The rising popularity of rosehip seed oil is due to its many uses as one of the best beauty serums for facial care. Aura Cacia’s purchasing team recently visited the source of our rosehip oil in the Patagonia region of Chile during harvest season — a trip that highlighted six reasons why Aura Cacia rosehip oil is worth all the hype:
1. It’s wild harvested and organic.
While in the Patagonia region, our purchasers confirmed that Aura Cacia’s cold-pressed, organic rosehip seed oil is harvested from abundant wild populations of roses that need no fertilizers or pesticides.
2. It’s as fresh as possible.
The high levels of essential fatty acids in rosehip seed oil are susceptible to rancidity, making it vital to have a direct-sourced, fresh oil. Once picked, rosehip fruits are separated from the leaves, washed and dried in a heated room. Next, the fruit is mechanically separated to reveal about 20 small seeds. The seeds must be used relatively quickly as they will oxidize if stored for too long. The seeds are ground into a powder, then cold pressed into oil. Then, the rosehip oil is packaged in a special clean room inside a refrigerated building to ensure the freshest oil possible — in fact, most oil is pressed only after Aura Cacia orders it.
3. It’s cold-pressed, not solvent-extracted.
Rosehip seeds only yield a scant 3% oil, making it a rare and expensive commodity. The yield of oil can be increased if the seeds are extracted with chemical solvents, but it’s important to always use the cold-pressed version.
4. It’s packaged with care.
Once rosehip oil (in large drums) arrives at the Aura Cacia facility in the United States, vitamin E is added and it is packaged in bottles with clean, pump-dispenser lids. This packaging helps keep it free from contaminants once you begin to use it. To make sure your rosehip is fresh as possible, store your bottle in a dark, cool environment, and use within six months of purchase.
5. It provides supplemental income to the Chilean people who harvest it.
During harvest, a special bucket with a type of metal comb on the front is swept through the bushes, dislodging the rosehips into the bucket. During the harvest in Chile there are about 10,000 harvesters that pick the wild rosehips as supplemental income for their families.
6. It’s a natural skincare powerhouse.
Rosehip seed oil is called a “dry oil” because it quickly and easily absorbs into skin, leaving no greasy residue due to the high level of skin-benefiting unsaturated fatty acids. One of the constituents in rosehip seed oil is natural vitamin A (retinol), rather than synthetic vitamin A (retin A) used in many skin care products.
References
Aura Cacia (n.d.). 6 Reasons Why Rose Hip Seed Oil is Worth the Hype Retrieved from http://www.auracacia.com/rosehip-seed-oil/
