acids. While these are commonly used to treat acne and excess oil, they often strip the skin of its protective lipids and beneficial flora, creating more irritation over time. Instead, we focus on calming inflammation, restoring a healthy lipid barrier, and supporting a diverse, balanced microbiome through whole plants and unrefined oils.
None of our products contain FDA approved sunscreen drugs, like Zinc Oxide, for example. However, all of our products contain an abundance of antioxidant-rich plants that have varying degrees of support against UVA, UVB, and sun-induced oxidative damage.
Many conventional sunscreen ingredients have been linked to endocrine disruption, cancer risk, and environmental harm, particularly to ocean ecosystems. When a more traditional sunscreen is needed, we recommend choosing one that uses Non-Nano Zinc as its only active drug, with only whole organic plants making up the rest of the formula. If you are relying on our antioxidant-rich oils to assist with UV damage prevention, start slowly, stay aware, and listen to the limits of your body and skin.
For a deeper exploration, we recommend our blog post: “Are Plants Sunscreen? The Truth Is Complicated.”
While we know it can be frustrating not to receive a simple yes-or-no answer, pregnancy is a time to listen closely to your body. We believe that time-honored plant medicine is more supportive and compatible with the body than modern cosmetic chemicals or pharmaceuticals. That said, every pregnancy and every body is different.
Your own senses and intuition are your best guides. The Blemish Treatment, Anointing Oil, California Body Oil, and Sun Body Oil are the only Laurel Skin products that contain essential oils above 1%, and these are the formulas to use with more caution or consider avoiding if you are particularly sensitive. We trust your intuition to lead you well.
No. Never.
Most of our products are vegan. A small number contain honey or beeswax, which we source from organic California farms committed to caring for and restoring healthy bee populations. If you wish to avoid bee-related products, then those are: Honey Berry Mask, Cornflower Mask, Effortless Cleanser, Support Cleanser, Eye Balm, Day Balm, Night Balm, Lavender Lip Treatment, and Citrus Spice Lip Treatment. Any other products in the Laurel Skin line outside of the list above are vegan.
Yes. All Laurel Skin products are gluten-free. Even our oats are processed in a wheat-free facility.
Most Laurel Skin products are anhydrous (waterless) and do not require preservatives. Our Cleansers and Elixirs are the exception, as water-based formulas need preservation for stability and safety. For those products, we use the least disruptive options available and in the smallest amounts possible. We rely on Radish Root Ferment and Potassium Sorbate, supported by whole plants, to protect product integrity while respecting the skin’s microbiome.
We believe all cosmetic preservatives are harmful to our beneficial skin flora to varying degrees. This includes common ‘natural’ or ‘plant-based’ preservatives, which many companies rely on to market their products as preservative-free, which is false and misleading. It took us years of research and independent microbial testing to feel confident that our chosen preservatives are truly the best options when it comes to minimal disruption of microbiome and barrier health. We encourage preservative-free anhydrous products, especially for leave-on moisturizers, as much as possible.
organics
There are several certification systems that label skincare as “natural” or “organic.” Most of these certifications allow products to qualify with surprisingly low percentages of organic ingredients. Some widely recognized standards, including ECOCERT, Soil Association, COSMOS, and NATRUE, require as little as 10–20% organic plant content for certification. So the question remains, what does Organic even mean in the industry?
For us, organic is non-negotiable. It’s not a marketing claim, it’s our baseline. We use only whole, organically grown plants, and we do not process them in ways that would make them non-compliant with USDA organic food standards. Every plant in the Laurel Skin line is grown using organic, biodynamic, or regenerative practices, without pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic chemical fertilizers. The majority of Laurel Skin formulas are 100% organic, as opposed to the third certification systems mentioned in the question above that pass with 10-20% organic plant material.
Our own standards are above and beyond any cosmetic certification that we’ve come across. We have not found a certifying body whose standards fully align with ours—one that upholds ethical organic, biodynamic, and regenerative farming while also supporting a finished cosmetic formula made entirely from whole organic plants.
For your skin, organically grown plants have been shown to contain, on average, up to 40% more antioxidants than conventionally grown plants. When farming is regenerative, soil health improves, biodiversity increases, and plants develop a broader and more complex range of beneficial compounds. In addition, when an ingredient on a cosmetic label is not listed as organic, this can also be because of the hidden chemical solvents a plant extract contains, which can be harsh on the skin.
As a company committed to sustainability, we have a responsibility to never compromise on the use of organic versus conventional ingredients. We choose to work exclusively with organically grown ingredients because of the impact farming has on the health of our planet.
Wildcrafting and wild-harvesting are terms that have become romanticized, but at a commercial scale, they can place real strain on ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and Indigenous lands. For that reason, we choose regenerative farming instead. Regenerative agriculture restores soil health and biodiversity rather than depleting natural systems.
Laurel Skin does not condone any scale of wildcrafting that may bring harm to the ecosystems (large or small) of a particular area. Laurel Skin does not condone wildcrafting plants on Indigenous lands unless it only and directly financially supports the Indigenous folks doing the harvesting.
The only exceptions you may see in our formulas are materials like clay, salt, and seaweed, which are sourced from ocean environments where cultivation is not possible and are harvested with care.
This approach allows us to honor the land, protect fragile ecosystems, and work in a way that supports long-term ecological health rather than short-term extraction.
In skincare, the word organic is often used loosely. Whole Plant Organic is a term trademarked by Laurel Skin, and to us, it represents a very specific standard, not a marketing shortcut.
If a Laurel Skin product is labeled 100% whole plant organic, it means exactly that: the formula contains only whole organic plants, and nothing else.
No undisclosed chemical solvents, no derived from ingredients, no bio-identical lab-made ingredients, no biotech ingredients.
Working exclusively with whole plants is an herbalist practice that predates modern cosmetic chemistry. It requires deep knowledge of phytonutrients as an herbalist-formulated and herbalist-made brand, which is not common. This approach is costly, slow, labor-intensive, and impossible to scale, which makes it impractical for more commercial brands. For us, it’s foundational to how we formulate and inseparable from our commitment to true plant medicine.