Origins and How It Is Made

Crown Reserve oils are made by infusing whole organic herbs into plant carrier oils for four months at low heat, then straining and bottling them by hand in Randallstown, Maryland. One batch takes about a third of a year from the day the herbs go in to the day a bottle ships.

Our Story explains why this brand exists. This page explains how the product is actually made, because that is the part most brands will not show you.

Why the infusion takes four months

You can make an herbal oil in an afternoon. Heat the oil to 180 degrees, drop the herbs in, hold it there for two hours, strain it, and you have something you can legally call an herb infused oil. Most of what is sold that way is exactly that.

The problem is that heat is a trade. Fast heat pulls color and scent out of an herb quickly, and it damages the more delicate compounds while it is doing it. You get an oil that looks the part and smells strong on day one, and does very little.

We go the other direction. The oils sit between 120 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which is barely warm to the touch, in a double boiler so the heat never touches the oil directly. Then they sit. For four months. The extraction happens because of time instead of temperature.

This is not a clever idea we invented. It is how herbal oils were made everywhere before there was a reason to rush, and it is why traditional Ayurvedic and Chadian preparations were measured in seasons rather than hours.

Where the herbs come from

The herbs are sourced whole and organic, not as pre made extracts or fragrance oils. Whole herb costs more and is more work, because it has to be weighed, infused, and strained rather than poured from a bottle. It is also the only way to know what is actually in the oil.

The blends pull from six traditions, and each herb is used the way that tradition used it:

• Ayurvedic, from India. Bhringraj, brahmi, amla, and fenugreek. These are the backbone of Indian scalp oiling, a practice that is thousands of years old and still daily life in much of the country.
• Chadian, from the Basara women. Chebe. It is worth being precise about this one, because it is widely misrepresented online. Chebe is not a growth herb and was never used as one. It is a length retention practice. The powder is worked through the lengths, not the scalp, to keep hair from breaking so that length accumulates over years.
• West African. Moringa and neem.
• Traditional Chinese medicine. Ginseng and star anise.
• Mediterranean and European folk medicine. Rosemary, nettle, and horsetail.
• North African and Middle Eastern. Black seed, or Nigella sativa.

How a batch is actually made

1. Weighing. Every herb is weighed to a recipe card, not eyeballed. The card is what makes batch fifty match batch one.
2. Infusion. The herbs go into the carrier oils in a double boiler, held between 120 and 130 degrees. The water never touches the oil.
3. Maturation. Four months. The jars are checked and turned, and otherwise left alone. This is the part that cannot be shortened.
4. Straining. The plant material is strained out completely. Any herb left behind is organic matter sitting in oil, which is how a beautiful oil goes rancid early.
5. Blending. The finished infused oils are combined to the final formula, and vitamin E is added as the natural antioxidant that gives the oil its shelf life.
6. Filling. Into 2 fl oz amber glass. Amber, not clear, because light degrades botanical oils. The gel is filled by hand into 5 fl oz jars.
7. Batch numbering. Every bottle gets a batch number before it leaves.

Why every batch has a number

A batch number means that if something is ever wrong with a bottle, we can trace it back to the day it was made, the herbs that went into it, and every other bottle that came out of the same run. Large brands do this because regulators make them. Small brands mostly do not do it at all.

We do it because a product you put on your scalp should be traceable, and because it keeps us honest about consistency.

Why the color and the smell change between batches

Because the herbs change. An amla harvest in one season is not identical to the next, and neem grown in different conditions produces a different depth of green. When there is no synthetic fragrance and no artificial color in a formula, the batch to batch variation has nowhere to hide.

So your second bottle may be a slightly different shade of green or gold than your first, and it may smell a little more herbal or a little more like clove. That is not a defect. It is the most reliable evidence you have that what you are holding was made from plants.

What small batch means here

It means a run of about one hundred bottles, made by one person, in Maryland. Not a contract manufacturer with a minimum order of ten thousand units and a brand name printed on the label afterward.

That is the real limit on this business, and it is also the point. Every bottle was weighed, infused, strained, filled, capped, and labeled by hand.

Where it is made

Randallstown, Maryland, in the Baltimore area. Everything is made, filled, and shipped from here.

Questions we get about the process

Does the four month infusion actually change the product?

It changes the color, the scent, and how much plant material ends up dissolved in the oil. We are not going to claim it changes how fast your hair grows, because we have not run a clinical trial and neither has anyone selling you a bottle that says they have.

How long does a bottle last once I have it?

The oils are good for about twelve months from the batch date, and the gel for about six. Store both out of direct sunlight. The oils do not need refrigeration.

Can I see it being made?

Yes. The process gets filmed and posted, including the parts that do not go well.