Alpenglow Skin Care

Susan Houlihan started making skin care products in her Anchor Point, Alaska kitchen in 1999. She and her husband Patrick had moved to the state four years earlier to work as interpretive park rangers in Denali, and they never left. What began as a way to protect their own skin from brutal subarctic winters turned into a full business — one they still run together from their home workshop on the southern Kenai Peninsula.

Every Alpenglow product is handcrafted in small batches. Susan wildcrafts Alaskan botanicals — rose petals, yarrow, fireweed, cottonwood buds, horsetail, nettles — from the land surrounding their property and grows additional herbs and flowers in an organic garden. These raw ingredients form the backbone of moisturizers, cleansers, balms, and hair care products that skip synthetic chemicals entirely. No parabens. No phthalates. No fragrance oils. The ingredient lists are short enough to read in one breath, and you'll recognize every item on them.

After more than 25 years of operation, Alpenglow remains a two-person, family-run outfit. There's no warehouse, no fulfillment center, no investors. Susan formulates, produces, labels, and ships each order herself. That constraint is also their strength — batch sizes stay small, quality stays high, and nothing sits on a shelf long enough to degrade. Each product reflects direct, hands-on knowledge built over decades of working with Alaskan botanicals.

The company is a member of the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild, and their approach to sourcing is rooted in sustainability. They harvest wild plants in rotation, never stripping an area, and grow what they can on-site. For ingredients they can't source locally — like jojoba oil or shea butter — they select organic and fair-trade suppliers.

Alpenglow isn't trying to scale. They're trying to make the best skin care they can with what grows around them in one of the most pristine environments on earth. For anyone tired of decoding ingredient panels full of unpronounceable compounds, that's a compelling proposition.

Products

• Botanical face moisturizers and serums
• Wildcrafted herbal cleansers
• Healing salves and balms
• Natural hair care products
• Lip balms and body butters
• Herbal insect repellent

Why We List Them

• Founder-owned and operated since 1999 by Susan Houlihan
• Handcrafted in small batches in Anchor Point, Alaska
• Wildcrafted Alaskan botanicals and organic garden ingredients
• No synthetic chemicals, parabens, phthalates, or fragrance oils
• 25+ years of continuous independent operation
• Member of the Handcrafted Soap and Cosmetic Guild