Rose is one of the most therapeutic and luxurious ingredients in beauty and aromatherapy. Both precious and expensive, it takes around 60,000 roses to produce a single ounce of rose oil. Of course, there’s an art to harvesting roses for oil production. Roses smell different at different times of the day. Blossoms are traditionally gathered before the buds open — a little before sunrise, right after the dew — and are distilled immediately. If gathered later in the day when in full bloom, the scent would be stronger but not as sweet. Sappho called the rose the “queen of flowers”. It’s hard to argue against that title. Fossil evidence shows the rose is over 30 million years old. That means it’s had a long time to evolve into the perfect plant it is today.
Rose is sublime and iconic, loaded with cultural significance and other world-ness, as well as incredible skin-nourishing abilities. Rose has a cool and moist nature. It calms redness and inflammation and clears heat from the body. It’s suited to any skin type, especially those with dry, sensitive, and mature skin. It’s also helpful for addressing skin conditions like psoriasis and dermatitis, even acne. Rose is a potent source of antioxidants and botanical compounds that have been shown to enhance the skin’s natural barrier and help rejuvenate and hydrate skin. Look for products with rose essential oil and also rose hydrosol (or rosewater), a byproduct of the distillation process that is often used in skincare as a gorgeous healing tonic. A spritz or splash of rosewater is one of my favorite ways to instantly hydrate my skin and lift my mood.
The scent of true rose softens the heart and mind, so when it’s present in your skincare products be sure to inhale the rosiness deeply. Inhaling it lowers your body’s cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and eases anxiety. The scent of rose is comforting and helps us feel love toward others and ourselves. It expands our capacity for compassion and trust, particularly when emotional wounds are involved. For all of these reasons and more, I choose products that contain rose oil and rosewater, and I quite literally stop to smell the roses whenever I have the chance.
Want to incorporate rose into your routine? Here are a few products that feature rose…
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