Rose Hip Oil Effects: Fact or Fiction?

In general, I tend to be a lot more conservative with my choices of skincare products (compared with my serial makeup product unfaithfulness!) 

I usually stick with what works (for at least a year, and with some products much much longer…) and only switch when something isn’t working as well for me anymore – or if I hear amazing reviews about something and just HAVE to try it out.

As such, despite the buzz surrounding it, I was relatively late to start using Rose Hip Oil.

Coming from a scientific day job, I tend to view product marketing claims with a bit of skepticism sometimes. It is unfortunately all too easy to make a study show a result you want – e.g. 80% of women noted a slight improvement in their skin (how was the study done? 80% of how many women? What do you define a ‘slight improvement’ as?)

So, I thought I’d do a bit of my own reading around. I’ve summarized what I’ve obtained from various web sources, however note that a lot of the sources are from companies actually selling Rose Hip Oil.

First of all, what is it?

Rose Hip Oil is obtained from cold pressing (a way of extracting) the fruit of the rose bush (Rosa rubiginosa or Rosa mosqueta). It contains essential fatty acids, Vitamin C, Vitamin A, and the antioxidant Lycopene: all of which contribute to its effects on the skin (according to the sources I found on Google).

Rose Hip 

The evidence for the effects of each of these ingredients on the skin is probably a subject for another post, but the effects of Rose Hip Oil as a whole are supposed to be:

• Improved skin appearance (including smaller pores!)
• Improved hydration (i.e. a moisturizer) 
• Reducing redness and inflammation
• Reducing the appearance of scars, blemishes, stretch marks
• Balancing oily skin
• Reduce signs of ageing

There were not a lot of studies I could find on these effects – the most prominent one seems to be a study done in Chile on surgical and burns scars, and the conclusions were that RHO had an effect on skin’s hydration levels and appearance.

I did however find masses and masses of anecdotal evidence (a.k.a RAVE reviews!) for the effects of rose hip oil. I decided I should try it out, and see for myself!

So here's my verdict on Rose Hip Oil. (and remember it’s likely to be different for different skin types: I have combination skin, which tends to become dry in winter, and with occasional hormonal blemishes).

In short, did it:

• Improve my skin appearance? 
• YES – my skin appeared smoother and I can even convince myself my pores are a tad smaller
• Improve hydration (i.e. a moisturizer)? 
• YES – I found it an effective moisturizer when applied properly
• Effective in reducing redness and inflammation? 
• TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, YES – though my skin feels calmer, the amount of redness is still unchanged I think 
• Effective in reducing the appearance of scars, blemishes, stretch marks? 
• NOT YET – I haven’t really noticed any difference in scars, this might take much longer though (I have been using it for 2 months)
• Effective in balancing oily skin? 
• NO COMMENT – as my skin was in it’s dry phase (cold weather) when I used it
• Reduce signs of ageing? 
• NO COMMENT – I didn’t notice any, but my skin is relatively young still (the few lines that were around my eyes stayed there!). My skin did look somewhat plumper which on older skin would probably reduce the appearance of lines

The Bottom Line: After 2 months of use, I found Rose Hip Oil to be a very effective moisturiser and 'skin calmer' (anti-inflammatory), and the smoother appearance of my skin makes me think it's a bit exfoliating as well. 

However, whether it's a magic product to end all skin woes remains to be seen, perhaps I'll re-post after having used it for a year! :)

I’ll talk about the proper way of applying rose hip oil (in my opinion anyway, and what’s worked best for me), in my next post, as it’s ESSENTIAL! Applying it wrong broke me out at first, and I’d nearly cast it aside before discovering the proper way to put it on.