Rosehip

The Rosehip plant produces an amazing little berry that is not only packed with Vitamin C, Essential Fatty Acids, and healthy minerals, it contains an oil that is prized as a natural skin and hair care ingredient.  Rosehip Oil comes in an amazing amount of varieties, the most popular of which are straight up, cold pressed Rosehip Seed Oil and Organic Rosehip Seed Oil.  These two Oils are fairly delicate, with a shelf life of only around 6 months.  This makes where you purchase your Rosehip Oil very important.  You must work with a trusted retailer, or you could run the risk of receiving an expired batch.  Because of Rosehip Oil's high fatty acid content, it can sometimes have a slightly acidic aroma, even when it is fresh.  This makes testing freshness "by nose" pretty difficult.  It's a good idea to keep track of your fragile Oils, like Rosehip, by labeling them with the date you received them.

So why would you want to work with a fragile Oil, such as Rosehip?  For starters, the high content of Essential Fatty Acids, Vitamins, and Minerals make it a very nutritious choice for both the hair and skin.  Its natural antioxidant value makes it great for anti-aging formulas, and its light, penetrating texture makes Rosehip perfect for facial creams, masks, and even oil based serums.  Rosehip Oil is said to help slow premature aging by reducing the formation of lines and wrinkles, reduce the formation of scarring, and may even be able to help regenerate new skin cells.

Rosehip CO2 Extract boasts all of these fine qualities and more, being a more pure and concentrated form of the standard Oil.  It has a slightly astringent property which makes it great for oily skin, combination skin, as well as mature or damaged skin.  It is also much more stable than standard Rosehip Seed Oil, having a shelf life of about 1 year.  Rosehip CO2 Extract is a great way to incorporate the properties of Rosehip Seed into formulations on a smaller scale.  This extract can be used at as little as 2% to begin adding Rosehip properties to a formula.

For water based recipes or ingredients, formulators can use Powdered Rosehip Extract*.  This water dispersible powder is concentrated at a rate of 4:1, meaning that it is four times as strong as the original extract.  Powdered Rosehip Extract is also rich in Vitamin C, which is rarely found in stable ingredients such as this.  When stored in a cool, dry, place, Powdered Rosehip Extract has a shelf life of about 2 years.

Rosehip Powder and Rosehip Seed Powder provide yet another way to use Rosehip in skin and hair care recipes.  These crushed Rosehip powders can be used as natural exfoliants in scrubs, masks, or ubtans.  They can also be infused into water to make natural tub teas or wetting agents.

*Click here to learn more about using Powdered Extracts.