Description
- Box contains one (1) each of Renewing Rose Spritz, Rose Soak, Rose Massage Oil, and a Rose Petal Sachet.
Perhaps
no flower is more recognizable and no aroma more evocative than that of
the rose. Its rich fragrance has perfumed human history for
generations, from ancient Persian gardens, where the rose was probably
first cultivated to extravagant Roman banquets whose revelers feasted
amongst soft piles of rose petals. The rose is common and unassuming,
blooming carefree in a grandmother’s rambling, overgrown garden. But
the rose can also personify black tie elegance, its velvety blossoms
lavish enough to keep company with champagne and caviar. The rose
symbolizes innocence, love, passion, sympathy, desire, luxury and the
ideal aesthetic.
The healing tradition associated with the rose is no less remarkable
than its fragrance and beauty. The 17th-century English physician
Culpeper wrote that red roses strengthen the heart. He may have been
referring to a physical action, but anyone who has inhaled fresh roses
or their essential oil knows the aroma strengthens the heart
spiritually and emotionally as well. Culpeper attributed other
properties to the rose that foreshadowed its current use in
aromatherapy and cosmetics. He recommended extract of rose for its
cooling and astringent benefits, useful for headache and tired eyes. He
also suggested an ointment of roses . . . to cool and heal pushes,
wheals and other red pimples rising on the face . . .
Rose oil is used in creams, lotions and soaps for its mild
anti-viral and bactericidal properties, as well as for its fragrance.
Rose water, recovered from the distillation of rose oil, is mildly
astringent and beneficial for cleansing and refreshing dry, sensitive
skin.
Besides being used as a medicine in history, the rose has a long
history as a costly perfume. Fresh roses were macerated in hot fat to
produce fragrant pomades in ancient India, Greece and Egypt. In Egypt
these pomades were shaped into cones and placed on the top of the head.
As body heat melted the fat, fragrant, rose-scented oil would trickle
down the face and neck.
With the advent of distillation in the 10th century, Persians began
extracting rose flower water from fresh roses. Because these early
stills were crude and inefficient the amount of essential oil obtained
was probably negligible and may have been entirely overlooked. An early
reference to rose essential oil is mentioned in a legendary Mogul
account of the betrothal of a princess named Nour-Djihan to the Emperor
Dhihanguyr. The wedding feast was held in a garden surrounded by a
canal filled with rose water. As Nour-Djihan and her lover plied the
waters in a small boat she noticed a thin film of rose oil on the
surface. It was carefully skimmed off and rose essential oil was born.
The difficulty of extracting rose oil from the plant has always
caused it to be a very expensive substance. A rose blossom contains
only about 0.02% essential oil. It takes about 60,000 roses to produce
just 1 ounce of oil, and ten thousand pounds of rose blossoms to
produce 1 pound of oil. The extraction of rose absolute with chemical
solvents is more efficient than the steam distillation of the essential
oil. Ten pounds of a substance known as concrete can be extracted from
10,000 pounds of roses using this method. The concrete is further
refined to produce rose absolute, the yield of which is about 67% from
the concrete.
Regardless of its price, the potency and incredible fragrancing
power of even tiny amounts of rose otto or absolute makes it a sound
investment — especially considering that a dozen fresh roses costs
around $60.00 and it takes about 2 and 1/2 dozen roses to produce a
single drop of oil.
Most rose otto is produced in southern Bulgaria from roses grown in
the valleys of the Stryama and Tundzha rivers near Plovdiv. The best
oil is distilled from newly opened flowers, picked in the cool morning
hours before the sun has warmed away the aroma. In order to extract
every trace of the precious oil, the distillation is done in two
phases. An initial distillation yields a small quantity of concentrated
green essential oil and a large amount of rose flower water. The flower
water is then redistilled to produce an additional amount of pale
yellow colored oil that is combined with the green oil from the first
distillation.
Most rose absolute is produced in Morocco in the valleys between the High Atlas and Jbel Sarhro mountains east of Marrakech.
Rose absolute is a refined, liquid extraction of fragrant compounds
from the fresh blossom. Although absolutes contain essential oil
compounds they differ from distilled essential oils. An absolute is a
refinement of a concrete, which is a thick, fragrant material extracted
from the plant using a hydrocarbon solvent. The concrete contains
essential oils, fatty acids and waxes. Absolutes are extracted from
concretes with pure alcohol. The alcohol dissolves and absorbs the
fragrant material from the concrete. Waxes, fats and other non-aromatic
contents precipitate out and are removed by filtering. The alcohol is
removed through evaporation. What’s left behind is the pure, fragrant
absolute — a concentration of aromatic compounds including essential
oil constituents.
Some aromatherapists prefer to use only essential oils because they
feel that the chemical solvents used in the extraction of an absolute
have a negative affect on the properties of the oil. Others believe
that the intensity and radiance of botanicals like rose are able to
withstand the extensive processing and still yield positive benefits in
the absolute.
Spritz: Shake well. Hold bottle approximately six inches away from the body and spritz, or discharge, generously in the air.
Massage oil: Use as a massage, skin care or bath oil.
Soak: Pour desired amount into running bath water. Note: Safe for use in whirlpools and spas.
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