Rosewater is actually the byproduct of steam distilling rose petals into essential oil or the highest grade of distillation: absolute. Indian Damask Rosewater is steam distilled hydrosol water made from Rosa Damascena rose petals. Rosa Damascena or Rose Damask has a bright heirloom rose smell. The kind of smell until recently seemed to have been bred out of commercially available roses. I come across several 50-60 year old heirloom rose bushes on my usual walking route and I always stop and smell the sublime berry-like scent when one is in bloom.
As opposed to the Bulgarian rosewater that I sell, (https://tinyurl.com/Bulgarian-Rosewater) which is distilled from apothecary grade roses, Indian Rosewater is distilled from perfume roses and it has a scent very much like an heirloom rose. Besides enjoying the fragrance as a transcendental aromatherapy experience, rosewater is the best after-cleansing facial tonic available. Instead of a traditional toner, with a biting alcohol base, rosewater performs several essential functions that keep your complexion looking radiant, even, bright, and pore-less.
Rosewater does the following:
Restores ph after cleansing with water
Gently anti-bacterial for preventing blemishes, ingrown hairs, and blackheads (perfect after-shave tonic)
Encourages skin-cell turnover and renewal
Gently moisturizing
Tightens pores and gives the skin a smooth, radiant pore-less look
Skin treated with rosewater will get the highest benefit of moisturizing oils and treatments applied afterward.
Hair will be shiny and manageable if rinsed or sprayed with rosewater.
Spray rosewater on hair before a roller or wave wet-set for un-precedented softness, bounce, smoothness and shine.
One spritz sets powder foundation.
https://tinyurl.com/Indian-Rosewater
A sting-inducing alcohol based toner to remove trace amounts of dirt or oil after cleansing was ubiquitous not long ago, but while it would certainly perform that function it would also strip the skin of it's natural moisture barrier. For many people that would either dry their skin out and cause it to become dry, red, irritated, and very sensitive. For many other people they would experience much of the same, but the alcohol stripping their skin would cause a ph shift that would signal to the sebaceous glands that they needed to start producing oil because the skin was so dry. Then as these oil glands produced oil at such a fast pace, it would get stuck in the hair shaft or pore and then become a blemish, impacted pore, or blackhead. It's ironic that the treatment for acne for so long consisted of products diluted in denatured alcohol, the one thing that will almost surely cause even more acne than before.
It wasn't until I started using rosewater daily that I was able to get control of my breakouts and see a clear face for the first time since adolescence. Now as an adult I am able to keep both wrinkles, saggy skin, and breakouts at bay with rosewater. If I feel that my skin is looking dull or feeling rough, and I have a few hours at home; I will cleanse my face and then spray rosewater on it every 20-30 minutes as a treatment. The amount that the skin's texture and radiance improves is astonishing.
It's one thing that I try to never run out of and when I stop using it I can see the change in my skin immediately. When I go back to using it I can see the positive change right away and see my skin catching the light in a much brighter way. It's the smoothness of the skin, the fineness of the texture, and the amount of moisture that has actually penetrated into the skin instead of just sitting on the surface that makes skin catch the light in a beautiful way.
https://tinyurl.com/Indian-Rosewater