Rosehips! Rosehips are the little red fruits about the size of cherries found on the rose bush after the bloom dies. It has antioxidant and astringent properties. It’s also full of beta carotene, iron, calcium, lycopene, and Vitamin A.

The awesome thing about fresh rosehips is that they were high in Vitamin C. Although it is not the best source for Vitamin C, it is still one of the best vegetables to eat for Vitamin C. But hold on: the Vitamin C power of dried, commercially produced rosehips can vary.

TIP: Barbados cherry (acerola) contains even more Vitamin C than Rosehips

Rosehips were once used for anything concerning the chest back in olden times.

Rosehip tea rinses are the way I normally use rosehips. Some people even use it to highlight/enhance the reds in their hair (if they have red hair of course).

I use dried rosehips, which is super hard naturally. lol!. You have to prepare rosehip tea using the decoction method.

TIP: Decoctions are made by boiling the root, bark, dried fruit (like rosehips), seed or dried plant material directly in water. Drop a few tablespoons in about 16 oz of water and let it boil down to your desired level. Remember, you want there to be enough water left in the decoction to drink/use. So don’t let to get too low.

You may be more familiar with using Rosehip oil, which is made from rosehips. The oil is said to have a great ability to improve skin elasticity, reduce the rate of new wrinkling and regenerate cells of the skin. Improving the look of scars or reducing scar formation is also where it seems to shine.

Using rosehip oil in the hair is said to help add shine and body to chemically treated, damaged or sun damaged hair.

Because of the expense of rosehip oil, you may what to dilute it into a carrier oil that works great on hair like Jojoba oil, Avocado oil or Safflower oil.

Rosehip oil is found in products from Aubrey Organics and Karen’s Body Beautiful hair oil. At mountainroseherbs.com, you can get an 8oz bag of dried organic rosehips for $5.25, or 8oz of rosehip seed oil for $18.50.

Other alleged health benefits include drinking the tea during menstruation because of the iron and Vitamin C, as well as to balance hormones over time.

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/learn/rosehips.php

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