What is it?
Rose hydrosol is the byproduct of rose essential oil production. It basically works like this: plant matter is slowly heated in water inside a distiller. The steam collects and drips down into a collection area. The steam contains essential oil and water. The two are separated, and the water part is hydrosol. They are chemically different, but also similar.
The essential oil is prized for it's strong fragrance, and thus its ability to scent products like soaps, perfumes, etc. The hydrosol does not have as strong a fragrance, but it contains the same health benefits as the essential oil.
In the case of roses, a relatively small amount of essential oil is created (thus it's pretty expensive), and the majority of what is produced is hydrosol. Being available in higher quantities, we can do things like replace some of all of the water contents of our products with it. And that's what we've been doing.
What's it do?
We're not scientists or doctors, but here's what we know from the work other, smarter people have done studying rose hydrosol.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C is good for you. I mean obviously. And roses actually contain a great deal of it. That's why, for example, making a tea out of rose hips is a useful survival trick. Using skin and hair products with rose imparts the benefits of that vitamin C, such as its collagen boosting ability.
Anti-inflammatory: Rose has also long been known for reducing inflammation. It's believed to help with acne, eczema, and psoriasis.
Antibacterial: Like a lot of essences distilled from beneficial plants, rose hydrosol has antibacterial properties. You wouldn't want to use it to sterilize a scalpel, but it can add a bit of oomph to your cleansing products.
Aphrodisiac: This one may not be the most scientific claim, but a lot of people believe rose hydrosol (and rose essential oil and roses themselves for that matter) to have an aphrodisiac quality. This one we feel you should do your own experimentation with.
What MONSTER Flesh & Mane products contain it:
MONSTER recently got a local supplier of rose hydrosol that has given us an excellent price, so we're starting to add it to all a wide variety of products. As of the writing of this article, it can be found in our Hair Shampoo & Conditioner. It's also in the soap for our current Sinister Stash: Immortal.We will be adding it to other products as time goes on (and as the shelves are cleared of the stuff made with the old/current recipes).