Rose essential oil benefits are as valuable as the product itself. Notoriously one of the most expensive oils on the market, every drop is pure gold.
Roses are every bit as delightful and hopeful as they are depicted. Swedish chefs have added rose hips to soup as a centuries-old delicacy. Rose flower water has permeated culinary and folk medicine practice as long as we have had the ability to distill it – over a thousand years!
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Healing Properties of Rose Oil
Roses are so frequently associated with idealism. We wear rose-colored glasses when we want to avoid the truth. A rosy disposition is unreasonably cheerful. The idioms don’t originate with roses, of course – rose-tinted glasses actually helped roosters not to fight! – yet there they are, circling back to this lovely flowering perennial family.
“An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.”
~ H.L. Mencken, A Book of Burlesques
The scent of roses can evoke memories and emotions associated with young love and evening strolls through the garden. How many of us remember the first time we ate a rose? I do. It was awkward and I was uncertain – flowers are ornamental! Of course, you wouldn’t walk through a random garden (and certainly not a nursery or flower shop!) to pick a rose for dinner, but the organic, edible petals were pleasantly delicious. Why had I never done this before?
Later, rose essential oil hit my radar and I was fully hooked. You see, more than their beautiful blossoms and sweet smell, roses are a life-giving source of nutrients and healing.
Distilled from Rosa damascena petals, rose essential oil carries a myriad of chemical compounds that bring wellness and healing to the body. Just some of the properties include:
- Citronellol – Known for its contribution to citronella, its most popular feature is as an effective mosquito repellant.
- Geraniol – the powerhouse phytochemical that makes geranium and thyme essential oils so healing.
- Citronellyl Acetate -This is where roses get their pleasant aroma, and is a key component of beauty products and fragrances.
- Nerol – Hops and lemongrass essential oil also boast this antibiotic with a gentle, sweet aroma.
- Eugenol – Found most richly in clove essential oil, which is likely the most powerful antioxidant substance in existence.
- Farnesol – A safe and natural pesticide, farnesol is found in ylang ylang, jasmine, and orange blossoms as well as rose essential oil.
- Methyleugenol – A component of lemon balm and cinnamon essential oils, it has local antiseptic and anesthetic effects.
With so many well-studied compounds contained in these delicate petals, it is little wonder that rose is so beneficial! Rosa damascena reportedly contains more of these chemicals compared with other rose varieties, as well as a stronger fragrance.
How wonderful is our God to place such rich and powerful healing effects in a beautiful and fragrant package! With the most attractive flowers and fragrances emerging as some of the most beneficial, just think of all the good that colorful, fragrant, and beautiful fruits, vegetables, and edible flowers can impart in your diet! The abundant life is a lovely one, and rose essential oil you experience it by addressing these 3 health concerns.
1. Depression & Mood Support
The first example that comes to mind when describing rose essential oil’s effects would be its interaction with depression. Imagine struggling against a dampened mood, faltering mental state, or all-out depression. Now place yourself in our ancient ancestors’ shoes, with nature more readily accessible, and the wild sights and sounds of flowers surrounding you. Are you drawn to the flowers? Do you inhale the fragrance and take the moment in, a twinkle in your eye? Like magic, some of that heavy load begins to lift.
Better than magic, it’s science!
The draw to beautiful flowers and fragrances went under the figurative microscope as published by the journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice. Clinical tests of nearly thirty women in a postpartum stage of life treated half of them with a rose and lavender essential oil aromatherapy treatment. They followed this practice twice weekly for a month, while the control group did not. Remarkably, postnatal depression was lessened in the rose group, as well as a lower occurrence of anxiety! (1)
Application: Place the room diffuser by your bed, and enjoy 5 drops each of lavender and rose essential oils before bed. Rest, and allow the therapeutic benefits to work as you sleep.
2. Antimicrobial Benefits & Skin Health
Really, multiple components of rose essential oil make it ideal for skin treatments. Chinese researchers in 2010 pinpointed an excellent reason to include a few drops in DIY lotions and creams. In their studies, they found rose essential oil to contain some of the most potent antibacterial effects out of the ten essential oils evaluated. After five minutes at just 0.25% dilution, rose essential oil was able to completely destroy the bacteria that causes acne (P. acnes). (2)
More evidence of rose’s benefits for the skin emerged from Germany, also in 2010, not for what it could eliminate but for what it could create. Researchers explained that “For substances applied in rose oil a clear relationship between their lipophilic character, chemical structure, and skin permeation could be confirmed.” (3)
In other words, rose helps to drive substances into your skin, increasing permeability and carrying with it whatever it contains. For natural preparations, this is an excellent trait. For toxin-laden commercial products that happen to include Rosa damascena, you may be ushering the worst right into your body!
Application: Truly clear acne by dabbing one drop of diluted rose essential oil onto blemishes when they arise, continuing three times a day until it is gone. For safe application, use a sterile cotton swab, and dilute to .5% with a bit of coconut oil or other preferred carrier oil.
3. Relaxation & Heightened Libido
Bringing rose oil home may be more romantic than the roses themselves. As an effective anti-anxiety oil, stress, and anxiety-related sexual dysfunction may be relieved with rose essential oil. According to a study published in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment that evaluated the effectiveness of various treatments have on SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction (SSRI-I SD) for men with major depressive disorder (MDD),
“This double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial showed that the administration of R. damascena oil ameliorates sexual dysfunction in male patients suffering from both MDD and SSRI-I SD. Further, the symptoms of depression reduced as sexual dysfunction improved!” (4)
Application: Planning a lovely evening with your spouse? Use the bedside room diffuser for two drops each of rose, sandalwood, jasmine, and ylang-ylang. OR, to take things up a notch, place the oils in almond or jojoba carrier oils and gift your partner with a massage. The massage will be heightened by the healing, relaxing, and sensual fragrances.
