# Befelka ## Facts | | | |---|---| | Origin | Germany | | Headquarters | Frankfurt am Main | | Status | Active | | Previous names | BEFELKA-ARZNEIMITTEL | | Distribution | Pharmacy | | Website | http://befelka.de/ | Befelka is a German skincare brand built around a single product, BEFELKA-HAUTOEL, a plant-based skin oil sold only through pharmacies. The business began in Osnabrück, where a homeopath named Friedrich-Wilhelm Henke made the oil at home and sold it himself. The company says its origins lie "more than 80 years" in the past, but it does not publish a founding year [2]. The brand is notable less for novelty than for continuity. According to the company, the oil has been made to the same formula for more than eight decades, and the family business has passed through three generations. It remains active today from an address in Frankfurt am Main, with a modest public presence centred on its own website. ## Origin & founders The company traces its beginnings to Blücherstraße in Osnabrück. There, Friedrich-Wilhelm Henke, a homeopath, recognised what the company describes as the many care uses of a natural recipe for skin oil. He produced the oil in his own home and handled its sale himself. His wife, Leni Henke, played a central part in the business. Over the years she developed and acquired further formulas, guided by the aim the company renders as "effective care with nature". She sold these through a firm operating as BEFELKA-ARZNEIMITTEL, a name that translates roughly as "Befelka Medicines". The brand's own account does not describe a formal renaming from that firm to the present one; it simply presents BEFELKA-ARZNEIMITTEL as the vehicle through which Leni Henke's products reached customers. Neither founder's dates of birth or death are published. The brand's website carries portrait photographs of both Friedrich-Wilhelm and Leni Henke, but without further biography. ## History & milestones Because no founding year is given, the brand's early chronology rests on a handful of dated items the company itself displays. The earliest is a Befelka advertisement from 1950, shown on the brand's history page alongside a later one from 1980 [2]. These images suggest the oil was already being marketed by the middle of the twentieth century. The company also keeps an archive it calls "Historische Zuschriften" (historical letters). It reproduces correspondence received between 1965 and 2001 from paediatricians, homeopathic doctors, naturopaths, an ear, nose and throat specialist, and a public health office in Baden-Württemberg [8]. The oldest item in that archive is the 1965 letter from the health office. The letters are presented by the company as testimony from practitioners who used or recommended the oil, and they show the professional circles, from paediatricians to naturopaths, in which the product circulated. After Leni Henke's death, the business passed to her niece, a pharmacist, who took over its running. The niece is not named in the company's account. Befelka describes the company today as being in its third generation [2]. At some point the business moved from Osnabrück to Frankfurt am Main, where its legal notice and contact address are now located. The timing of that move is not documented. ## Ownership Befelka describes itself as a family business now in its third generation. No parent company, investor or acquisition is documented. The company's legal notice identifies the business as Befelka, with an address on Klingerstraße in Frankfurt am Main [7]. The same notice lists Labor Dr. Curtze, a laboratory in Neu-Isenburg, as the company's scientific adviser [7]. The laboratory is run by a pharmacist, and its role is described simply as scientific consultation rather than a formal research partnership. ## Philosophy & positioning Befelka calls its product a "dermatologisches Hautfunktionsöl", which translates as a dermatological skin-function oil. The central idea in the company's language is what it calls "naturgemäße Anwendung", or use in keeping with nature. Befelka defines this as care that works in harmony with the skin's biological function without causing it harm [6]. The company describes the oil as suitable for adults and small children alike. Its stated uses are supportive care for dry, itchy skin and flaky scalp, and in particular for infants prone to cradle cap, the crusty scalp patches common in babies. Befelka also says the oil has proved itself as an accompaniment to treatment for atopic dermatitis, a chronic itchy skin condition often called eczema [10]. The company does not reference clinical studies for these uses; its statements rest on long-term use and on the correspondence in its archive. Distribution is part of the positioning. Befelka states that the oil is sold exclusively through pharmacies, a channel it has kept throughout the product's history [10]. ## Products & innovation The range consists of one product. BEFELKA-HAUTOEL is sold in 50 ml, 100 ml and 200 ml bottles. According to the company, the oil combines oily extracts of four plants long used in cosmetics. Each plant is extracted in a different carrier: - **St John's wort**: fresh flowering herb extracted in olive oil. Befelka describes it as calming and strengthening for sensitive skin prone to itching. - **Calendula** (marigold flowers): extracted in soybean oil, which the company links to the care of reddened, stressed skin. - **Chamomile flowers**: extracted in peanut oil, described as soothing for sensitive areas. - **Wild pansy herb**: extracted in a purified petroleum distillate, which the company associates with flaky, irritated skin and cradle cap. The full formula also contains liquid paraffin (a mineral oil), additional olive oil and a small amount of perfume oil, which the company says gives the product its floral, fresh scent. Because of the peanut oil, soybean oil and perfume oil, the product is neither nut-free nor fragrance-free. The company states that the oil contains no preservatives, synthetic dyes, parabens, silicones, formaldehyde releasers or PEGs. Its ingredient page also addresses one known property of St John's wort: the flowers contain compounds called dianthrones, which can increase the skin's sensitivity to UV light. Befelka says the amount present per application is too small for this effect to matter [5]. On safety, the company reports that a pharmaceutical laboratory carried out a safety assessment of the finished oil and each of its ingredients. It also says every production run is checked against physical, chemical and microbiological criteria [5]. Befelka states that "millions of bottles" have been used without complaint [6]. The oil is intended to be applied several times a day to affected areas. The company gives a shelf life of at least five years from manufacture and at least six months after opening. No proprietary technologies, patents or third-party certifications are documented for the brand. ## Current status Befelka is active. The oil remains in production and on sale through pharmacies, and the company continues to operate its website, which is published in German only. That website has changed little in recent years; its homepage was last modified in November 2022 [1]. The brand has no documented presence on social media, and no new product launches or company news have been reported. The most visible sign of ongoing activity is the customer guestbook on the brand's website, where users share their experiences with the oil. The most recent entry is dated May 2026 [9]. ## Timeline {#belagg-timeline} | Year | Event | Source | |---|---|---| | 1950 | Earliest dated Befelka advertisement shown on the brand's About page (image captioned 'Werbung von 1980 und 1950') | http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/uber-uns.html&tst=4711 | | — | Founded in Blücherstraße, Osnabrück (year not published; the site says 'vor über 80 Jahren'); homeopath Friedrich-Wilhelm Henke made the skin oil at home and sold it himself | http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/uber-uns.html&tst=4711 | | — | Leni Henke developed and acquired further formulas over the years and sold them through the firm BEFELKA-ARZNEIMITTEL | http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/uber-uns.html&tst=4711 | | — | After Leni Henke's death her niece, a pharmacist, took over the business; the brand states the company is now in its 3rd generation | http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/uber-uns.html&tst=4711 | ## Signature products {#belagg-products} - **BEFELKA-HAUTOEL (Befelka Hautöl), 50 ml / 100 ml / 200 ml** — BEFELKA-HAUTOEL ist in den Packungsgrößen 50ml, 100ml und 200ml ausschließlich in Apotheken erhältlich. — http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/unser-produkt.html&tst=4711 ## Key ingredients {#belagg-ingredients} Johanniskraut / St John's wort (Hypericum Perforatum Extract, olive-oil extract of fresh flowering herb) · Ringelblumenblüten / calendula flowers (Calendula Officinalis Extract, soybean-oil extract) · Kamillenblüten / chamomile flowers (Chamomilla Recutita Extract, peanut-oil extract) · Stiefmütterchenkraut / wild pansy herb (Viola Tricolor Extract, purified petroleum extract) Source: http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/inhaltsstoffe.html&tst=4711 ## Sources 1. (T1) http://befelka.de/ 2. (T2) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/uber-uns.html&tst=4711 5. (T2) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/inhaltsstoffe.html&tst=4711 6. (T2) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/unser-produkt.html&tst=4711 7. (T2) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/03/impressum.html&tst=4711 8. (T2) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/04/zuschriften-rezensionen-alt.html&tst=4711 9. (T2) http://befelka.de/gast/cgi-bin/gbook/gbook.cgi?undefined&tst=47110815 10. (T1) http://befelka.de/befe_ext.cgi?action=get&node=2015/02/kontakt.html&tst=4711 --- Glowpedia · · Published 2026-09-30 Please cite with a link to the article URL.