Rose Essential Oil is a product of the plant belonging to the Rosa family. The smell of roses evokes fond memories of backyard gardens and young love. There are several varieties of roses, some with large, colorful heads, while others are petite. The hothouse varieties often do not have much rose scent but are prized for their colors and large, perfect blooms. For the production of Rose Essential Oil, the Damask Rose or Rosa damascena flowers are preferred for its strong rose aroma.
The intoxicating, rich aroma of Rose Essential Oil is comparable to the fresh blooms themselves. Roses have been around for over 35 million years and for 5,000 years, have features in thousands of gardens worldwide. Ancient Egyptians, Roman and Greeks have used rose oil and fresh roses for religious ceremonies and celebrations; as protection against drunkenness; as offering to their gods and goddesses and embalming the dead.
Rose oil is very valuable because 80kg of rose petals can only yield 30ml of essential oil. Moreover, the roses used for Rose Essential Oil are grown in North Africa, France and Bulgaria. Rose Essential Oil is recognized for its numerous health benefits because the oil contains several medicinal properties. It is rich in vitamins B, C and K, carotene, calcium, iodine, copper and potassium.
Rose Essential Oil Benefits
Rose Essential Oil has many health benefits. It is recommended for the following issues:
- Depression
- Stress
- Aches and pains
- Menstruation
- Bacterial and viral attacks
- Immune system
- Aphrodisiac
- Skin
- Detoxification
- Blood circulation
- Heart
- Respiratory system
- Hemorrhage
- Blood purification
Rose Essential Oil Uses
- Rose Essential Oil for Depression. Its sweet aroma is effective in relieving feelings of depression and elevating the spirit. It can boost self-esteem and self-confidence. People who smell the scent of roses often feel more cheerful and hopeful. It relieves anxiety and promotes positivity and feelings of joy.
- Rose Essential Oil Against Stress. Your stress will be relieved if you smell the aroma of Rose Essential Oil. It is also great for relieving headaches. You can add a few drops to your diffuser. Another way is to add a few drops to warm bath water to experience the soothing and invigorating effects of Rose Essential Oil to wash away the strain from a stress-filled day.
- Rose Essential Oil for Aches and Pains. Make a cold compress by dipping a cloth into water with a few drops of Rose Essential Oil. Place the compress over the aching muscle or joint. You can also relieve cramps with a compress with Rose Essential Oil.
- Rose Essential Oil for Women. Ladies suffering from pre-menstrual syndrome can find relief by placing a cold compress with Rose Essential Oil over their thighs, hips and abdomen. This helps in reducing irritability, relieving muscle cramps and controlling mood swings. It is also excellent for women who have irregular menstruation. Rose Essential Oil helps release the hormones that control menstruation. The essential oil also offers benefits to menopausal women.
- Rose Essential Oil Against Bacterial and Viral Attacks. The essential oil possesses antiviral properties. The oil is easily absorbed by the body so fighting viral infections is faster. Research has found out that when Rose Essential Oil is absorbed by the cells, they become resistant to virus penetration. The oil is a bactericide as well, so it protects the body against bacterial attacks.
- Rose Essential Oil for the Immune System. The antiviral properties of the essential oil improve the body’s immune system. It helps the body resist bacteria. It stimulates the white blood cells and fights influenza virus.
- Rose Essential Oil for the Skin. The astringent properties of Rose Essential Oil help reduce the production and secretion of sebum. Dilute the essential oil before applying to the face with cotton. Rose Essential Oil is good as a skin cleanser, freshener, moisturizer and toner. It delays the occurrence of wrinkles and fine lines and helps reduce eczema, pimples and acne. It is also good for lightening unsightly scars, such as those left by small pox, acne, boils, stretch marks, fat cracks and scars from surgery.
- Rose Essential Oil for Detoxification and Blood Circulation. Blood circulation improves when you use Rose Essential Oil for massage. It helps in the proper drainage of lymphatic fluids from body tissues to prevent swelling. Using Rose Essential Oil enhances the circulation of blood by stimulating the muscles, glands and the nervous system. This helps to deeply detoxify to body, ridding it of harmful toxins.
- Rose Essential Oil for the Respiratory System. Asthmatic people can find immediate relief from an asthma attack by inhaling the vapors of Rose Essential Oil. Just add a few drops of the oil into boiling water. This process is also good for the relief of other respiratory problems such as nasal and chest congestions, cough and bronchitis.
- Rose Essential Oil for the Heart. Your heart will also benefit from Rose Essential Oil. It maintains your blood pressure and those suffering from hypertension can find relief with regular use of the essential oil.
- Rose Essential Oil for Blood Purification. Because Rose Essential Oil can help detoxify the body, it purifies the blood, which leads to the improvement of general health. In the process, ulcers, boils, rashes and skin infections are prevented.
Rose Essential Oil Side Effects
There are no known side effects when using Rose Essential Oil. However, caution should still be exercised when using it because you may be allergic to it. Dilute the pure essential oil with a suitable carrier oil (olive oil, coconut oil, jojoba oil) and do a skin patch test first. The only caution professional practitioners say is that pregnant women should not use this particular essential oil because it stimulates menstrual flow.
How to Use Rose Essential Oil
- Rose Essential Oil can be used undiluted unless you have very sensitive skin. Apply about 2-4 drops to the small affected area. For treating larger areas (as in massage), it should be diluted with a carrier oil or added to lotion.
- Add a few drops to the diffuser and use it for a maximum of one hour. You can repeat the diffusion three times each day. Use in a moderately ventilated room.
How to Make Rose Essential Oil
The fresh petals of Damascus Rose or Rosa Damascena are used for the extraction of the essential oil by steam distillation. This rose variety is preferred because it is the most fragrant, has the highest oil content and the strongest aroma. The essential oil contains a number of components, with Phenyl Geraniol, Phenylmenthyl Acetate, Phenyl Acetaldehyde, Nonanal, Nonanol, Nerol, Methyl Eugenol, Stearpoten, Farnesol, Ethanol, Eugenol, Citronellyl Acetate, Carvone, Citral and Citronellol as the major elements.
Rose Essential Oil Recipe
If you love roses and have a garden full of the scented beauties, you can whip up a batch of your own Rose Essential Oil. Here’s how.
- Pick the roses early in the morning after the dew has evaporated. Gently wash the blooms to remove dirt and bugs.
- Add a few inches of water into a saucepan and let it boil then remove it from heat.
- Pour 1 up of grapeseed oil or jojoba oil into a glass jar.
- Bruise (shred or crush) 1 cup of rose petals and put them in the jar with the oil. Swirl the jar so the oil can coat the petals.
- Cover the jar. Place it into the hot water. The warm oil will facilitate the release of the rose scent.
- Remove the jar from the pot when the water turns cool and place the jar in a warm area like a windowsill where it can get some indirect sunlight.
- Leave the jar alone for 24 hours or up to 7 days (based on the recommendation of Tea Rose Lane.com) for a stronger scent.
- Strain the oil using a cheesecloth. Wring the cheesecloth tightly to express as much rose oil as you can.
- Transfer the essential oil into a sterilized dark colored bottle and cover it tightly.
- Store in a cool dry place away from sunlight.
Where to Buy Rose Essential Oil
Many leading online stores like eBay, Walgreens and Amazon and specialty stores such as Holland and Barrett, Jurlique, Young Living and Mountain Rose Herbs carry their own or special brands of Rose Essential Oil.
Rose Essential Oil Facts
- Rose Essential Oil is good for controlling fever, regularizing uterine function, soothes acidity and maintaining liver health. It can also relieve gum inflammation.
- You will need 10,000 roses to produce essential oil to fill a 5ml bottle. That is equivalent to 833 dozens.
- Rose Essential Oil is very expensive. It usually costs three times more than other essential oils because of its very complex chemical makeup and the difficulty in the process of extracting the essential oil.
- Rose oil is considered the Queen of Essential Oils.
- It’s said that Cleopatra seduced Marc Anthony away from the Roman Empire by applying a combination of Rose Essential Oil and Jasmine Essential Oil.
