Rose Essential Oils For Men – Worth the Money?

Well hello there and welcome back to Man Versus Oils, the site where we discuss all things manly in the world of Essential Oils and chemical free living. Today’s post is – as is common in this little journey I am on – prompted by a discussion I had with my beautiful wife over coffee the other day about Rose essential oils for men. As I remember, we were discussing oils and I was regaling her with my scientific, hole-proof processes for assigning the ‘manly’ category to essential oils. If it smells manly it is manly, if it smells in any way like flowers, it is not manly. Simple.

“What about Rose?”, she asked – obviously not having listened to the interesting and informative gems that I had just given her.

“Rose?” said I – perplexed. “If you looked up unmanly oil in the dictionary it would have a picture of Rose”.

“That’s the one – I bet you can’t find a way to write about Rose Essential Oil For Men”.

Challenge accepted.

So I duly went home and started my research. I was absolutely going to find ways that men could use it. Maybe one drop of Rose to 100000 drops of Northern Lights Black Spruce or something like that. But then I looked at the price… You know how you know something but sort of forget you know it. That was what happened here. One Hundred and Ninety Eight dollars per 5ml (and that is the members price – over $260 for non-members).

And at that point my challenge got a little easier. I will find uses for it alright, but are those uses that good that they are worth the money? Maybe I can kill two birds with one stone. Meet Nic’s bet conditions (there is after all a cup of coffee riding on this) and then produce the manliest of all information. How to substitute expensive product for let’s say – more cost effective options – if it is worth it of course…

What is Rose essential oil?

Rose essential oil is distilled from the petals of the rose flower – well obviously. It takes roughly 250,000 rose petals (10kg) to distill 5ml of essential oil. Obviously that’s why it is so expensive. I have smelled Rose oil once and it does smell like roses and actually smells quite nice – and at over $190 a bottle it’d want to I reckon.

Some companies reduce the cost of it by ‘cutting’ it with Geranium – another not-so-manly essential oil. If this is sold as a blend then it is probably a good substitute, if not, then probably a little unethical. It is also one of the biggest tests of whether your oils are real – I mean if it takes around 250k petals to make 5ml and the oil sells for $10, then it is probably not real. Even if the roses weren’t purchased on valentine’s day.

Rose essential oil contains many of the same compounds as other oils including citronellol, linalool, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-terpinene, limonene, p-cymene, camphene, β-caryophyllene and benzyl alcohol.

Looking for a good Rose essential oil? Try this Rose essential oil from Young Living.

What is Rose essential oil good for?

Rose is another of those oils that has long held medical beliefs and ancient use – although the Greeks and Romans appeared to be more interested in it as a perfume. In more modern times, it is reported to have the following uses/benefits:

• Anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties making it good for minor cuts and scrapes
• An effective calming/stress relief agent when used in the diffuser
• Effective astringent properties making it good for the skin and hair
• As an aphrodisiac
• Good for the digestive system
• As an analgesic

What does science say about Rose essential oil?

Come on, I haven’t done any proper research in the last couple of posts – at least let me do some here. Anyway, as with most essential oils, studies into the actual benefits of Rose essential oil to the human body are limited at best. I did find a couple of human studies into its benefits as an anti-stress/calming agent and as an analgesic however both called for further studies on larger test pools.

I did not find any research into its anti-inflammatory, antibiotic or astringent properties but that is not uncommon in the world of oils either. Again, it is a belief thing with trial and error to see if it is right for you as a chemical free alternative to off-the-shelf remedies.

Rose essential oil uses for men

So, here we come to the ‘meat’ of the story. Based on my research in this, and other posts, here are some manly uses for rose essential oil that may be effective. Noting of course that there would not be a masculine aroma in sight – sorry had to get that in.

• Beard care – Take advantage of its anti-inflammatory and astringent properties to promote hair growth and keep your beard nice and fresh. Add 5 drops to some Jojoba or Grapeseed oil (coconut might just tip you over the non-manly line to a point of no return) and massage into the roots.
• Man-stress relief – add 5 drops (no more than that – this stuff is expensive) to the diffuser as a proven de-stressing and calming agent.
• Shaving cream – Use your Beard care recipe for a soothing shave solution.
• Muscle relief – Use its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties by adding to a carrier oil for a soothing muscle rub.
• Aphrodisiac – Light the fire and add to the diffuser to take advantage of its suspected aphrodisiac properties – after all, if it works then it is worth it at any cost right?
• Digestive relief – Rub 5 drops mixed with a carrier oil onto the stomach, wrists and behind the ears.

As most of you know, I always try to make a point of being honest with my appraisals and uses of essential oils. On that note, I have not tried any of the above remedies or recipes due to the fact that we do not own rose essential oil – Something I did discuss with my wife at our initial discussion but if I am being honest and knowing what I know about oils, their properties and the compounds found within this oil, I tend to think that they might actually be effective. Except the muscle rub – I am very skeptical about that one.

So what can we substitute?

Ok, now lets have a look at what we can use instead…

Beard care – We all remember the beard oil episode of 2018 and even now, nothing has changed. Substitute Rose with the following:

Best Option:

• 2 tablespoons carrier oil
• 3 drops Cedarwood
• 3 drops Lavender

Most cost effective option:

• 2 tablespoons carrier oil
• 3 drops Lemongrass
• 3 drops Cedarwood

I actually prefer the lemongrass and cedarwood recipe myself and lemongrass has the same astringent properties as Rose.

Man-stress relief – Rose oil has proven calming effects when used in the diffuser however so does Lavender at a 10th of the cost so try:

Best Option:

• 4 drops Bergamot
• 2 drops Geranium – Geranium is an extremely popular substitute for Rose.
• 2 drops Lavender

The pure non-manliness of this mix is cut by the Bergamot – I actually don’t mind this one – And you know my position when it comes to florally oils…

Looking for a good alternative to the expensive Rose essential oil? Try this Organic Rose Geranium essential oil.

Most cost effective option:

• 5 drops Lavender

Lavender essential oil is a proven calming agent (albeit research is in infancy stages) and shares many of the same compounds (linalool, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-terpinene ) as Rose making it a very effective substitute.

Shaving Cream – As with beard care, there are some fairly good chemical free shaving options here as well.

Best Option:

• 3 drops of Frankincense
• 1 tbs Coconut oil

This one is my favourite

Most cost effective option:

• 3 drops Peppermint
• 1 tbs Coconut oil

Peppermint is not as comfortable as the Frankincense but good if you like that slight burn from the menthol properties.

Muscle relief – sorry, but anything would have to be better here than Rose

Best Option:

• 5 drops PanAway
• 3 drops Peppermint
• 2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil

I use this often and swear by it.

Read more: 18 Benefits and Uses of Peppermint Essential Oil

Most cost effective option:

• 5 drops Wintergreen
• 1 tbs Coconut oil

This option is cheaper but in my opinion only second place by the slightest of margins to the best option.

Aphrodisiac – Dunno, let me just provide a list of the supposed best essential oil options here:

• Sandalwood
• Ylang Ylang
• Bergamot
• Black pepper
• Ginger

Normally here I would be telling you to go for the manly aroma of the Sandalwood as best and then Ginger as the most cost effective option. However, in this case it is not up to you so use these as a base and play with some blends until you find one you both like.

Digestive relief – Peppermint has proven nausea, IBS and digestive relieving properties and at 40 bucks a bottle, it is by far the best option you have.

Conclusion

So, whilst my findings here are admittedly a little loose as I have never tried or tested Rose Essential Oil for any of the uses listed, I would still have to question whether it is worth it. I base this on the fact that it is not more expensive due to quality rather just because of the distillation costs alone. I am sure it is great and obviously a favorite for perfumes etc. but from a manly point of view, I just cannot see the attraction.

My wife tells me she has full intentions of purchasing it one day so when she does (notice I didn’t even bother saying ‘if’ there) I will test it and of course update this post.

Do you use Rose Essential Oil? Post below your uses so that we can see if you can change my mind. Now gotta go – have a coffee bet to collect…

Have fun

Paul

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