There’s a good chance that, at some point in your life, you’ve had a sensitive itch that you couldn’t reach and bought some Tucks or Preparation H to make it go away. You may have been so impressed with how well the medicine did its job that you took the time to read the ingredients. After getting past some of the ingredients you couldn’t pronounce, you eventually made it to “witch hazel.”
“Witch hazel… what do witches have to do with that itch I couldn’t reach?” you thought to yourself.
Well, witches have absolutely nothing to do with it.
Witch hazel is a genus of flowers from the family Hamamelidaceae that has been used as a natural remedy for inflammation for centuries by a number of different cultures. The American Indians used the native North American plant for a variety of rashes and other skin ailments, and when the Europeans arrived, they too learned of its medicinal properties. Witch hazel is applied topically to infected areas and is beneficial in treating diaper rash, eczema, and that itch you can’t reach—hemorrhoids!
So, what do witches have to do with it?
Well, they actually have nothing at all to do the flowers of the Hamamelidaceae family.
The origin of the name can be traced back to the first Europeans who came in contact with it. During the seventeenth century, when the Puritans first learned of witch hazel, the English they spoke was a combination of Middle English and Modern English. In Middle English, “wyche” means “bend”; this is where most scholars believe witch hazel originally got its name. Not long after the Puritans discovered the flower, they quit using the word “wyche” to mean “bend.” And the pronunciation gradually evolved to “witch.”
The flower continued to be used as a home remedy for centuries until it became commercialized in more recent decades. But a funny thing happened: As witch hazel began to be sold commercially and also appeared as an active ingredient in over-the-counter medications, the New Age movement became popular. New Age “witches” turned to age-old natural remedies to concoct various “spells.”
It was through the New Age movement’s fascination with natural remedies that witch hazel began to be associated with witches in modern peoples’ minds.
But now you know—witches have nothing to do with that terrible itch you can’t reach.