Your Own Rose Spa at home.
Excerpt from Spa Magazine.
From rose-scented treatment rooms to baths infused with the precious petals, rose has long been a popular ingredient in spas. As the world’s oldest cultivated decorative plant, it is primarily native to the Northern Hemisphere but likely originated in Persia, according to The Magical and Ritual Use of Perfumes (Destiny Books, 1990) by Richard Alan Miller and Iona Miller. The flowers quickly spread, popping up symbolically in Greek and Indian mythologies and in physical form throughout Europe and the Middle East. Over the years, women as disparate as Joan of Arc and Cleopatra have been linked with this token of love, and if they’re good enough for a hallucinating martyr and a cunningly beautiful queen, they’re certainly suitable for spa-going mortals.
As befitting a plant of such stature, “Rosa damascena is one of the most precious and expensive oils currently on the market,” says Amy Galper, founder and executive director of the New York Institute of Aromatherapy. “The petals don’t yield much essential oil, so it takes a huge amount of plant material to distill evn a few milliliters, approximately 10,000 roses for just five milliliters! Just a tiny bit has a profound effect in skincare.” Donna Cristino, founder of the beauty brand Jing Ai, calls rose oil “a hidden little gem” and promises that we’ll be seeing a lot more of it in the future.
While rose is often noted for its scent, the velvety flower has hidden depths. “Rose essential oil is an excellent emollient; it also offers antiseptic and astringent properties to treat acneic skin and properties that help treat redness and inflammation,” says Jaklin Idris, director of education for Decléor Paris.
“Rose oil can help refine skin texture, controlling skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis.” It has no known adverse effects. Rose can be a great addition to skincare formulas, especially for evening out stressed skin and nurturing clients’ confidence,” she says. “It also has great therapeutic characteristics, balancing and soothing tired, dull, and aging skin.”
Rose’s high concentrations of vitamins A, C, and E encourage healthy skin rejuvenation and protect from free-radical damage, says Tiffany McLauchlin, director of education for Lira Clinical. The flower also contains fatty acids like Hyaluronic acid, which hydrates and suppresses tyrosinase activity for healthier, brighter skin—an added bonus for our/your brand’s formulations. Rose was chosen to complement the products’ other elements. We partner rose with ingredients having healing properties that harmonize with rose’s natural fatty acid and antioxidant content, skin’s cellular turnover, in combination with proteins, peptides, antioxidants, and minerals
Precious Petals
Rose appears in skincare products in multiple forms, from standard extracts and essential oils to cutting-edge stem cells, and each offers its own benefits. Rose extract and essential oil are often valued for their aromas reputed to have soothing and refreshing benefits, while the essential oil also has hydrating properties. There’s also rosehip oil, which “contains a high content of unsaturated essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins A, C, and E.” It’s highly moisturizing and replenishes dry, stressed skin, helping it to feel more elastic, firm, and hydrated. We use the flower in a variety of products, including: Wash, scrub, masks, shampoo, conditioner, serum, and the ultimate rose stem cell peptide cream.
Chemists at Private Label Skincare Florida, rely on rosewater, rose essential oil, rose extract, rose stem cell, and rose active and they’ve recently introduced 8 products with rose stem cells, says Michael Estey, president and Chris Estey, CEO. When research showed that Alpine rose stem cells helped slow or delay the aging process, they decided to incorporate them into the line. “We chose to use Alpine rose stem cells, because they protect the skin from damage that comes from UV exposure,” he says. “They’re more intense than an extract or an essential oil.”, Alpine rose’s ability to survive in a rugged climate proved to be a draw”. “It has to have properties that help it through the extreme heat and extreme cold in the Alps,” he says. “it also enables the skin to reproduce its own new cells.
A Rose by Any Other Name
There are more than 100 species of rose, and companies are combining different plant/flower stem-cell extracts for maximum benefits, and our Moisturizer features many of them, while restoring suppleness; Damask rose helps to tighten pores and purify and smooth the skin; Rosa canina (rosehips) calms and brightens skin and helps prevent trans epidermal water loss; and Pale rose helps to rebuild the moisture barrier and provide suppleness for the appearance of newer, softer skin.
Celebrated as the queen of essential oils, steam-distilled Bulgarian rose oil (known as Rosa damascena or rose otto) is considered to be some of the best in the world. “With soothing, cleansing, and an anti-inflammatory properties, it is ideal for sensitive skin, rosacea, and broken capillaries, and it has a sweet floral scent that is uplifting, romantic, and calming,” says Agnes Ding, public relations and marketing manager at Anantara Spa at The Puli Hotel and Spa (Shanghai). “Traditional Chinese medicine use the petals to nourish skin, and in Ayurvedic medicine, rose is used to balance emotions and tone and cool the skin.”
At Anantara Spa, rose is only combined with massage oil for special packages or treatments, but when it’s used, Bulgarian rose oil is preferred. “Extracted from the petals of the pink rose plant Rosa damascena from Europe and the Middle East, rose absolute is brimming with antioxidants that help combat signs of aging and cellular damage.”
Picking Up the Scent
Skincare benefits are all well and good, but the coveted flower also boasts an appealing scent with therapeutic advantages. “For many people, rose evokes a scent memory that makes it not only a fabulous treatment for the skin but also an experience for the spirit,” says Cindi Moreno, former director of spa and wellness at the Waldorf Astoria Spa at the Boca Raton Resort & Club (FL). Rose oil can also be used to subtly perfume a treatment room or a welcome area. The aroma has tremendous calming and nurturing properties. It’s quite transporting and helps us make deeper connections to our spiritual sides. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that because it’s so expensive, diffusing it isn’t the best idea.
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Spas everywhere are tapping into the benefits rose provides. Alchemie in Santa Monica might make its own rose tea, but Anantara Spa takes the concept even further. There, guests can kick off the Rose Tea Body Scrub (starting at $111 for 45 minutes) or the Rose Tea Body Wrap (starting at $135 for 45 minutes) with a rose tea ritual, or they can wrap up the Rose Tea Beautification Journey (starting at $255 for 2 hours) with a cup of the potent brew.
At Bamford Haybarn Spa at The Berkeley (London), the bloom is the centerpiece of the Bamford Rose Upper Body and Facial Treatment ($155 for 55 minutes), an indulgence that showcases products from the spa’s own Rose Collection and includes an upper body massage, an exfoliation, a mini facial, and a head massage. “Calming rose extract causes deep relaxation and results in clear, glowing skin,” says Berkeley Health Club manager Natalie Hawkins.
As a source for everything from oils and extracts to infusions and adornments, these trademark blooms have what it takes to remain a spa-world player. The future, as they say, definitely looks rosy.
Let complexions blossom with the calming essence of rose in these products. The addition of Rose active is a huge plus, as it is an active that tightens skin better than retinol, without the burn.
At Private Label Skincare Florida we pride ourselves on being at the cutting edge of incredible skin and hair care. Our entire line of rose products can be customized just for you, and your vision. We make shampoo, conditioner, masks, wash, scrub, cream, rose water and serum, all with the incredible Rose Stem celland other rose actives. Call us to get started in your rosy future! 727-258-5740, the direct desk of New Product Development.