Roses In Beauty… Skincare, Fragrance & Love!

 

The history of roses in beauty is a long one - here's how the floral favourite came to be an absolute classic.

This Valentine's Day, we're looking at the story of roses in beauty, from skincare to fragrance and healing - and of course a touch of romance! You can shop the Valentine's Day Rose Edit here.

Roses In Beauty: Skincare

You may think roses are used just for their smell, but when it comes to skincare they're high in antioxidants and vitamins A, C, D & E, making roses a dream for the skin - in fact, allbeauty alone has over 300 rose-related skincare products! The first ever recorded cold cream was by a Greek physician in the 2nd century and contained, of course, Rosewater. Rosewater is a gentle astringent, makes a great toner and detoxifies the skin (it's ideal for blemishes). It's even great for the scalp, where it helps against dandruff and adds a lovely shine to the hair. When it comes to beauty, all parts of the rose are used. From oil distilled from the petals, to rose stem cells and rosehips (the fruit of the rose).

Incidentally, if you want to try Galen's Cold Cream for yourself, here's the recipe - the process of adding the oil mix to the rosewater is similar to making mayonnaise, slow and steady wins the race!

• 1/4 Cup of Rosewater
• 1/2 Cup of Olive Oil
• 2 TBSP of Beeswax (melted)

Roses In Beauty: Fragrance

Rosa Centifolia (or Rose de Mai) is widely grown in Grasse and used heavily in beauty and perfumery. A whopping 1000+ fragrances at allbeauty contain roses in some form, so we can safely say they're here to stay! Historically used for centuries, they have a uniquely calming effect on women which may account for why we love the scent so much. It's a labour-intensive business to extract the oil, meaning rose scented fragrance doesn't come cheap and tends to be diluted in cheaper scents, usually with geranium or other florals.

Roses In Beauty: Healing

Roses have been used since the Greeks and Romans, and in medieval times they were grown by monks in monasteries purely for their medicinal powers. Today, we use Rosa Damascena and Rosa Centifolia for healing through Rose Essential Oil, although the purest essential oil (Rose Otto) is steam distilled and takes 5 tonnes of rose petals to make just 1kg of oil. As for its uses, the list is seemingly endless: antiseptic and antibacterial, it can be used for coughs, insomnia, skin-firming, soothing the nerves, anti-ageing, depression and it's even thought to be an aphrodisiac! And if you grow roses that have 'rose hips', we totally recommend making Rose Hip Syrup, the best thing you'll ever have on toast and guaranteed to make everyone smile.

Roses In Beauty: Valentine's Day & The Rose

Valentine's Day was originally a saints day, but it was Chaucer and the traditions of Courtly Love that first associated it with love, from the 14th century. It was said that Valentine's Day is the day that birds marry and was associated with the start of Spring. Roses have been a symbol of romance and love for a very long time, but in particular the red rose is the symbol of sacrifice and passion, and so it's the red rose that has become our floral favourite. It's pretty common all over the world for the red rose to be given on Valentine's Day (except in Japan, where chocolate is the gift of choice, and only given by women to men!)

You can shop Valentine's Day online at allbeauty right here.