Uncommon Scents
A breath of fresh air is not exactly how you’d describe what usually blows over from Kona.
But that’s only because you haven’t heard about Hamakua-based Hana Nai‘a Aromatherapy, whose scents are prized for their head and lung-clearing effects on the voggiest of days.
Until now, Hana Nai‘a’s essential oils were kept under wraps – make that 400-thread count wraps – and available only at the spa at Four Seasons Hualalai and a few other super-posh Big Island spas and resorts.
But the company’s newly launched website makes the elixirs available to the rest of us for the first time. One to put on your list: the top-selling Sacred Breath aromatherapy oil, distilled from the rare Ravensara flower that grows only in Madagascar. The unique and scarce flowers are found by roving anthropologist John Steele, an aromatherapy expert and one-time consultant for Aveda, who visits far-flung tribes in exotic locales in search of pure, sustainably harvested essential oils. He brings his finds back to Hana Nai‘a headquarters (a lush property overlooking Waipio Valley), where founder Maryann Broyles blends them into tinctures, massage oils, lotions, and shampoos.
Online shoppers will soon be able to buy the rest of Hana Nai‘a’s bath and body products, Chakra oils, and even a pet shampoo made from leleshwa (African wild sage).
And that’s how you smell relief.
Hana Nai‘a Aromatherapy products are available online at www.hananaia.com
