New! Rose City Lip Balm

Rose City Lip Balm is our love letter to our home city of Portland, Oregon.

Highlighting local ingredients from our corner of the woods, Rose City Lip Balm is made with a slow infusion of dried PNW rose petals in 100% single-source extra virgin California olive oil. Using this slow infusion process helps maximize the rejuvenating properties of rose, while maintaining the integrity of the olive oil. We then combine the rose oil with our original infused EVOO herbal blend of: chamomile, calendula, and yarrow. Local PNW beeswax, and fair-trade shea butter round out this luscious artisanal small-batch lip balm.

Roses, while non-native to the area, love the Pacific Northwest just as much as we do! Because roses thrive here, European hybridists sent their roses to Portland, Oregon during the WWI bombings to save them from destruction. The European Hybrids found their home in our International Rose Test Garden. This helped Portland earn its moniker as: The City of Roses.

One of my favorite places in the city, The International Rose Test Garden is located in Washington Park and open to the public. With improved walking paths for accessibility, the garden offers a sweet-smelling refuge for everyone who lives in, and visits our fair city.

Buy our very own Rose City Lip Balm Here.

Winter Lip Balm 2022

Limited Gift Release for select friends and family.

If you’re reading this journal, you’ve likely received a holiday gift from us: Our first annual Yarroworks Limited Gift Release.

Thank you for being you!

We wish you the happiest holiday season, and a wonderful new year.

This lip balm is specially formulated to go on smooth during these colder winter months due to its lighter formula. Highlighting local ingredients from our corner of the woods, our winter lip balm is made with a slow infusion of dried rose petals in 100% single-source California olive oil. Using this slow infusion process maximizes the rejuvenating properties of rose, while maintaining the integrity of the olive oil. We then combine the rose oil with our original herbal blend of: chamomile, calendula, and yarrow. Local PNW beeswax, and fair-trade shea butter round out this luscious lip balm.

Happy Holidays from our home to yours,

<3 Nitya and Andy at Yarroworks

Our Infusion Process

Herbal infusions are the backbone of Yarroworks salve.

Here at Yarroworks we use olive oil as the base for our herbal infusion because it is an excellent carrier oil that is rich in vitamin E and anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants can help prevent the creation of cancer-causing cells, and may help prevent premature aging.

When an herb is infused into oil, the active properties of that herb get transferred to the oil. At Yarroworks, we use a warm slow-infusion process to maximize the healing benefits of our herbs. Infused oils have been used in medicines and skin applications for centuries. This slow-infusion process takes a lot of time and vigilance to get a perfect blend. Given this, some may wonder why we don’t just use essential oils, instead. As popular as essential oils are, their efficacy has been hotly debated for decades.

Infused oils don’t smell as strongly as their essential counterparts. Since our salve is made for sensitive skin and sensitive noses, we only use active ingredients with no additional fragrances. What you smell when you open a tin of Yarroworks Original Salve, is nothing but the infused goodness of chamomile, calendula, and yarrow. It’s the smell that works.

New! Menthol Salve

Our luscious base recipe, plus menthol oil to help target sore muscles and joint pain.

While I’ve been making my base recipe for years to give away to friends and family, and for my own personal use, I hadn’t yet shared my secret for those really bad joint pain days… menthol oil. When I first tried this I would warm some salve in the palm of my hand, and then add a couple drops of menthol oil to my palm and mix it in with my finger. This was an effective, yet messy process. It helped my joints feel better, but it also got all over the place… and the smell of menthol oil sticks.

The next thing I tried was taking an individual tin of my original salve, putting it in a double-boiler to liquefy before adding menthol oil, and then stirring it profusely with a skewer. This was not efficient. It took too long, the results were uneven, and I risked getting water in the batch. Getting water in melted salve is dangerous because it could create a breeding ground for bacteria. This is why when I decided to make salve to sell, I opted for a slow infusion process in a cooking pot over many hours. No water needed!

Finally, you have the benefit of my years of trial and error: a smooth menthol salve with just enough oomph! to ease sore muscles, but not enough to sting… unless you are using it in very sensitive areas. Don’t do that.

Presenting: Yarroworks Menthol Salve for sore muscles and joint pain. I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me over the years. Enjoy!

Welcome to Yarroworks!

Our Premier Batch of Salve

From Our Home to Yours

Yarroworks’ premier batch of salve is made with local Pacific Northwest beeswax, pure unrefined fair trade shea butter, organic jojoba oil, and 100% certified California olive oil infused with organic yarrow, organic calendula, and organic chamomile. We make our oil in-house using a slow infusion process to maximize the healing benefits of these herbs.

Our recipe has been specially formulated for sensitive skin. Both chamomile and calendula are well known for their soothing anti-inflammatory properties. Yarrow has been used for centuries to treat cuts, scrapes, and abrasions.

Yarroworks salve is especially beneficial for smoothing out rough skin, calluses, and dry patches. When applied over slightly damp skin, the beeswax helps seal in the water, locking in moisture for smooth skin all day long.