Red roses are popular this month and the florist’s favourite, with prices escalating as love smitten valentines send them to their loved ones as a token of their love. But roses are so much more than that romantic gesture - you can find them in your favourite natural skin care too.
Roses are delicate, precious, expensive and good ones smell exquisite. Their petals make one of the most precious and expensive essential oils you can buy. They are used in perfumery, recipes for cooking, floristry and also skincare. And they are used across the world – different continents and cultures all finding so many different uses for them. In Ayurvedic medicine roses are cooling and used to treat tiredness, muscular aches and pains, excessive heat, pimples, digestive problems to name but a few. In the West it has been used as a tonic for the liver, heart and stomach.
When it comes to natural skincare, they are much loved for their versatility and their gentleness. Roses are suitable for all skin types including sensitive skins. Rose is balancing, soothing, calming, anti-inflammatory and harmonising but is also stimulating, astringent, toning, cleansing and antibacterial.
The flowers and buds are used to produce one of the most beautiful and popular essential oils used in perfumery and also in skincare preparations - not only for their beautiful smell, but also for their therapeutic qualities. For example, a strong infusion of Rose Petals in your face oils helps to treat blackheads, acne and pimples.
Due to their toning and mildly astringent properties, Rose petals make a great ingredient in cleansers. Dry, mature & sensitive skins will love the balancing and rejuvenating effects that roses can have on our skin – I have used Rose water and Rose essential oils in my award winning A Little Lift serum – which hydrates and moisturises dry and mature skins.
Rose water hydrates the skin and at the same time tones it. It also makes a great pick-me up due to its refreshing aroma. A few spritzes are enough to lift you from an afternoon slump and it is a key ingredient in my refreshing Freshen Up skin toner!
It’s not all about the petals though. Rosehips are made into a much loved oil – Rosa Canina or Rosa Rubignosa being botanical names – that have some many benefits to the skin. Rosehip oil is one of the best vegetable sources of skin loving Omega 3 and also contains high levels of Omega 6 – making it great for regenerating skin. It can treat so many different skin concerns and worries – treating everything from sunburn, repairing damage caused from premature ageing, giving radiance to dull and lack-lustre skins and helping to balance skin that is out of kilter. It is so versatile and so lovely and gentle that even sensitive skins love it. Its versatility and amazing skincare benefits is why I use it in the majority of my skincare products.
So Roses are not just for Romance. They are for life! If you are looking for something special to give your valentine, rather than opting for the traditional bouquet of Red Roses, why not pick something that lasts a lot longer and gives your valentine so much more – the gift of great skin!
If you would like to know more about roses and how I use them in my natural & organic skincare treatments, get in touch. I’d love to hear from you – contact me at [email protected] – I’d love to tell you more.
