Rosewater, natural toner for sensitive skin? Myth or facts!

What is rose water?

Rose water is flavoured water made from a very sweet smelling pink rose with the scientific name of Rosa Damascena.

It is made by soaking the petals in water, of course, it has a process with all the specific details.

In Iran, there is a festival every year about rose and rose water. This festival attracts many tourists to watch the traditional techniques for preparing rose water. I never had a chance to go there but I enjoyed watching the photos.

Is oral consumption of rosewater ok?

Yes! you can perfectly add it to foods or drinks.

During my childhood for me, the important part about rose water was knowing the fact that my favourite sweet desserts are made using rose water as the main flavour.

In the middle east, one of the main applications of rose water is flavouring foods and desserts. For my mom, that was an inevitable ingredient in her kitchen. I remember she always made traditional desserts in which rose water had a very critical role in the aroma spreading in the house while dessert was still in the process of preparing. Imagine you come back from school and you feel the smell, and you are a dessert lover, I still remember the feeling, I didn’t have to finish the food before diving to the dessert. My mom was ok as long as I ate something, what was better than that? I never accept if my kids have only desserts instead of foods, I was lucky! She also made drinks with rose water and chia seeds, which she believed it was good for constipation. At that time I never thought about it as a toner.

Rose water has a wide range of applications in flavoring desserts and sweets, traditional medicine, skin care and perfume industry.

There are some scientific investigations indicating the antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, antidepressant, antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and its relaxant and hypnotic effects that need further evaluation to be fully approved for these applications.

What is interesting for me among all properties mentioned for rose water is the effect of anti-inflammatory which may help reduce the redness of irritated skin and dermatitis. The claim is mostly based on experience. I did not find any study performed on humans to prove the anti-inflammatory effects of rose water. However that does not prove the opposite, it’s just me that I’d like to claim something that it has already a full proof.

Personally I have used it and I like the results, you can always test it before trying actually as your routine care. I believe there is no magic products that works for every one, you may choose one product over the other based on your needs and your skin characteristics.

How to apply rosewater?

Rosewater as a natural toner

You can use it as a toner after cleansing your skin. Gently apply a cotton pad fully moistened with rose water all over your face.

Rosewater as a natural makeup remover

Mix 2-3 drops of rose water with coconut oil and use it as a makeup remover, you can also use avocado oil instead of coconut and you will love the feeling on your skin the morning after.

Rosewater as a natural hair conditioner

After the bath, after shampooing and rinsing off the shampoo you can spray some rose water on your hair, you may leave it or you may rinse it after 30 minutes. It can work as a conditioner and leaves a nice sweet smell on your hair.

If you never use it on your skin I emphasize again you test it first on a small part of your hand instead of your face. I hope you like the aroma.

What do you think? please share your experience, do you like the effects? or the smell? how do you use it?

Photo from Erica Tironi