It’s hard to match the anti-aging benefits rosehip seed oil has for your skin. Only a few other oils, like evening primrose oil, have shown the same potential for keeping your skin looking young, fresh, and healthy.

And the good news is any skin type can benefit from this potent oil. Rosehip is nourishing and hydrating (great for dry/mature skin) but not heavy or pore-clogging. It even has antimicrobial properties that help keep your skin’s microbiome in balance.

Here’s a closer look at this incredible plant oil and why it should be in your skincare routine.

What is Rosehip Seed Oil?

Rosehip seed oil comes from the rose plant but not from the flowers. Instead, it gets pressed from the reddish-orange pseudo-fruits that show up after the petals drop.

These tiny berry-like fruits are edible and happen to be one of the best known sources of vitamin C (beating out oranges by a lot). They are also rich in antioxidants and fatty acids that are stored in the seeds.

The best form of rosehip oil comes from cold-pressed organic rosehips. Conventionally grown roses get a lot of pesticide use, so choosing organic is really important to keep toxins off your skin. Cold-pressing, rather than heat or chemical extraction, helps keep as many precious nutrients intact as possible.

And in case you’re wondering, rosehip seed oil isn’t new to beauty or skincare.

Some records indicate that it has been used for over 2000 years, particularly in regions of Chile where the plants are native. At some point, it gained the nickname “Oil of Youth,” which gives you an idea of how powerful it is.

Key Nutrients & Compounds in Rosehip Seed Oil

Most of the anti-aging benefits of rosehip seed oil come from its nutritional makeup.

Like any other oil, rosehip is rich in beneficial fatty acids. Linoleic acid is the primary fatty acid, making up about 54% of the total. It’s an unsaturated omega-6 fatty acid that supports skin barrier integrity and helps your skin stay soft and smooth.

Following linoleic acid are smaller amounts of oleic acid, and palmitic acid. All of these are important for keeping your skin hydrated and protected from damage.

As mentioned earlier, rosehips are exceptionally high in vitamin C. Not all of this nutrient ends up in the oil because vitamin C is water soluble, but you’ll still get a higher than average amount of this important skin vitamin.

Along with fatty acids and vitamin C, rosehip seed oil also contains vitamin A, vitamin E, and numerous antioxidants. Each of these plays a key anti-aging role for your skin— as you’ll soon find out.

Top Skin Benefits of Rosehip Seed Oil

Moisturizes & Locks in Hydration

Dry, dull skin can hit during the winter when the weather gets rough, but it can also be a sign of skin aging.

Your skin has a natural barrier that helps to protect your body from external toxins. It also maintains the moisture of your skin by preventing too much water from evaporating.

This outer barrier is made up of tough, dead skin cells known as corneocytes and a lipid layer that binds the corneocytes together. The lipid layer includes fatty acids, ceramides, and cholesterol and is essential for keeping your skin hydrated.

As you can imagine, this natural barrier is constantly under assault. Everything from the weather to the skincare products you use has an effect on it, and it typically starts degrading with age.

Rosehip oil is full of fatty acids that help to “plug the holes” in your skin barrier. Its structure also allows it to be easily absorbed into your skin, boosting skin hydration. This combination provides serious nourishment for dry skin.

Boosts Collagen & Fights Wrinkles

There’s no doubt that one of the top benefits of rosehip seed oil is its vitamin C content. Vitamin C is one of the best natural collagen boosters, which means it also combats the appearance of wrinkles.

As you may have heard, collagen is one of the most important proteins for young-looking skin. It could be called the “anti-wrinkle” protein because it helps to keep your skin plump and thick, fending off fine lines and wrinkles.

Unfortunately, collagen production starts declining in your body as you get older. To make matters worse, certain enzymes, like collagenase, also break down the existing collagen in your skin. This combination leads to older-looking skin, particularly wrinkles.

The good news is that low collagen levels can be reversed.

Vitamin C is a natural catalyst for collagen synthesis, and research has shown that rosehips can help diminish the appearance of wrinkles. By applying this oil daily, you’ll be “feeding” your skin what it needs for better collagen production.

Rejuvenates Skin & Combats Other Signs of Aging

Another top nutrient in rosehip seed oil is vitamin A. It’s found in the form of beta-carotene, which is a powerful antioxidant known as a carotenoid.

You may be familiar with vitamin A in skincare by another name: retinol.

Retinol products are extremely popular because they combat many signs of aging like wrinkles, age spots, thinning skin, etc. Vitamin A derivatives also help with skin cell turnover, which has a rejuvenating effect on your complexion, giving it a glow.

The great thing about beta-carotene is that it’s not as harsh as retinol/retinoid products. However, it has still shown benefits for improving signs of aging, boosting collagen, and increasing skin elasticity.

Now, you won’t get quick results using rosehip oil like you would from highly concentrated retinol products. But with daily use, you will start to notice a difference that increases with time.

Helps Protect Your Skin from Photodamage

Have you heard of photodamage? It’s what happens when your skin gets exposed to too much UV radiation from the sun.

This type of damage hits your skin at the cellular level. It affects the deepest layers of your skin and often doesn’t show itself visibly until years after the original damage occurred.

When photodamage does make its way to the top layers of your skin, the result is unwanted signs of aging, particularly dark spots, wrinkles, fine lines, and loss of elasticity.

In fact, damage from UV rays is one of the biggest known accelerators of the aging process in your skin. It can make your skin look much older than it should and is often difficult to reverse.

Fortunately, one of the benefits of rosehip seed oil is to help protect your skin from this specific type of harm.

Vitamin C is known to provide protection against photodamage. It works even more powerfully in rosehip oil due to the presence of vitamin E. Studies have shown that these two vitamins provide better photoprotection for skin when used together than either does alone.

Various antioxidants in rosehips add even more protection against the damage of UV rays.

Brightens & Evens Skin Tone

Rosehip oil has a mild exfoliating effect on your skin that helps to brighten and refresh it.

Of course, it’s not an abrasive or harsh exfoliator. Instead, the vitamin A (beta-carotene) in the oil encourages skin cell turnover. This helps to reinvigorate dull-looking skin as new skin cells come in to take the place of the old ones.

Vitamin C also contributes a brightening effect to your skin. Studies have shown that is has anti-inflammatory properties, which help reduce the look of redness.

Both vitamins (plus other antioxidants) work together to even out skin tone and restore a youthful glow.

Fades the Appearance of Age Spots & Scars

One fantastic benefit of rosehip oil for many people is its ability to diminish hyperpigmentation.

Hyperpigmentation simply refers to spots on your skin that are darker than your normal skin tone. It can come in the form of age spots (also called dark spots) or reddish areas left behind by acne. Many times, hyperpigmentation is the result of overexposure to sunlight and can be very difficult to reverse.

Fortunately, rosehip seed oil is packed with vitamins A, C, and E— all of which help fade the appearance of hyperpigmentation.

Use it regularly, particularly focusing on darker areas of skin, for the greatest impact.

At least one study has shown that rosehip oil can also help reduce scarring. Again, the key is to apply it daily for several consecutive months to see results.

May Help Prevent Stretch Marks

Stretch marks are a type of scar. They form when your skin gets stretched past its “breaking point” and the middle layer of skin, known as the dermis, gets torn.

Because they are a deep kind of scar, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of stretch marks entirely. However, there may be benefits of rosehip seed oil for preventing stretch marks from forming.

One study from 2012 found that a cream containing rosehip oil helped to prevent the appearance of new stretch marks during pregnancy. It also halted the progression of already present stretch marks.

Now, the cream in the study did contain multiple ingredients (including gotu kola and vitamin E). This makes it difficult to know whether the anti-stretch mark effect came mainly from the rosehip oil or not. However, given the fact that rosehip can reduce scarring, it’s very likely it will help with stretch mark prevention.

Helps Calm Irritated Skin

As we touched on before, rosehip oil has anti-inflammatory properties due to the plant compounds found in it. Vitamin C, in particular, is powerful against inflammation as are vitamin E and other antioxidants.

This gives rosehip oil a lot of potential for soothing damaged and irritated skin. Although there’s a small chance of an allergic reaction (always do a patch test first), most people find that rosehip is highly effective for red and/or inflamed spots of skin.

In fact, some studies have shown that rosehip seed oil may help inflammatory skin conditions like eczema and dermatitis.

Softens Skin & Improves Elasticity

Skin texture is something else that can go downhill with age. You might notice your skin looking (and feeling) rougher, especially if it’s dry. It may also feel less flexible and start losing its shape (aka sagging).

By providing your skin with much needed fatty acids, rosehip seed oil helps to soften and smooth out skin. As an emollient, it fills in spaces around skin cells, making your skin look less rough and/or flaky.

Studies have shown that rosehip oil also improves skin elasticity, which is a huge bonus.

Elasticity refers to your skin’s ability to “bounce back” from being stretched. It helps to prevent sagging and wrinkles and keeps skin looking healthy and youthful. Anything you can do to boost elasticity is great news for your skin!

Good for All Skin Types

While some oils are too heavy for oily or acne-prone skin, this isn’t the case with rosehip oil. It doesn’t feel greasy on the skin and has a low comedogenicity, which means it’s unlikely to clog pores.

As a matter of fact, rosehip seed oil may have benefits for breakout-prone skin. It has antimicrobial properties that may help keep acne-causing bacteria in check. One clinical trial even found that an herbal cream containing rosehip seed oil helped to reduce breakouts.

The bottom line is that any skin type can benefit from rosehip. Use it on its own or in a skincare product and as often as you’d like.

How to Benefit from Rosehip Seed Oil

Now that you know what rosehip oil can do, buying the right product is key to getting its full effects.

Mainly, you want to look for an organic, cold-pressed oil. Buying USDA Organic (or the equivalent) is critical for avoiding potential toxins in your skincare. And as mentioned earlier, roses frequently receive heavy pesticide use when conventionally grown.

Cold-pressed is also very important because it keeps all the beneficial nutrients and plant compounds intact. If these get destroyed, rosehip oil would have little to no effect— a big waste of money.

When it comes to using rosehip seed oil, you can apply it directly to your skin if desired. It’s considered a “dry” oil, which means it shouldn’t feel greasy, and absorbs easily.

Or you can choose to use skincare products that contain rosehip oil alongside other anti-aging ingredients.

Age-Defying Eye Cream with Rosehip Seed Oil

 

If you are in search of a highly effective eye cream, look into the Age-Defying Eye Cream from Purity Woods. It contains both organic rosehip seed oil AND organic rosehip extract for the maximum anti-aging benefits.

These two rosehip ingredients are combined with 20+ pure botanicals that quickly work to erase the appearance of under-eye bags, dark circles, crow’s feet, and more. The formula is gentle on your skin, richly moisturizing, and full of powerful antioxidants that give you younger-looking skin around your eyes.

Learn more about the Age-Defying Eye Cream here— and start “feeding” your skin nutrient-packed rosehip oil.