Rose Geranium oil is a true great all-rounder. A few drops can transform a skincare routine, improve emotional well-being, give a beautiful scent to your linens and even add flavour to home bakes.
It’s the hero ingredient in our Rose Garden Soap, Rose Garden Body Butter, Rose Garden Shampoo Bar and Rose Garden Lotion Bar where its sweet floral scent makes it a customer favourite. Here’s a few more reasons why this fragrant oil has become so popular.
A potted history of Rose Geranium
Rose Geranium essential oil is extracted by steam distillation of the leaves and petals of Pelargonium graveolens. Not to be confused with hardy geraniums, pelargoniums are a tender perennial originating in South Africa. A handful of species were brought to the UK in the 17th Century by Kew Gardens plant collector Francis Lissom. It was the Victorians though, with their love of gardening and hot house flowers who really transformed the species, developing some 300 species. Today, they thrive in pots and containers in the summer, perfuming the air with scents as diverse as nutmeg, mint, apple and pineapple.
What is Rose Geranium oil?
Rose Geranium essential oil is extracted by steam distillation of the fleshy leaves and petals of Pelargonium graveolens. The oil smells like Turkish Delight - rosey and sweet. In some varieties, the rosiness is more pronounced, and fresher grassier notes in others. It’s often known as a “poor man’s rose” and used in the perfume industry to replace the more expensive rose oil
What’s Rose Geranium oil good for?
Rose geranium has a plethora of benefits for the skin. These include good balancing properties to support the skin's natural oil production as well as helping to reducethe appearance of cellulite. scarring and other skin conditions. Known to help and support the body to relax, this oil is readily used by aromatherapists and massage therapists.
How Sustainable is Rose Geranium Oil?
Essential oils offer wonderful benefits for skin and mind, and are a great natural alternative to synthetic fragrance. However, they do require a huge amount of natural resources including land and water, often in developing countries where both can be scarce.
For every 1 kg of rose geranium oil, around 300–500 kg of plant material will be needed. To put this into context, to fragrance one bar of rose geranium soap, there is the equivalent of 500g of rose geranium plant (the weight of a bag of sugar)
Demand for essential oils continues to outstrip supply and the price has escalated, which means for many farmers it’s a more profitable crop.
This means we have to be careful to source ethical ingredients. Organic farming is a good way to ensure the farms are doing all they can to keep healthy soils.
It’s also good to think about how we use essential oils - adding a few drops to a body oil, which might last several months, or a bar of soap which lasts several weeks, is much better than a room spray, or even loo freshener.
How Popular is our Rose Geranium Soap?
Well, we have to say it is one of our most popular soaps! Loved by customers already, this floral favourite has a raft of five star reviews. The typical feedback we get is that it smells delicious, a joy to wash with and leaves skin feeling heavenly. Ready to buy?