Rosehip Oil - silky skin packed with Vitamin C

ROSEHIP OIL

• Rosehip oil nourishes and moisturises the driest of skins.
•  It is readily absorbed into the skin leaving the skin silky soft and NOT looking or feeling oily.
• It is incredibly high in vitamin C ( a powerful anti-oxidant).
• Rosehips are berry like fruits which are left behind after the rosehip bush dies. 

• Rosehip is a dense bush with the foliage having an apple fragrance
• Although it readily grows in the UK, the main supplier of rosehip oil is Chile due to its superior extraction methods.

Imagine your face as a car that's getting a little older. You wash, polish and wax it and it looks fantastic - that's how rosehip oil will leave your skin.

However what about the engine?  There's little point only making the outside look fantastic, the engine needs constant attention, which is where the vitamin C found abundantly in rosehip oil comes in.

Although vitamin C is the only vitamin that cannot be produced by the human body due to the mutant gene -  L-gulonon-y-lactone oxidase, vitamin C is important for both our health and to slow down the ageing process.

There are 2 facts I'd like to share with you about vitamin C

1. There is 20 times more vitamin C in rosehips than in oranges
2. Vitamin C is far more readily absorbed through the skin (dermal absorption) than if taken  orally. If 12g of vitamin C is taken orally, only 16% of it is absorbed.

Rosehip oil is relatively new to the skincare industry but is increasingly popular due to it's fantastic properties both on the surface of the skin, and lower down where the skin's cells are being formed.

One study was carried out using rosehip extracts of 18 samples in order to evaluate their antioxidant activities.


The study showed that vitamin C in its own right had a high antioxidant capacity which was related to high contents of phytonutrients. (Phytonutrients are nutrients derived from plant material that have been shown to be necessary for sustaining human life.)


For further reading, please follow this link: 

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/1097-0010(200011)80:14%3C2021::AID-JSFA745%3E3.0.CO;2-2/full

I personally find it fascinating how  vitamin C works in conjunction with both vitamin A and vitamin E.

Vitamin C in conjunction with vitamin A

Vitamin A is extensively used in the skin care industry to aid the anti-ageing process. Collagen  is found in the skin and is a set of fibres giving the skin its plumped up appearance. From the age of 30 onwards, the production of collagen rapidly slows down. As collagen is part of our DNA, other treatments using collagen can only be a very short term soloution as the body will reject it as its DNA is not recognised. 

However, vitamin A acts on something called fibroblast cells, and these cells are then stimulated to start the production of collagen again.

Vitamin C then comes into its own. VItamin C goes through a process called hydroxylation which is  important as this process creates hydroxyproline which is essential in the production of collagen. 

Subsequently, this creates a tight cross linking of something called the triple helix. The triple helix are three strands of our DNA wound around each other.

To summarise  

• Vitamin A creates new collagen through fibroblast cells
• Vitamin C works on the newly formed collagen, creating a tight knit collagen structure using our DNA

Vitamin C in conjunction with vitamin E


Vitamin E is used within the skin care and food industry as an anti-oxidant to 'fight' free radicals.


Free radicals are damaged parts of oxygen and are in the air around us with many being created from the sun and pollution. Free radicals age the skin as well as being involved with many illness' such as cancer. Where there are damaged oxygen particles it is known as oxidative stress.


However, vitamin E needs vitamin C to regenerate it, and some studies have shown that vitamin C is able to regenerate 60% of vitamin E proving that both vitamins work in harmony with each other.

For further reading on: 

'Partners in defense, vitamin E and vitamin C', please follow this link: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8313238

One of the main ingredients in INSKIN Precious Anti-Ageing Facial Oil  is rosehip oil.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog, and if you've found it interesting I'd be delighted if you'd ask your friends to take a look.

Many thanks, hugs and kisses

Lizzy Radcliffe

ITEC Certified Aromatherapist Graduate 1996


If you would like to become involved with our work here at INSKIN skincare - please complete the form on the INSKIN website http://www.inskin.org/testers.htm