The Healing Power of Rosehip Seed Oil

Do you use Rosehip Oil or Rosehip Seed Oil? Should you? And what's the difference?

There are many different species in the rose flower family, but Dog Rose, or Rosa canina, is the variety that we will be spotlighting today. It produces a fruit that remains after the petals fall off, and this is called the 'rosehip'.

The deep orange-red color of the fruit hints at its juicy goodness--and its power. The fruit is often made into syrups, jams, jellies, and the like, and is a popular ingredient in mixed herbal teas.

Rosehip seeds are found inside the fruit surrounded by tiny hairs. They contain a high percentage of fatty-acids, not found in the actual fruit part, and these fatty-acids are wonderful for their anti-ageing properties, including hydrating the skin.
In order to extract oil from the seeds, there are 3 possible methods: solvent extraction, cold-pressing, and supercritical extraction.

The best of the 3 is supercritical extraction, which uses carbon-dioxide under high pressure to extract the oil from the seeds at low temperatures, but it's also the most expensive method.

Cold-pressing is less expensive, but friction in the crushing of the seeds can generate a bit of heat, but no solvents are used, so this is accepted as being a non-toxic method.

The flesh of the rosehips generally contain a higher percentage of Vitamin A, so this will change the chemical constituent profile of the final product if it is used in the making of the oil.

So it's worth double-checking what you are actually getting when you purchase an oil--check if it's made from JUST THE SEEDS and which extraction process is being used.

As with anything, you get what you pay for, so buying rosehip seed oil that is extracted without chemicals will give you a beautiful moisturizer for your face that is very low on the comedogenic scale (rated 1, so it generally will not clog pores, but always patch test if you are concerned).

Rosehip seed oil is absorbed quickly by the skin, which gives it ease of use. Among its many amazing uses, it can help balance oil production in the skin, help with the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, reduce redness, calm rosacea, and help fade scars and stretch-marks.

In my aromatherapy practice, I research mixing other beneficial carrier oils and particular essential oils to produce a custom-tailored serum for my clients. One of my favorite recipes at the moment includes Baobab Oil, Geranium, Palma Rosa, and Frankincense.

Do you use Rosehip Oil, or Rosehip Seed Oil? And if so, how do you use it?