Refreshing ROSE DIY Toner
Rose Rosa spp has been a plant that I overlooked and disregarded for years. Growing up I always preferred sunflowers and other asteraceae's than Roses. It was not until I went through some difficult changes in my world that I discovered the medicine of Rose which had me reading and researching more about Rose that soon changed my views of this plant. I began to explore with Rose making electuaries, syrups, glcyerites, infusing oil and vinegar, cooking with Rose, making body butter and other skincare like Rose Toner. I know some folks who can't stand the smell of Roses, I know there are some gross smelling perfumes out there that over-do it with the chemically fake smell of Rose which does this plant NO JUSTICE. So, I understand that a Rose toner or anything Rose may not speak to some folks.
Rose has this gentle, soothing, calming and uplifting qualities to it. A sniff of the petals or sip of the tea or even spraying myself with Rose Water will clear any funk I am feeling and put a smile on my face. I elaborate more on Healing Support for Trauma and Grief post where Rose was one that helped me during a funky time. I began to explore how to make Rose based skin care because I can not foresee myself spending so much money on products which generally have a added chemicals. Rose is used in a lot of skin care and cosmetics. You will find anti-aging skincare and recipes online that uses Rosehip Seed oil, Rose face wash, mask, toners, moisturizers that contain Rose. So I found a simple and affordable way to make my own Rose based skincare. First of all if you are fortunate to have your own Roses growing in your garden or if your friends or family have Roses that are not sprayed with chemicals ask them or gather your own Rose vinegars, Rose tea, hydrosol, oil etc. Rule of thumb go for the darker colored petals. They are high flavonoids and anthocyanins which fight free radicals and have a slew of other benefits. If you don't have access to fresh roses you can order dried roses online from Mountain Rose Herbs, Starwest Botanicals, Pacific Botanicals. CAUTION DON'T USE ROSES FROM A FLOWER STAND, GROCERY STORE ETC. They are sprayed with chemicals and you don't want that being absorbed into your body or ingest it.
One of my favorite Rose Facial Oils is by Mountain Rose Herbs, Wild Rose Facial Oil which contains Rosehip Seed oil. You can also purchase straight Rosehip Seed oil from Mountain Rose Herbs and create your own unique blend for skin care. I haven't done this yet as I am harvesting Comfrey Root from our friends garden to make Comfrey Root oil using Grapeseed Oil as the my choice oil and I will add this to the Rosehip Seed Oil. Comfrey Root is high in Allantoin and I know I sound reductionist right now but it is quite often used in anti-aging products for its use of cellular proliferation, healing of wounds, smoothing skin etc.
For a monograph on Rose check out HerbRally's Rose Monograph
So for my ROSE TONER I have a couple of different ways of making it. One will have a longer shelf life the other I keep refrigerated and use up within a week. The Rose Witch Hazel is nice to use as both Rose and Witch Hazel both share astringent properties and help tone and tighten the skin. I like using this for spot treating acne or rashes, sun burns, minor burns, insect bites and stings. I like using the Rose Vinegar for the same purpose.
Rose Toner with Witch Hazel
16 ounces Witch Hazel
Organic Rose Petals (if you are using your own flowers from your garden I would add the leaf too)
2 Pint size clean glass jar with matching lid.
Wooden spoon with slender handle or chopsticks.
Cutting board and knife
Paper, pen and tape
4 ounce glass spray bottle
Unbleached Cheesecloth OR large muslin bag OR fine mesh sieve lined with a cloth.
If using fresh cut the leaf and petals up into smaller pieces, if you only have dried petals, leaf this will work as well. Transfer Rose Petals and leaf into glass jar and top off with Witch Hazel. Take a chopstick or wooden handle spoon and poke around in there and stir things up. Label and date and let sit for two to four weeks in a cool, dark place, agitating once a day for the duration that it sits there. before pressing.
After the two to four weeks, time to press the plant material. Take the unbleached cheesecloth OR large muslin bag OR fine mesh sieve lined with a cloth and pour off the Rose and Witch Hazel. Pressing all the liquid (menstruum) out, pouring off into a clean vessel. You can purchase glass spray containers on Mountain Rose Herbs Label and date with the original date that you made the toner not the date that you poured off.
You can step it up a bit and be a little extra by adding a few Rose Hips or a petal or two into your glass spray bottle and store the remainder in a cool and dark place. You can purchase glass spray containers here or here. Label and date with the original date that you made the toner not the date that you poured off.
ROSE VINEGAR
This recipe is for a herbal vinegar also known as a acetum and with this recipe you will get many uses out of 16 ounces of the acetum or Rose Vinegar as we will be diluting the Rose Vinegar to a 1:5 ratio.
Organic Rose Petals (if you are using your own flowers from your garden I would add the leaf too)
16 ounces Apple Cider Vinegar, Rice Wine Vinegar or White Vinegar (organic)
Pint size wide mouth clean glass jar with matching lid.
3 ounces Distilled Water
Wooden spoon with slender handle or chopsticks.
Cutting board and knife
Paper, pen and tape
Unbleached Cheesecloth OR large muslin bag OR fine mesh sieve lined with a cloth.
Wax Paper or a canning jar plastic lid
Glass spray bottle
If using fresh cut the leaf and petals up into smaller pieces, if you only have dried petals, leaf this will work as well. Transfer Rose Petals and leaf into glass jar and top off with your vinegar of choice. Take a chopstick or wooden handle spoon and poke around in there and stir things up. Now when sealing the jar all lids on canning jars are metal and when making anything with vinegar, metal will be corrode by the vinegar so to avoid corrosion you can purchase matching plastic canning jar lids which are easy and I prefer this route when making acetums or oxymels. Another way to avoid this is by taking wax paper and cutting a large enough piece to be folded over and placed between the jar and the lid. You do not want the vinegar to touch the metal. Another reason why I like the plastic canning lids are that I can agitate the jar daily without having to open the jar and stir things with a chopstick. You can find plastic canning lids in the canning department or here on line Label and date and let sit for two to four weeks in a cool, dark place, agitating once a day for the duration that it sits there. before pressing.
After the two to four weeks, time to press the plant material. Take the unbleached cheesecloth OR large muslin bag OR fine mesh sieve lined with a cloth and pour off. Pressing all the liquid (menstruum) out, pouring off into a clean jar with matching lid.
You can purchase glass spray containers here or here. Label and date with the original date that you made the toner not the date that you poured off.
DILUTING is EASY. Straight vinegar may be too drying so dilution of 1:5 is the formulation for diluting vinegar. 1 part vinegar to 5 parts water. In this case for a 4 ounce spray bottle, pour 1 ounce of Rose Vinegar and top off with 3 ounces of Distilled water. The remaining Rose Vinegar can be kept as the Mother Batch and stored for future use in a cool and dark area. Note that I store my diluted Rose Vinegar in the fridge during the hotter months of the year and I use it up fairly fast. It will have a shorter shelf life because of the added water BUT you can help extend it by adding a tablespoon of pure grain alcohol. DON'T use rubbing alcohol. For those of us that can not get 95% alcohol because of state laws like California I would just use the highest percentage of a clear alcohol like Vodka, I love the coniferous scent of Gin so that is another option.
Enjoy!
