“Since receiving your letter i love you.”
The opening words of a love story? Actually, this declaration by Dr. Rudolph Hauschka to Elisabeth Siegmund marked the start of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care. The year was 1962.
Dr. Rudolf Hauschka, founder of WALA, was a visionary with many ideas. Decades before Dr.Hauschka Skin Care was launched he already had a vision for a type of skin care which would complement WALA’s pharmaceutical product range – an extension of the WALA skin treatment preparations, so to speak. After all, although the skin, as the largest organ of the human body, needs therapeutic help on occasion, it needs healthy regular care even more. More than three decades were to pass from the founding of WALA in 1935 to the birth of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care in 1967. WALA was growing and initially developed a broad range of pharmaceuticals based on Hauschka's unique rhythmic process of plant extraction.
Then one of those twists of fate occurred which bring together people and ideas. In this case it was Rudolf Hauschka and Elisabeth Sigmund. The two, both originally from Vienna, met in a small town near Stuttgart: Eckwälden.
Vienna - Stockholm - Eckwälden
For some time the cosmetologist Elisabeth Sigmund had already been receiving formulations from WALA for the skin care products which she made for her own beauty salon in Stockholm. As a firm believer in the power of natural substances, particularly of medicinal herbs, she had devised a type of skin care which supported the skin's own natural functions.
Rudolf Hauschka must have heard that a cosmetologist was ordering pharmaceuticals from WALA. He obviously felt impelled to write to this woman in Sweden because the idea of a type of skin care which would complement the WALA pharmaceuticals left him no peace.
In 1962 Elisabeth Sigmund received a letter from Eckwälden. She had first got to know WALA when she visited the small firm in southern Germany with her husband during their summer holidays. WALA pharmaceuticals had been extremely effective in treating her husband's injured knee. Ms Sigmund was surprised to receive this letter from Rudolf Hauschka asking her for ideas for a range of cosmetics. But she was pleased too and immediately sent a detailed reply.
“Since receiving your letter I love you.” As a Viennese woman herself, Elisabeth Sigmund would have appreciated this typically gallant form of address and known how to take Rudolf Hauschka's reply to her letter brimming with ideas. He invited her to Eckwälden.
Summer 1963: Elisabeth Sigmund spent a whole weekend with several doctors and WALA employees, discussing her proposed formulas for a skin care range which would supplement WALA's existing product range. It was to include products for face and body care. The group exchanged ideas for formulas and discussed suitable medicinal herbs.
„We worked as a team more or less from the beginning, although teamwork only became fashionable much later.“
Karl Kossmann, 80, former general manager of WALA and one of the founders of the WALA foundation
On 9 January 1964 the official decision was made. A face care range based on the principles of holistic skin care was to be developed as a supplement to the WALA product range. The WALA partners Dr. Rudolf Hauschka, Dr. Margarethe Hauschka, Max Kaphahn and Maja Mewes, were all agreed on this. A few months later, in May 1964, the chemist Dr. Reinhard Schoppmann became a member of the WALA staff, in October of the same year they were joined by Johannes Roth-Bernstein. When the pharmacist Rudolf Plantener joined them the development team was complete.
„Of course we felt like revolutionaries when we developed this unconventional type of skin care.“
Elisabeth Sigmund, 93, founder of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care
The most intensive period was the summer of 1964. Elisabeth Sigmund, still living in Stockholm, spent several weeks in Eckwälden working with the developer Reinhard Schoppmann and the head of manufacturing Rudolf Plantener. The three optimised Sigmund's formulas. In Stockholm she had only prepared her face care products in small amounts for her own clients. Now the products were to be manufactured in large quantities. This placed different demands on the stability of the creams and the formulas had to be modified accordingly. With the practical expertise of Roth-Bernstein they were able to develop cream bases which remained stable without the use of synthetic chemical emulsifiers. They worked on the fragrance mixtures, for which they obtained natural essential oils from France. One, albeit unspoken, principle was clear to all: the aim was to develop natural skin care products which incorporated the natural rhythms that formed the basis of WALA’s pharmaceuticals manufacture..
„WALA was not a job but a lifelong mission.“
Dr. Reinhard Schoppmann, 76, one of the developers of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care
„Living strengh pulsates rhythmically, it inspires all your work. That is the quintessence of all my years at WALA.“
Rudolf Plantener, 80, head of manufacturing in the 1960s
After Ms Sigmund had returned to Stockholm, Roth-Bernstein, Schoppmann and Plantener produced samples of the new formulas in Eckwälden. These were sent by post to Stockholm where Elisabeth Sigmund tested them on her clients. In reply she reported what she thought should be improved and what she liked. This continued until the development team was satisfied. Then the new skin care products had to pass stability tests and assessment by Maja Mewes – and Dr.Hauschka Skin Care was born.
Skin care travels the world
Good ideas should be put into practice. And they should be spread around the world. In 1967 WALA, with its freshly developed face care range, was confronted with the issue of marketing. Letters were sent to the around 12,000 pharmacies then existing in Germany, informing them of the latest addition to the WALA family. Replies from a mere three or four pharmacies wanting to include the new product in their range were a wake-up call to the people in Eckwälden. Something more was needed. So, as WALA's first sales representative, Gotthard Jacob set off in his Fiat 850 to visit the pharmacies in person. Jacob and other employees also presented the whole range of WALA products at trade fairs and congresses for doctors. They used the topic of acne as a bridge to skin care. Jacob's wife Lotti, who trained as an esthetician specially for this work, demonstrated the new series to the doctors' wives. Slowly but steadily the WALA skin care range became better known.
„Everyone chipped in with everything at WALA. We might start at 3.00 in the morning if help was needed for the harvest, then we often worked until late in the evening, with the occasional interruption to unpack a goods consignment when the need arose.“
Gotthard Jacob, 79, the first sales rep
The art of touch
Anneliese Horn wanted to do something in the cosmetics line even as a teenager. In 1970, when her children were old enough, the qualified bilingual secretary therefore decided to train as an esthetician in her home town of Stuttgart. During the course, which lasted several months, the students used various conventional skin care products on themselves and at the end of the course all the participants had damaged skin with acne, spots and dry patches. Ms Horn left the course with flaky, red patches on her skin – rosacea. Fortunately the work of the Jacob couple had already borne fruit. Ms Horn's anthroposophical GP was already familiar with the new WALA skin care products and recommended them to his extremely unhappy and disheartened patient. Anneliese Horn wrote to WALA and was taken to Ms Sigmund who had meanwhile moved to Eckwälden. At first Elisabeth Sigmund refused to teach skin care treatment, fearing that the students might not be sufficiently conscientious about applying what they had learned. However, after thinking things over for a few months she agreed and in January and February 1971 spent several weeks training Ms Horn on a one-to-one basis to become the first Dr.Hauschka Natural Esthetician.
„When i got to know Elisabeth Sigmund and Dr.Hauschka Skin Care i had the definite feeling that i was on the right path at last! I still respect and admire Ms. Sigmund today.“
Anneliese Horn, 76, the first Dr.Hauschka Esthetician
Man and machine
The transformation from a small business to a medium-sized company also meant that working processes and structures had to be reviewed and modified. WALA had been committed to production by hand at all stages of manufacture. For example, the production staff mixed the ingredients for the Cleansing Cream to a homogeneous mass by stirring them in enamel bowls using a large wooden rod. In the early days the three to four employees in manufacturing produced ten kilograms of Cleansing Cream per production run - enough for 200 tubes. They used a metal funnel to fill toner into glass bottles after it had been stirred regularly for a period of four weeks.
Now, in the 1970s, more and more people wanted to buy the new skin care products. Elfriede Blutbacher in customer service received about 100 calls a day from pharmacies, pharmaceutical wholesalers, health food stores, organic food stores and Dr.Hauschka Natural Estheticians who wanted to buy the products. And then there were letters and telexes as well. Production by hand could no longer meet this demand. So machines were called for. Reinhard Schoppmann purchased a tube filling machine. One employee was required to place the empty tubes in the machine which then filled and closed them. Electric stirrers for the creams and labelling machines for the bottles followed. The machines eased the workload for the employees and helped to increase production.
A meeting point for the world
Word got around that something special was happening in Eckwälden. Rolf Bucher has been a gardener at WALA since 1982. In the 1980s he received numerous applications from all over Germany and from abroad – from as far as Canada, Australia and South Africa – from enthusiasts wanting to work in the WALA medicinal herb garden. Even today things are still done by hand here – as are the processing of the fresh plants and potentising – and this is an important cornerstone of the quality which is the key to the WALA medicines and Dr.Hauschka Skin Care products.
WALA also uses medicinal herbs from contract farmers in the region and from projects in economically underdeveloped countries through which WALA is able to support the economic development of these countries. The rose essential oil in Rose Day Cream, for example, comes from Bulgaria or from Iran, while the shea butter comes from Burkina Faso in Africa.
The awakening
Was it the new presentation? Or did the message spread by word of mouth? Whatever the reason, in the 1990s Dr.Hauschka Skin Care experienced its big breakthrough. It was time for the company to awake from its beauty sleep in dreamy Eckwälden. Natural skin care was ready to set out and conquer the world. In 1997 Katharina Hahlhege, then head of marketing at WALA, decided that the skin care line needed thoroughly refurbishing. The colours on the packaging now glow with a warmer radiance, dispensers make the use of many products more up to date – but the formulas remain unchanged. Modern advertising brochures and the company's first own web site publicised the special features of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care. Contacts with the media were established and the first reports in glossy magazines followed. The public gradually became aware of the existence of this medium-sized company in southern Germany and its natural skin care products based on an unusual philosophy.
„In redesigning Dr.Hauschka Skin Care we have made the inner substance of the preparations outwardly visible.“
Katharina Hahlhege, 52, head of marketing and distribution
The returning respect for nature was accompanied by an increased interest in natural skin care. Today the colourful labels of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care adorn the shelves of stores in more than 40 countries across all continents, from the wholefood shop in San Francisco to the exclusive department store in Singapore, from the pharmacy in Helsinki to the Sandylane Spa Resort on Barbados. Or in other words, from Eckwälden around the world. What has not changed in the last 40 years is the quality. In spite of the constantly growing scale of production, quality remains the fundamental component of Dr.Hauschka Skin Care.
