2-Ingredient Chemical Free Toner
Yes, only 2 ingredients, and in about 30 minutes you can have a beneficial toner your skin will LOVE. If you haven’t tried rose water yet, you need to ASAP. I talked a little bit about it in my last post 5 Natural Alternatives to Popular Toxic Beauty Products but I’ll be showing you how to make your own here!
Benefits:
Rose water has several AMAZING benefits. It is anti-aging, anti-inflammatory (it will reduce redness!), antiseptic, antibacterial, and contains antioxidants that can protect your skin cells from getting damaged. Rose water is a great mood booster with antidepressant and antianxiety properties. It can even be used for sore throats and to aid in digestion.
What You Need:
A pot with a lid
Organic rose petals (dried or fresh)
Distilled water
A small heat-safe bowl (glass or ceramic)
Potholders
Sterilized glass container to store finished rose water in
Ice (optional)
Prep:
Gather your supplies. The amounts of distilled water and rose petals you need will depend on how much rose water you wish to make. I used 1/2 cup dried rose buds and about 1-1/2 cups of distilled water. It yields around 1oz of rose water. It would have been more had I distilled a little longer but I got distracted (#momlife) and had to cut the stove time short and really only needed to make this small batch to take pictures for y’all. You can use ice to help speed up the process a bit, but only if you don’t have any holes in the lid for your pot you don’t want the melted ice water to contaminate your rose water (more on that below). I used a smaller pot for this batch but a larger one is perfectly fine! It’s important to use organic rose petals so you know that there aren’t any added chemicals getting into your rose water. For this batch I used organic dried buds that I purchased from Amazon, I have used fresh from our rose bush as well. You just need to rinse, strain, and pat the petals dry before adding them to your pot.
Add rose petals into your pot, place your heat-safe bowl in the middle (make sure there aren’t any petals underneath), and pour your distilled water over the rose petals. Don’t get any water into your bowl in the middle though. You want to make sure your rose petals are covered in water but not too much that it will boil over into your small bowl in the middle.
Make:
After you have prepped your materials you can place your pot on the stove burner. Put the lid on upside down with the handle of the lid just about your bowl in the center of the pot (do not use a pot lid with plastic handles for this!). If you don’t have any holes in your pot lid you can fill the lid with ice. This helps the condensation fall into the bowl faster but is not a necessary step.
Turn your burner on low to medium (low if you are doing a smaller batch). Let the water simmer for about 30 minutes. If you use ice you can remove the lid to dump melted ice and replace it as needed but otherwise leave the lid alone. You should definitely monitor the stove turning the heat down if it seems to be boiling too much, etc. DO NOT LEAVE IT UNATTENDED. You’re essentially cooking, be safe folks. USE POT HOLDERS. Shit will be hot, I repeat, BE SAFE.
If your bowl in the middle is full or your water around the bowl is boiling out turn off the burner. You don’t want to sear your rose petals. You should have put enough water into the pot during prep to prevent this but shit happens, this is why I say DO NOT LEAVE IT UNATTENDED. After your desired amount of rose water is in the middle bowl, using your pot holders, carefully remove it from the pot and place it on a heatproof surface (like another potholder) to cool for about an hour or so. Once cooled you can pour it into the container you wish to store the rose water in.
Store:
Rose water can potentially last anywhere from 3-6 months if stored in a sterilized airtight container in the fridge (this is if your pot and other materials were sterilized as well). It will last maybe a month at room temperature but could go bad quicker depending on how you store it, how you use it, how hot your room temperature is, etc. Be sure to watch for any discoloration or change in smell. These are indications the rose water has gone bad. Do not use it if this occurs. We didn’t add any preservatives and water is easily contaminated so I find it best to make small batches to prevent this.
No Waste:
My favorite part, after you’ve finished simmering the rose petals in water, you can strain the petals and drink the water from the pot. It’s rose tea!! (if you have a deep red color I recommend adding more water to create a pink hue for a lighter taste) Rose tea is anti-inflammatory, high in antioxidants, high in vitamin c, aids digestion, and there are even some studies that suggest rose tea can relieve menstrual cramps and anxiety symptoms!
