Questions about rosehip seed oil

[milky]

I received some two weeks ago but haven't used it yet. Just started reading about it today and am finding that I'm way late to the party! First of all, I didn't know it needed to be kept in the fridge. Oops. It doesn't smell rancid though. Supposed to be good for 6 months if refrigerated. Would it last longer if I put it in the freezer?
If I whip it with shea butter would vitamin E be enough to keep it fresh or do I need RO? Maybe I should just keep that chilled, too.
Also, what percent is a good amount to use when mixed with shea or other oils?
Thanks

 

[DeeAnna]

It might last longer in the freezer, but I keep mine in the fridge and get it used reasonably promptly. Even oils in the freezer will go rancid eventually and they're not in plain sight to remind me to use them.

I have not used antioxidants in my lotions and salves. I like to formulate my lotions to use long lived oils such as meadowfoam, jojoba, babassu, coconut, etc. along with short lived oils such as rosehip. That's worked very well to give a decent shelf life to my lotions.

Tocopherol (vitamin E) may be great on the skin and in the body, but I just don't get that warm fuzzy feeling that tocopherol really does much to lengthen the shelf life of oils, especially oils with lots of double carbon bonds. If you read up on oils that have high % of tocopherol, a surprising number have short shelf lives -- wheat germ, walnut oil, canola, grapeseed, regular sunflower, etc.

The problem with antioxidants, including tocopherol, is that too much can be just as bad as not enough -- too much will actually accelerate oxidation. I'm not overly sure that I as a hobbyist am qualified to know what the right amount truly is for a given recipe, so I just don't go there.

As far as how much rosehip to use in a product, I find I don't care for rosehip in high amounts. For awhile I was mixing up a blend of meadowfoam and rosehip for use on my face. I didn't like it nearly as well when the rosehip was higher than about 20% by weight. The rest would have been meadowfoam and a small amount of EOs. It was just too heavy and greasy.

I use it in lotions at 2-4% of the total ingredients. That translates out again to rose hip being about 20% by weight of just the oils alone.

But how much to use is definitely a YMMV situation -- you might love rosehip in much higher %'s than I do, so you'll have to just try it and see. Just make small batches, though, until you have a clue what works for you.

 

[milky]

Thanks so much for your great answers, DeeAnna!

At the moment I'm trying out a little rosehip oil mixed with olive oil since I know olive doesn't make me break out and it was about the easiest thing to throw together. I don't have any other liquid oils right now. Tried a drop by itself on a dry area and loved it so I'm really excited to see how it goes.

 

[DeeAnna]

In my experience, olive is a heavy, non absorbent oil, so rosehip and olive are likely to always feel heavier on your skin regardless of the % of rosehip, than if you use a lighter absorbent oil like meadowfoam. But if the combo works for you, hey, it works. I'm speaking from what I like and that's not necessarily what you or anyone else will like.

 

[milky]

You're right. The olive + rosehip combo is pretty heavy. My skin seems to like it but it stays greasy for too long. What I put on my face ended up in my hair overnight. Yuck. Hands are nice and soft though, so that's good. I'm thinking more and more that I need to buy some meadowfoam oil. Is it counterproductive to mix meadowfoam and shea butter or would it help with lightening the shea a bit?

Edit: What would you say are the differences between meadowfoam and rice bran oil for leave-on products and soap? Trying to decide which to get if not both. Just from what I gathered, RBO is kind of a like an olive oil stretcher in soap, a cheaper but similar alternative. I don't know what the difference is in feel at all though.

 

[DeeAnna]

Personally, I don't view RBO and meadowfoam at all the same. They have different strengths and weaknesses.

I would not use meadowfoam in soap. I mean, technically you can, but it's fairly expensive for one thing. And it might have a tendency to do some strange things to the soap in higher amounts due to the unusual fatty acids and unsaponifiable ingredients in this oil. Like castor oil, meadowfoam is a thing unto itself -- it isn't a substitute or alternative to other oils commonly used in handcrafted B&B products.

People use RBO in soap and leave-on products; it's more of an all purpose oil as far as versatility and cost. I don't use RBO in lotions, etc. but I know others on SMF do use it that way and like it. From what I recall, others say it has lighter skin feel than olive, but I hope others chime in who have experience with this. I'd say RBO definitely has a shorter shelf life than meadowfoam for use in lotions and things like that -- RBO is not the shelf life extender that meadowfoam is. In soap, RBO adds a good dose of linoleic acid more than olive oil does, and that tends to increase the chance of DOS especially if you use RBO in large amounts in the recipe.

I haven't used meadowfoam with shea, but I'm guessing that it would lighten the shea some. Certainly it would be lighter compared with a mixture of olive + shea.

 

[HowieRoll]

I love using rosehip oil and argan oil on my face, and have been using that exclusively for well over a year or two. The inspiration was drawn from Crunchy Betty's blog post about 3-ingredient facial oil, which you may find interesting. I settled on a mix of 2/3 Argan (I find it to be light and fast-absorbing) and 1/3 Rosehip Seed Oil (with a couple drops of lavender EO), but would like to branch out sometime to try other oils, just 'cuz. Of course, if it ain't broke...