Walk into any beauty salon and you are sure to see a bottle of Rose Water (Gulab Jal). This is because of several medicinal and beauty benefits of Rose Water. Made of rose petals, rose water is used to help moisturize the skin and keep it free of acne and other impurities. It can help heal wounds, keep hair healthy, improve your mood and help with stress. It’s pretty much a magic serum. If you’d like to understand the uses and absolutely mind-blowing merits of rose water, followed by a recipe on how to make rose water, read on. Here are 12 Rose Water Benefits cum Hacks for you.
#1 Balances the pH level of skin
The skin has a natural pH level of 5.5 but this is disrupted by our constant use of soaps, wipes, face washes and face packs. Rose water is known to nullify the acidic/basic effects of these products and bring back the skin to its natural state.
#2 Reduce Acne
Equipped with anti-inflammatory characteristics, rose water soothes irritated skin and avoids outbreaks of acne, eczema and dermatitis. It also cleanses the skin and keeps oil secretion in check, which in turns helps in getting rid of acne.
Rose Water for Acne Removal:
Mix a teaspoon of lemon juice with a teaspoon of rose water and apply on the affect areas. Leave on for fifteen minutes and then wash your face using a mild face wash.
#3 Use as Cleanser
Rose water is an excellent skin cleanser due to it’s astringent properties. It removes dirt and impurities from the skin. It also deep cleanses the pores and helps avoid dirt accumulation in your pores. This helps your skin breathe and keeps the skin feeling light and smooth. Take two minutes out of your time and wipe your face thoroughly with a rose water-dipped cotton ball for a quick cleanse.
#4 Use as Toner
Another rose water benefit is that it can be used as an absolutely healthy skin toner, as opposed to a harmful, name-brand chemical one. While following the Cleansing, Toning and Moisturizing routine (CTM), the holy trinity of healthy skin, people often leave out toning, but it is an essential part of any skincare routine. Rose water removes any impurities or dirt from the skin and makes it ready for future treatments or beauty products.
Use the following hack and never worry about expensive, chemical toners. Simply grab a cotton ball or pad and dip it in some Rose Water, then gently dab it across your face and let it dry off. Your toner routine is done, now go on and moisturize!
#5 Use as Moisturizer
Completing the CTM cycle, rose water also hydrates your skin, making it supple and preparing it for further application of makeup. Unlike chemical toners, rose water does not make the skin dry in the long run. It is easy to spray on to your skin whenever it feels dry and stay hydrated and glowing.
To make use of this benefit, follow the hack below
Rose Water as a Moisturizer:
Take 3 parts pure rose water, 1 part glycerine and 1 part coconut oil (for skin). Mix the ingredients and more them into a handy bottle. Now, just apply this Do-It-Yourself moisturizer on your skin for smooth and fresh skin.
https://www.uwhealth.org/health-wellness/good-skin-health-in-your-30s-40s-50s-and-beyond/48954
#6 Treatment of wounds
Rose water has antiseptic and anti-bacterial properties, due to which it’s application on wounds helps soothe them and heal them faster. It keeps the wound clean and prevents spread of infection, thus minimising the inconvenience and pain caused due to it. It can be used of scars, cuts and burns. Just dab a cotton ball dipped in rose water onto your wound, press gently and clean the affected area.
#7 Steam it to believe it
Inhaling rose water steam helps with headaches and its aroma brightens up the mood in a room. It is known to decrease stress levels, which helps in keeping a space happy and calm. Rose Water has anti-anxiety and antidepressant properties, which is why it is used to treat tension, grief, stress and even depression.
You can either breathe the vapours of rose water or use a hot towel dipped in it and keep it on your forehead, to help improve headaches, migraines and to bust stress.
#8 Rose Use as anti-aging serum
Elastase and collagenase are two enzymes that cause damage to the skin; Rose water acts as a natural preventive measure against these. It reduces wrinkles and lines that occur due to age and has an anti-aging effect on the skin. It also soothes the redness of skin.
#9 Healthy eyes
Rose water hydrates the eyes and keeps them healthy. Using it as an eye drop can significantly help treat conjunctivitis, cataracts, conjunctival xerosis (dry eyes) and many other eye problems. Just pour some Rose Water into an eye drop bottle or use a dropper and use it on your eyes once a day or as needed.
Using cotton dipped in rose water on your eyes gives a relaxing effect after a long, hard day. Rose water instantly relieves the eyes of redness, inflammations or burning. It can be used as an anti-dark circles cream as it reduces the puffiness and swelling of your eye bags.
#10 Healthy & Natural Sleeping
One of the lesser known Rose Water benefits is that Rose water has a hypnotic effect like that of diazepam, which induces sleep. This is a much healthier alternative than popping pharmaceutical sleeping pills, as it is all natural and does not have side effects. The fragrance of rose water is known to put you to sleep, and waking you up refreshed and energised.
#11 As a one-stop solution to all your hair problems
Rose water is a natural hair moisturiser and conditioner, thus its application makes your hair smooth, silky and smelling like a dream. It helps reduce dandruff and soothe mild scalp inflammations. It also revitalizes dull, limp, split end-infested and pollution-affected hair, making it healthy, bouncy and frizz-free.
Rose Water for Hair:
- After washing your hair, gently massage your scalp with rose water, to have quicker and better hair growth.
- To prevent and remove dandruff – apply glycerine or fenugreek powder mixed with rose water onto your scalp and wash it off after 30 minutes.
- Drop some rose water into your shampoo for hair that smells great.
- Apply rose water onto your scalp to reduce inflammations.
#12 An anti-sun burn cream
One of my favorite rose water benefits to take on harsh Delhi summers. Rose water has cooling properties, thus it can be used to soothe sunburn and excessive tanning. If your sunblock/sunscreen fails, you can depend on rose water to help tone down the harm done by the harsh sun after a day out.
Just grab a cotton ball, dip it in a mixture of rose water and crushed mint leaves and apply it on the affected areas, to soothe rashes and sunburns. Alternatively, use equal parts of aloe vera gel mixed with rose water and apply on your face like a face pack. Wash it off after 20 minutes for cool skin.
And as promised, here’s a great recipe for home made rose water. What are you waiting for? Go ahead and make it – you now know its many many benefits too!
How to Make Rose Water At Home
Ingredients
- Distilled water/RO purified water – 1.5 litres
- Clean, bug-free roses – 7 stems
Instructions
- Pluck the petals from the stem and run them in cold water to make sure you have gotten rid of any bugs or dirt.
- Put the cleaned and dried petals in a large pot and fill in just enough water to cover them.
- Let the pot simmer over medium-low heat and then cover it with a lid.
- Once the petals turn pale pink (after 20-30 minutes on the heat), turn off the heat.
- Run the contents of the pot through a strainer.
- Store the rose water in a convenient jar and use it as and when you require it.
That’s it. That’s all you need to make your own jar of rose water.
Seeing as how rose water has this many benefits, it is hard not to incorporate a little rose water into our daily routines. In today’s fast-paced, industrialized, technology-led world, we often lead unhealthy and unhappy lives, which is why it is increasingly important to identify and use resources that can help keep us calm, refreshed and healthy. Rose water is one of those all-in-one essentials which can help you through pollution, dust, stress, and skin outbreaks.
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