Rose Hip Oil

Everyone knows the rose flowers, a very popular plant that can reach ten feet in height. The flowers are spectacular and very fragrant, with the rose hip being the fruit of the plant. The petals fall off the flower after blooming, at this point the fruit can be picked and put to use in many ways.

The rose hip is extremely rich in vitamin C and it only takes a single tablespoon of pulp to get more than 60 mg of vitamin C, the daily recommended allowance for an adult. The vitamin C content of rose hips is 50% higher than the one found in oranges, this makes it one of the best sources that nature has to offer. Due to the richness in vitamin C, rose hips are excellent for activating the immune system. This helps preventing cold, treating flu and other minor infections.

It is possible to eat the fruit raw but it can also be prepared in many ways. Rose hips can be blended to create a paste or left in water for one night and afterwards boiled for about 30 min. From the pulp it is possible to prepare a jelly or use it as an ingredient in sauces.

Rose hip oil can only be extracted from the seeds of two varieties of the plant, Rosa moschata (also known as the musk rose) or Rosa aff. rubiginosa. Using a cold press, the rose hip oil gets separated from the seeds and pulp. It is very sensitive, in order to stop it from becoming rancid it must be refrigerated or at least stored in a cool location with no light.

The rose hip oil can be applied directly on facial skin and it absorbs quickly. It is rich in vitamin E, vitamin C, essential fatty acids like omega-3 and omega-6 and a form of vitamin A named b-carotene, these compounds make it very effective in skin care.

Health benefits

Rose hip oil is an excellent cosmetic product, 100% natural. It is a natural moisturizing agent that can be put directly on the skin without any problems, even in its most concentrated form. Dry skin tissues absorb the oil instantly, restoring moisture, balancing the tone and alleviating dryness. For this reason, it can be found in numerous cosmetic products that hydrate the skin and restore a youthful appearance.

It is extremely effective in the treatment of a variety of skin problems. Besides dryness, it also fights eczema and stops it from growing. Massage with rose hip oil reduces the fine lines around the mouth and crow's feet, as well as wrinkles on the face. It appears to prevent skin aging, according to many people who use it constantly. Rose hip oil can be effective when applied on sunburned skin, reducing the damage done and risk of cancer and boosting the healing rate of sunburns. The rose hip oil brings back the natural color of the skin and eliminates any patches that are uneven or have a different tone. With constant use, the hyper pigmentation is reduced, redness disappears and the skin is restored to a natural tone.

It can be used to prevent scars and even make old scars less obvious and sometimes unnoticeable. According to some reports, it can be used to heal and alleviate acne scars and other skin lesions like chicken pox or stretch marks. Applying rose hip oil on zones where the skin is healing can prevent ugly keloid scars from forming.

Rose hip oil doesn't last long on the shelf, so it can have a high price. The high cost is also caused by its excellent properties: it doesn't cause any irritation or allergies, being a fully natural product with no toxic or chemical content. As a result, cosmetics made from rose hip oil can be expensive, since they are effective in curing the skin and giving it a nice look.

The easiest alternative is to make rose hip oil at home. First, you have to find a bush that wasn't sprayed with pesticides and harvest the fruits. Keep in mind that dried fruits can be used as well, so you can store some of them for later usage. You also need some vegetable oil, the best choice is almond one or any other light oil but olive oil can also be used. Combine the oil with the rose hips in a proportion of two cups of fruit for one cup of oil. Place the mixture for eight hours in a small slow cooker, with the heat on low power. The resulting mixture has to be filtrated, a cheesecloth is good enough for this purpose. The oil must be preserved in a dark bottle, which delays oxidation, away from strong light, heat or direct sunlight.

A way to increase the preservation of rose hip oil, in both home-made and commercial cosmetic products, is the addition of a quantity of pure vitamin E. The resulting mixture can be used directly to slowly massage the face, or combined further with other substances to form more potent cosmetic products. Being a dry oil, it is absorbed immediately in the skin and can be applied on the face two times per day.

Sunlight causes damage to the skin because of the UV rays, in the same way it ages and destroys photographs. People can be more or less resistant to UV rays, which can have several effects like discoloration and the formation of wrinkles or various spots. Rose hip oil is rich in many compounds that can protect the skin against sun effects. The high dose of vitamin C restores the level of collagen in the skin, which decreases as a result of sun exposure. On the other hand, vitamin A, the fatty acids and the antioxidants improve the look and tone of the skin and prevent the damage done by free radicals as a result of sun action. Facial rosacea could potentially be treated with rose hip oil.

The same compounds are very effective as a strong boost to scar healing and the regeneration of damaged skin. The proven benefits of vitamin A on the tone and texture of skin might also explain the oil's role in faster scar healing. Omega 3 and omega 6 are natural emollients that increase skin repair and at the same time make it more resilient, permeable and flexible.

An interesting quality of rose hip oil is its ability to keep the skin moisturized and rehydrate it, despite being an astringent substance. However, because of its astringent properties, the oil is often added to cosmetic products. Such products can boost the regeneration rate of cells, being an effective cure for burns, acne signs and scars of any kind. An alternative way to enjoy the benefits of rose hip is to prepare it as a tea and drink it every day.

Rose hip oil is one of nature's main sources of trans-retinoic acid, popularly known as vitamin A. This essential bioactive compound helps the skin fight sun exposure, preventing burns and early aging. Vitamin A works by inhibiting the action of enzymes that hurt the skin, which reduces sun damage. Exposure to strong sunlight produces a large quantity of such enzymes in the skin, breaking down elastin and collagen and leaving it vulnerable.

For its properties, trans-retinoic acid is also called "the skin vitamin". Rose hip oil is extremely rich in vitamin A, which has numerous benefits. Some of them are: preventing the formation of wrinkles and reducing the ones that already exist, healing scars, curing wounds faster than normal, renewing the skin and maintaining its moisture and nourishment.

Studies have revealed that rose hip oil protects face skin in several ways, because it can reach the deep skin layers and carry there the powerful antioxidants in its composition. The penetration through the layers of skin is ensured by vitamin A, its molecules being very small in diameter. At the same time, vitamin A reduces wrinkles and eliminates fine lines of the face.

Vitamin C is another strong antioxidant with cosmetic properties and is known to increase the production of collagen. Other antioxidants that can be found in generous quantities in rose hip oil are lycopene and beta-carotene. Antioxidants defend the tissues against the destructive action of free radicals and protect the skin against the toxic agents found in today's urban environments as well as sun exposure, preventing premature aging.

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